I was also at that SQL Saturday and was really excited to see "the pros" in person. Hearing Ozar, Fritchey, and Machanic (and all the other great teachers) teach me personally was a shot of excitement - I think I was walking around with a big dumb grin on my face the entire day! Also, Clash of the Row Goals was incredibly helpful - I wanted to give Adam Machanic a bear hug just for teaching me such wizardry.

I consider myself very blessed to be a DBA, and I know much of my success is due to the great system we have for sharing knowledge, and the people who take the time to share it.