I'm searching for a new laptop bag. After getting a backpack from Microsoft and using it on a few trips, I realize that it won't work. Since I know there are a few other people looking for them, I commissioned a review on a Maxpedition bag from the Scary DBA. I'm looking forward to seeing what he thinks of that one.
In any case, when I was trying to stuff things into my bag and struggling. So I unpacked the bag and then took stock of what I had in there. My list of things:
Wow!
I was actually stunned by how much crap I was carrying around. No wonder I didn't like carrying the backpack. I can cut down a touch of this stuff, but I'm missing my camcorder, which I'll need at PASS along with a microphone.
I definitely think that I need to consider a rolling bag of some sort.
Don't look for all this at SQL Saturday #17. I'll be there with just the netbook, leaving the 15" laptop at home.
I finally made the call today to reserve my room in Baton Rouge for SQLSaturday #17 in Baton Rouge, LA. I'm flying into New Orleans since it's non-stop from Denver, and then driving up to Baton Rouge. Any time I lose in the drive is probably made up in having to change planes somewhere to fly direct. Plus there's the added benefit that I've never been to New Orleans, so I'll get to drive around the city a bit and see what I can see while I'm there.
I'm giving my Modern Resume presentation again, and looking forward to it. I made a few changes for Richmond, and I have a few more to make. I also have some new information and some new ideas to incorporate as well.
Now if I can just get my netbook working....
Why did I write this? I got challenged by Andy Warren to write a bit about why I wrote something. I complained to him that he has some "mechanical" posts on this blog that just mention he wrote something with some questions, and don't really blog about why he wrote something. He challenged me to write about why I wrote something, so here I am.I saw this blog post somewhere and knew there was something interesting to talk about. Agile, a semi-failed project, it seemed to be something that many DBAs and developers would think about and would want to know about. I'm also a big "culture" guy, meaning that the culture of a company matters to me, so this peaked my interest from that perspective.This actually sat in my editorial notebook for a few weeks since I wasn't sure how to attack it. I read the article a few times and it took me some time to figure out how to attack the article. I would scribble a few sentences one time, then I'd have to leave it alone again since I would be stuck on how to write about it.Eventually I decided to attack it from the perspective of the Agile methodology and why it failed. Condensing that down into a page and a half was hard, and I'm still not happy with it, but after 6 or 7 sessions, I decided to stick with it the way it is. I wanted to get out there that Agile works, and that you don't have to stictly follow Agile, but you need to use what works and develop your own standard.Now sure I go that across.Podcast notes: It actually took 3 takes for this one, meaning 3 separate film files, each of them with multiple takes. I shot this as the 3rd of 3 one day and must have turned off the mic. Then I shot a series of takes, was almost done and got interrupted by a cell phone ringing. Since I wasn't thrilled with what I'd done, I started another take only to realize the mic wasn't on. Fortunately that one wasn't complete, and I restarted over again a third take.
Less bloopers with all the practice.
