FirstTimers Cheat Sheet 3 : More Humans to Hunt

In an effort to not leave anyone out from one of my previous blogs where I went into considerable detail on some 20 individuals, I have a larger list of humans to hunt while at #SQLPASS next week. Now, in case some of you complain, this list is not comprehensive either. But is an attempt to list out those humans that have interacted with me to a degree that they stood out and i listed them. This is in no way a complete list of the people you should hunt.

So, onto the list. Add these fine folks to your network. Learn from them. Each one has a certain set of skills that help them in their daily work and personal lives. I bet if you try, you will find something that you can learn from them as I have. The best part is that they too are willing to share this information with you. So we can all become better. All of us.

kevin kline

adam mechanic

jonathan kehayias

joe webb

aaron bertrand

jessica moss

randy knight

geoff hitten

jes borland

lori edwards

jeramiah peshka

alan hirt

lous davidson

neil hambly

karla landrum

rodney landrum

meredith ryan-smith

ted krueger

ben miller

midnightdbas

rob farley

paul white

mladen prajdic

tim mitchell

jack corbett

phillip beazley

argenis fernandez

erin stellato

kendal van dyke

kathi kellenberger

scott stauffer

brian knight

simon sabin

tara kizer

robert davis

merrill aldrich

jorge segarra

bill fellows

doug lane

joseph richberg

peter shire

tim ford

Since the goal of the Summit, in my opinion is to Learn and Network, this is the Network portion, which I have relabeled Hunt. Now we have LURN / HUNT as the two goals of the summit.

As with the previous list, I challenge you to find these folks. Meet them. Add them to your network. If someone can meet all these, as with the previous list, and bring me proof, you will win a prize. Some of these fine folks I have yet to meet IRL and hope to do so this summit myself.

When you are not LURNing, happy HUNTing.

FirstTimers Cheat Sheet 2 : Adventurous Version : Cards

I was challenged to create cards to match my words. Similar to those used to track down various individuals in Iraq. Allowing you at home to print up said cards and hunt down said individuals.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11735707/2001%20Summit%20Pack%20of%20Cards.pdf

Go get them. Print them. Hunt them. The first one to meet them all, who didn't know them all, gets a prize from me.

FirstTimers Cheat Sheet 2 : Adventurous Version

I recently gave you some ideas of some good things to do while at the PASS Summit next week.

Now let's get a little more adventurous. I want you to hunt down some specific people. Keep in mind that I love each and every one of these individuals as a brother or sister. And though I may be asking you to do something that would appear to not be in your best interest, I promise that you will have a good time doing it, and the individual you meet should be nice to you in return, i think.

Ok, here we go. Things to do when you find these people while at the summit.

[EDIT : if you do not appear in this list, do not fret. I can only fit so many per blog. SQLFamily is huge. More blogs to come]

Try to get a run in with Steve Jones from SQL Server Central. This man is an inspiration to so many for his daily running routine. Even if you see him in the elevator while going to run will be an inspiration. Ask him how much he likes shoveling hay. If you dont have guts enough to do this, simply thank him for being the godfather of this SQL community we now enjoy. If you have the time, listen and learn. He can teach you so much about so much. As those of us that have learned from him for many many years can attest.

Challenge Grant Fritchey to an arm wrestle. Or better, tell him you can chop wood faster than he can. Actually, anything you can challenge him to in his presence will impress me, as he has a stern persona at first glance, but is one of the nicest people you will meet at the summit. Ask him about Azure, about performance, about anything, and be prepared to learn.

Purchase a cup of coffee and deliver it to Buck Woody. Do this and you may make a friend for life. I dare you to ask him if he likes tea. Any kind of tea. If you cannot find him while at the summit, keep your eyes peeled for a blur in the hallways, that's probably him simply moving faster than the naked eye can detect as he is amped up on caffeine. 10 minutes learning from him will keep you busy for months, if not years.

When you run into Paul Randal, challenge him to a game of Blokus, hinting that you could probably kick his butt. This will prove to be a fun conversation, if you survive the first accusation of superiority. My first time meeting him is so ingrained in my memory, I will always cherish it. This man will impress you from the get go, and you will be surprised when he speaks that his accent doesn't quite match the one you had in your head all these years as you read his blog. Remember that he wrote most of what you use today in SQL Server. Be prepared to learn from him. Listen raptly.

If you are lucky you will meet Kimberly Tripp soon after you meet Paul Randal. She will smile at you and make you feel welcome. As if you are actually of worth. Realizing that you are in the midst of SQL Server royalty, open yourself up to what she can share with you. Amazed you will be.

If you want to meet the nicest guy at the Summit, then you need to hunt down my brother from another mother, Andy Leonard, and become his brother thru conversation. He is so knowledgeable and so kind, you will simply be blown away at how much you learn from him while listening to him speak. If you don't feel like giving a bear hug at the end of this encounter, you may have done it wrong. He is the best.

If you like lists like I do, then you mush try to find Brad McGehee and learn from him how to keep track of and take care of your database servers. Ask him about Hawaii. He lived there. This alone is an amazing treat, in my mind. One of the nicest people you will meet is Brad. Learn from him. Let him teach you. You will be amazed.

Once you run into Tom LaRock, ensure that you ask him about his favorite sausage. Go on and on about how much you love sausage. Or is it bacon. I cant remember... find out for yourself. After giving him a hard time, sit back and let him teach you about the community. About how we need to help each other. About how we can do a better job. Soon you will find yourself volunteering to help him on whichever of the myriad endeavors he is embarking upon to make us all better people, in spite of ourselves. He will make you a better person simply by being around him.

I'm a sucker for accents, and have always loved to listen to Gail Shaw. You will too. Be prepared to ask a simple performance question of her, if you can find her, and then record the answer. Type it up and read it over and over and be amazed at how much knowledge you will be innovated with in a short period from her. If you could extract a small ounce of her knowledge, it would probably more than double what you already have.

If you are looking for a quite rock of knowledge that will thoroughly impress you and impress upon you that you need to be a better person, seek out Andy Warren. His quiet way will shock you into the reality of continuous improvement. Listen to him when he talks, and how he talks, and watch others learn from him. He is a giant of a man and you should be humbled to simply learn as much as you can from him.

When you meet Denny Cherry, be ready to be cussed at and maybe even yelled at, but come out of the event knowing so much more about storage than you ever thought your little brain could handle. He is not for the faint of heart, but has such a store of knowledge that you would be amiss if you skipped this opportunity to learn from him.

If you see a giant (literal) of a man wondering around with a camera, stop and say HI to Pat Wright. He too has a quiet way of pushing you out of your comfort zone and into the community and then letting you do what you will within it. But you are a member of it because of him. How many of us can say that? I know I am a member of the community solely because of his influence. Tell him HI from me when you do see him. I owe him sooo much.

If you get a chance to hunt down the elusive Brent Ozar, do so. At first I thought he was a fictitious bot generated from Quest on twitter, but he turned out to be real. A real boy with a vast collection of knowledge. And given the chance, he will share it all with you. You will not be able to take it all in at once, so drink from this fountain only as much as you can take it. He will teach you so much.

If you run into Aaron Nelson, ask him if he's ever heard of this new language called PowerShell. Tell him you think its a fad. Then if he is still talking to you, ask him to help you with a script. He probably has it on him, and can give you a copy. And you will be opened up into the world of Powershell that you never knew existed. Anything you can think of, he's probably already done it and will share it with you.

When you see Allen Kinsel, which you will. because he is everywhere, simply run up and give him a hug. He may resist. But while hugging him tell him how thankful you are that he made the PASS Summit work. None of us will ever know how much he puts into this event. We all ose him so much. After thanking him, tell him how sorry you are that he still has copies of SQL 6.5 in production. Offer him your condolences.

If you happen to see a DBA that looks like a criminal and causes you to pause, possibly switching to the other side of the hallway, this may be Chris Shaw. Don't avoid him. His shaven head and stern face is covering a plethora of Administrative knowledge that you cannot afford to pass up. He will give you his shirt off his back, if he could. Another one of the nicest people you will meet with a head for Data that will amaze you. Again, learn from him. Learn. Soak it in.

I could go on with more, and hope to continue this list as the Summit grows closer. This is a list of people I think you should meet. I have met them. I love them. I learn from them. I am amazed to be in the same community as they. They are SQLFamily. You should take the time to meet and add them to your network. Become part of the SQLFamily.

FirstTimers Cheat Sheet

FirstTimers Cheat Sheet

Let me start by saying that I have been there. Standing in a room or strangers, wanting to reach out to them, add them to my network, but unable to do so. Why? Why couldn’t I? Well, that would take way too long to blog about. So let’s just skip to the how.

Let’s start over. Why do you go to PASS Summit? To Learn and To Network. Learning is easy. Attend at least 1 session while at the summit and I guarantee that you will learn something. It’s the second part that causes some of us to stumble.

Let’s break down networking. My own definition is to add individuals to my network of individuals that can help me in my day job, my tasks. Notice that I said add individual(s). This entails more than one. Multiples. Many. You get the picture. People. Humans like you.

How can we do this quickly and easily? I’ll show you 3 easy steps with several ground rules associated with these steps. First, back to the definition. Adding individuals to your network. These will be bonds that you create with another human, adding them to your toolbox of skills to accomplish your tasks. This is a selfish goal. But to accomplish this, you must be unselfish. You must reach out to them and be interested in them. Some people you may have very little in common, while you will find others that you have many points of interest connected. This is ok. They all go into your networking bucket. All. Stick them all in there.

Ground rules

For the next 3 steps, I want the following rules to apply. Do not talk about yourself, unless asked. Do not dismiss the individual during any of the steps. In between steps you may have to break the contact. This is OK. Contact can be reestablished later. Learn how to be genuinely interested in their responses to your 3 steps. I didn’t say pretend. Actually become interested. This is part of the unselfishness on your part. If all that happens is that you learn about them, then the goal has been accomplished. You may say to yourself that they know nothing about you. That’s ok. The goal here is for you to add them to ‘your’ network. Selfish goal, but accomplished by unselfish means. Become interested in each response. Become enthralled in what makes them human and a database professional and everything in between.

Steps

What I want you to do here is to memorize these steps. If you cannot do that, then write them down on a cheat sheet. I want you to ask the other humans the following questions.

• · Who
• · Where
• · What

When do you ask the other humans these questions? Whenever you find yourself near an individual for more than 10 seconds, turn to them, look them in the eye and ask them these questions. Realize that there are 3 and that a break in contact may occur in between any of these questions, and that is ok. Let it happen organically. But these are the questions to ask. Remember to be interested in their responses, and do not simply wait for a break to talk about yourself. In fact, do not talk about yourself, unless asked.

Who

Look them in the eye and ask them ‘Who are you’? Do not look at their name badge. This only tell them their name. You may forget this anyway. Try not to. But this is not what you are asking. You want to know who this person is. Let them tell you, in their own words. This is a nice simple ice breaker. It’s like asking a date out for a drink instead of dinner. Thus allowing an out if it’s not working out and they are trapped in a longer event than planned for (dinner). This is short and sweet. ‘Who are you’? It may sound brusk and you may alter it as needed to fit your personality. Point is that you are engaging them, and asking about them. DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF, unless asked. Remember that you are adding them to your network. They may not be adding you back. That’s ok. It may happen, it may not. It’s OK. Remember to be interested in them. ‘Who’ they are. Learn from them. Let them go on and on about themselves. I bet you will find that they are experts in talking about themselves. It’s one of my favorite topics.

Where

This digs a little deeper and can be several questions, depending on how it’s going. Where do you live? Where are you from? Where do you work? Each of these questions opens up a plethora of responses and follow up questions. As organically as possible, let these happen on their own. This section of steps can become rather large. Be ready to take the time and be interested. Remember that you are still forbidden from adding your own information at this point, unless asked. (I bet you will be asked and this will allow the other individual a chance to find out the same things as you are finding out, and thus add you to their network as you are adding them to your own). As you find out another piece of info, try to dig a little deeper, or make a connection.

Before I go on to the last step, realize that we have said nothing really about databases, our skills, our goals, our talents, our favorite or least favorite piece of the database world. We are getting to know the human. Remember that they are 1^st a human like you, second an IT professional, and third a database professional. There are many things you can have in common before you actually reach the database professional stage of information gathering. Hopefully before this stage even occurs you have forged enough bonds with this person, built up a relationship of trust and added them to your network, regardless of whether they are in BI, DBA, Development, Contracting, etc.

What

This question gets more into the nitty gritty and you start seeing where you overlap in skills and talents. Some sample questions for this stage are ‘What do you do?’, ‘What brings you to the Summit?’, ‘What do you hope to gain out of this Summit?’, ‘What is your favorite part of SQL Server?’, ‘What are you good at?’, ‘What are you not so good at?’, ‘What do you hope to be better at?’, and so on. Add here as you see fit. But the point of this section is to learn more about them. As I have said before, you are here to learn about them. Where possible, refrain from telling your own tales and wowing them. Let them ask you. It will happen. It’s human nature. But by you showing a genuine interest in their skills, in them, you forge that bond that will elevate this person into your upper echelon of helpful networked individuals.

Once you have exhausted these initial questions, realize that that may be the end of this interaction. You may or may not have made a friend for life. Time will tell. But it is important that you break away before it becomes awkward. Let this happen organically, naturally. Remember to not monopolize their time. Selfishly, you are here to form bonds with as many people as possible; adding each one to your network. Sticking it out beyond usefulness does neither of you any good.

Let’s Pretend

You find yourself standing next to me in a hall. You turn to me, without looking at my badge, and ask me ‘Who are you?’ I will probably grab my badge to double check the name, and then tell you my name. I will then probably do the same to you, asking your name, while still looking you in the eye. My eye will then wonder to your name badge to see it visually, as I attempt to burn your name and face into my memory. Sometimes this burning succeeds, other times it does not. But I will always remember this interaction with you.

Next you ask me ‘Where do you come from?’ For me, this answer requires a bit of time. I come from California. That’s where I was born and raised. It’s part of who I am so I will answer with this bit of information. But I will also tell you that I am from Utah, as this is there I live now. With this information you have a plethora of follow up questions. You can ask me about where in California I grew up, why I left, if I know Fresno, where your uncle lives and you visited once. I will tell you that I do know Fresno, and have visited friends of our family many times. In fact, they live in Clovis, nearby to Fresno. Since I opened up more information about Fresno, feel free to dig into this. At this point you realize that you know someone that lives in Clovis, and ask me if I knew them. Why not? I may know them. You’d be surprised. Next you may ask me about my living in Utah. Here you can be adventurous and ask me if I am ‘Mormon’, or even more adventurous and ask me how many wives I have. This will lead to some interesting discussions. Maybe you only want to ask me if I have visited Lake Powell or Zion National Park, or if I snow ski? Realize that you have not said you do any of these things. You are asking me about me. You may want to ask ‘Where do you work?’ This too will open up a plethora of follow up questions. See the pattern here? You are not talking about you. You are asking about me. Letting me go on and on about me. It’s one of my favorite topics.

You get the idea. Start small. Grow organically. Let the networking happen easily and efficiently. Stick to these simple questions and branch out when you feel comfortable. Learn about them. Add them to your network. Remember this interaction. Make as many of these as you can.

When you find yourself having 10 seconds near another human, lean over, look them in the eye, and then ask them Who, Where and What. You may have just found a friend for life. At the least, you may forge a bond with another human that can be added to your network. Goal accomplished.

I don't know anyone, I don't sing karaoke, I don't drink. Can I still have fun at SQLPASS?

The Summit for the Professional Association for SQL Server is the premiere event of the year for the group commonly referred to as PASS. Its coming up soon. In October to be more precise. If you are not planning on attending, stop what you are doing and make plans.

I attended my first PASS summit in 2004 in Florida after the hurricane had hit the Florida area. Since Disney World was close by, my family came along with me. We rented a condo and stayed there for the duration. I had a rental car, and I would get dropped off at the Summit while they went to Disney World. I joined them twice, leaving the summit once early, and again on Friday. We went as an entire family on Saturday and then flew home. Each day I would arrive at the summit after breakfast and usually after the keynote. I would attend session and after session, learning tons of valuable information, and then meet my family somehow afterwards. That was the extent of my participation in the summit.

Looking back and realizing that some amazing memories were created with my family at Disney World, I think I would do things differently now. Knowing what I now know.

I would attend the summit earlier each day, earlier than breakfast. People are there already, milling about. I could get to know them. We could network. I could learn from them. No just the sessions. I would talk to more people while at breakfast. I would ask what they did, what they struggled with, and I would share those same things with them from my day to day experiences.

I would attend the keynotes and instead of making sure I had that saftey chair between me and anyone else in my row, I would sit next to someone. In fact, if I saw a group of folks talking and chatting, i might siddle up to them, if nothing else than to listen in and hope to join the conversation when I could. Inbetween sessions I might look again for a group of folks that seem to be discussing interesting topics and join in. If I was late to a session, I wouldn't stress about it. I'd attend when I could.

But what about drinking? What about all the parties? What about SQLKaraoke? What about wearing a Kilt? None of these things are things I would do in my day to day life. I never go to a bar. I have never drank alcohol in my life, nor do I smoke. Why would I go to something like this? Should I go to a gathering like this? Should I wear a kilt?

Well, let me tell you that after the first summit, I went to my next summit and implemented some of the things I mentioned above that I said I should have done from the beginning. I met people. I talked to people. I ate breakfast with people. We discussed issues. Soon I learned that there were even more networking opportunities out there for me. After the sessions had closed, people kept doing things. Kept hanging out. Yes, lots of them drink and even tend to sing crudely in front of an audience. Some will even wear a kilt. And no, these are not things I usually do, so I would usually return to my hotel. I should avoid them? WRONG!!

At one of my early volunteer outings with other PASS volunteers I realized that even if I didn't drink, I could still have fun with people that did. I talked. I networked. I commiserated. I discussed issues. I partied like I party. When someone tried to make fun of me for not drinking, another PASS volunteer stood up and defended me. He didnt drink either. But he sure likes pie. Instead of leaving or avoiding the gathering, I met more and more people. More and more opened up to me. I met even more people. It's insane the number of people you can meet if you open yourself up to meeting them.

Remember, they are all like you. There is not a cool kids club. We are all part of the club. Its up to us to determine how much we participate. Or not. And if we don't, we are simply hurting ourselves. Because others are meeting, talking, planning, sharing and learning from each other. Why aren't you out there with them doing the same?

Sleep when you return home from PASS. Soak up every moment you can with the SQLFamily.

Get out there and meet them. Open up. Experience PASS.

#TSQL2sDay: Resolutions

For this month’s T-SQL Tuesday, Jen McCown asks:

So tell us: what techie resolutions have you been pondering, and why? Are you heading for a certification? An award? Are you looking to pick up CLR because that guy at the Summit said it’s “bitchin’”? Go crazy…

What is T-SQL Tuesday? Let's read from the master's blog ( Adam Machanic (Blog| Twitter) ) the following :

Each month a blog will host the party, and about a week before the second Tuesday of the month a theme will be posted. Any blogger that wishes to participate is invited to write a post on the chosen topic. The event is called "T-SQL Tuesday", but any post that is related to both SQL Server and the theme is fair game. So feel free to post about SSIS, SSRS, Java integration, or whatever other technologies you're working with in conjunction with SQL Server. Even if your post includes no T-SQL we still want to see it.

I thought that the idea of doing these T-SQL Tuesday blog events was a grand idea, and couldn't wait for my first opportunity to contribute. You may notice that its been going on without my contributions for quite some time. I am finally contributing.

Last year, around this same time, there was a rash of resolution blog posts making the rounds. I thought long and hard on what I wanted to accomplish, and posted these here in a blog entry. My goals then, as in previous years, surrounded 10 distinct items. I would like to continue with these this year, albeit with modifications.

1. Local User Group
2. Produce presentations. 4-6 presentations for the year
3. Speak
4. Perform Regional Mentor Duties
5. Blog
6. Articles
7. MVP
8. Read
9. Topics
10. #InboxZero

1. Contributing the the local User Groups is paramount. Be it thru UG meetings, simply being part of peoples lives that are members, SQL Saturday events, Code Camps, and so on. There are many opportunities to contribute, and this last year I did so in some of these ways listed above. I strive to continue to do so this year. I will be branching out a bit, as money permits, to attend regionally local SQL Saturday events as well.

2. Presentations are a good way of documenting what you know, and sharing it with others. Its a good way to learn a subject more fully than you currently know it. I have had good success with SSWUG presentations, an will continue to pursue this avenue, as well as others that come my way. I love to learn, and love to share that knowledge with others. Presentations are an obvious outlet for this activity.

3. I had this goal more specific last year, indicating speaking at SSWUG. I have removed that specificness this year, and simply want to speak more, including SSWUG, SQL Saturday events, and the like. I would simply like to stretch those speaking and presenting muscles more and more.

4. As a volunteer with PASS, its important to define an avenue for your work, then contribute as much as you can to this. I am a Regional Mentor for the Southwest region, and I, along with my colleague Andrew Karcher need to support these Chapters and ensure that whatever they need, they can be provided with. This is a fun job, although I often do not busy myself as much as I feel I should with these duties. There are some side projects in the works as well that are fairly exciting.

5. Writing in a blog can be an interesting endeavor. I will often go days, weeks, dare I say, even months without posting something here. This is not to say that I do not find value in blogging, but simply that I often find value in only posting what I believe is necessary to share, or im simply to busy to do so. So, as in previous years, I vow to post more here, to glean more information from my day to day tasks that are worthy of this forum. Not to simply post to post, or get quantity. I'm going for quality. And in come cases, I need to prod myself to generate that quality, more often.

6. This last year, I did not write as many articles as I was happy with for myself. I vow to set this as a goal again, and produce, as mentioned, more content that is valuable not only to myself, but to others.

7. Nothing will change for this goal, as its a passive goal. All the other tasks will occur on their own, and this is simply there as a carrot.

8. Again, this goal fell short last year, and will remain on my list for the year coming up. I have extended this from simply reading books, to include other mediums as well, and have imported books to my android phone and other devices, with the intent of having them more readily available, and actually carving out time away from the TV to read more.

9. This year, with this new job, I am trying to be more open to topics that were previously shut off to me for various reasons. One of these is PowerShell, and I have actually started using this more already, and hope to do so more this year. Another topic that has come my way is simply general documentation. I have spent a lot of time in my last job documenting many many things for DB systems. I will implement this skill in my current gig to document everything that is missing documentation, which right now is everything.

10. I love that this goal has made it to my list, and will forever remain. This is the ever present goal of cleaning up my email, managing my email, and imply organizing myself, accomplishing my tasks at the same time. With a new job comes new vigor to keep the inbox down to zero. Home has suffered for far too long, and will be high on my list to sort thru these emails and get them processed as well.

Well, there you have it. 10 items that I have found that are important to me, that I have continued to promote as my resolutions through a few years, with modifications as time marched on.

I hope to accomplish these in the coming years. Or at least, to stretch myself to become closer to attaining whatever task or goal each one indicates. Its good to have goals, ans we in our family just recently discussed this, coming up with spiritual as well as personal goals for each member of the family.

I challenge you to read thru my list, see if any of these things ring true for you, or impress you to set your own similar goals. Come back often and reference this, and ensure that you are accomplishing them as the year marches on.

Trackback to original blog : http://www.midnightdba.com/Jen/2011/01/tsql-tuesday-014/

New gig, new changes and social networking

I've been at my current employer for 2.5 years. In a nutshell, I am a DBA for a very highly transactional system, a 24x7 shop that takes and processes payment for many different clients. If we have downtime of mere seconds, we loose a lot of transactions. Providing 'Service Delivery' to this system is paramount. Keeping the systems up and running requires a lot of planning, a lot of knowledge of the topology and a lot of time sensitive reactions.

During the past couple of years, I have definitely learned a lot. Skills that will help me forever in this line of work. I have also worked some random hours, long hours and extra hours. Many times I have been known to work the full day, only to find myself working the night as well. This is not uncommon in our line of work. It is understood that if you are supporting a database system, you become the goto guy/gal at any hours of the day or night to help keep your system up and running. You may often find yourself in a situation where your tasks require you to do specific things, and be unable to do other things. Meaning, our job requirements may be detailed for us, and disallowing us from performing certain activities. Roles and Responsibilities, division of duties and all that. These rules allow us to ensure that the right people are performing the right tasks at the right time.

Well, as I wax poetic about our jobs and responsibilities, I realize I got off topic a bit. So, back on track we go. A month ago, at the beginning of November, I received a random email from a Systems Engineer at a company I had never heard of. I have never heard of the individual that sent me the email either. It turns out that I am a secondary link thru the social networking wite LinkedIn. This individual seemed to have the need of a DBA's services, and knew that relying on his connections, may be able to uncover someone that was interested.

Whenever I receive requests of this nature, either thru a person I know, or a headhunter, or from whomever, I always entertain the information. It may be of interest to me, or maybe better suited for someone else. But I may as well listen to the option. If it is interesting to me, I'll follow up. Usually it is not interesting, and I can share this with others that may be looking, or members of the User Group or the local community. So, I entertain any job prospect. In fact, I looked back at my email and saw that about 12 different options had come across my desk in the last year. This is by no means a 'brag'. Most of these options were simply not interesting to me, or even worse, I was not qualified to be interested in them.

So, back to this job prospect. Random email or pointed search, I entertained it, and shot my resume over to this person. Once they received it, they were interested, and asked to see me. I love this part of the process. It makes me feel loved, wanted, and validates my skills and work ethic. This first foot in any door makes you feel alive. You must remember that this feeling also was felt with your current employer, once upon a time. Its fun to feel again and again. But it was once felt, and there were reasons you chose what you chose at that time. Keep these in mind when you weigh the possibilities.

After a couple back and forths, me learning about them, and them learning about me, it seemed we were both interested in each other, and offers were made. This is when those feelings of excitement take an odd turn. All the rest leading up to this is simply flirting and is very exciting. Once an offer comes in, it's game time. The feelings get all mixed up. Remember, you once felt excited about your current employer, and made a decision to begin working there. What to do, what to do....

I spent a couple days agonizing about the pros and cons of each option. In the end, I decided to jump to the next opportunity. The pros of this shop are as follows.

The product that is being sold is to school systems around the country and internationaly. The goal of this product is to teach children to speak and read english. The product uses games and video and interaction to teach. There are databases that produce the learning experience, databases gathering data on what is going on, what users are doing, and so on, databases that are used to report on many aspects of the product. I plan being able to help with performance tuning, data warehousing, data migration, and building out the systems and databases to be more robust systems. I'll get to take the skills I currently have and utilize them in a variety of ways, as well as learn new and exciting things. The systems are all SQL Server 2008 databases, which is exciting to me, as I seem to have been stuck just behind that curve with critical systems being on 2005 and even 2000. I have often wanted to do more work with BI and DW, and this will give me that chance. The company is close by, which will not negatively impact my commute. I have heard nothing but good things from employees as well as families of employees of this new company. The money and other options are similar to what I currently enjoy, and are neither a huge increase or decrease. The company is not tiny, but is not huge either. I have had conversations, as per the interview process, with almost a dozen people and have been really impressed with what I have learned thus far. I will get to attend SQLPASS this next year, as this was one of those options I requested in the beginning.

So, new chapter, new gig. Life will change. Day to day work will be different. Different people will become my coworkers. Lots of differences to come. Its exciting and scary at the same time.

What I Learned at PASS

There’s a contest going on at PASS looking for answers to “Best Thing I Learned at PASS”. I have been busy enough that I kept putting this on the back burner. But it's time to put in my 2-cents.

Since the contest has a size limit, I am partitioning the story below from the rest of this blog entry.


Contest Entry starts here
--------------------------

Let’s start at the beginning. I wanted to learn more about SQL Server, and found a local User Group, and attended.

After a few meetings, I got to know a few people, including the President. Having these contacts, and being able to ask questions of these local ‘knowledge stores’ when I needed help was priceless. If the story ended there, it would already be a success story. I had networked and learned. I was a better DBA for it.

But that’s not the end. The President told me that I should go to PASS. Since I trusted him already, I went. My family came with me to Florida, and went to DisneyWorld, as I went to PASS. I remember being alone with people all around me. But I soon noticed tons of people, just like me, wanting to learn. During the conference, I saw a few people that I knew, and recognized some names from books I had read. Soon, I realized that all the people attending and speaking, were just like me. This is the 1st great thing that I learned; there are no experts that are better than me, they are people just like me, they just learned this stuff earlier. Now they are sharing with the rest of us. I too can learn what they know. The quantity of knowledge and contacts I have gained because I attended PASS cannot be measured. And that’s why we are all here at PASS. To learn and to network.

--------------------------
Contest Entry ends here


I just wanted to say a few more words in regards to PASS summits that wouldnt fit in the contest.

I have been to many PASS summits, as many as my employer has allowed. Some times, my employer has not allowed it. This has been a source of frustration to me. This annual event is where I get to join up with others of my kind, and learn from them. This has increased my knowledge so much. I hope that i get to go this year, and in future years. Regardless of attendance, I am an avid volunteer in various pieces of the PASS puzzle. This volunteerism gives me a satisfaction that i cannot gain elsewhere, especially at work. Its a great opportunity. All should attend and learn and network and better themselves. Then return and repeat.

SQLPASS Auditing & Compliance SIG LiveMeeting

Today, the Auditing & Compliance SIG had our first live meeting event. We held a presentation about Sarbanes-Oxley and the DBA.

Many different topics were presented, with possible solutions provided.
We discussed ways to remedaite the following topics, and how to provide auditable documentation for auditors.

Change Management
Division of duties
Backup and Recovery
Restoration
Data Structure Changes
Back End Database User Access
Database Authentication & Access
Job Monitoring
Data Monitoring Controls
Data Transfer
Physical Access


I felt like it went well, and hopefully helped folks out with their concerns and needs with this topic. A few people asked for the slides or the recording. I hope that it got recorded, but in the short term i have posted the slides here.


When I find out about the recording, I'll post it somewhere we can get to it.

I hope that this is the first of many events that will help us DBA's with Auditing & Compliance.

Presenting for the Auditing & Compliance SIG

On April 1st at 12PM MST, that’s 11AM to those of you on the West Coast, and 2PM for those on the East Coast, I will be giving a presentation for the Auditing & Compliance SIG about SOX (Sarbanes Oxley), and the DBA perspective.

Many years ago, I was tasked with bring a system into compliance that I was DBA for. We started at scratch, and built up policy, procedure and a few systems to assist us. I later used this knowledge setting up another shot. Now I want to share this with you.


Live Meeting URL: http://www.sqlpass.org/Community/SIGs/AuditingandComplianceSIG/tabid/84/Default.aspx

Audio Dial-In Information:
Conference Dial in: (866) 379-8990
Conference code: 6489756


More information locate on the SIG page:
http://www.sqlpass.org/Events/ctl/ViewEvent/mid/521.aspx?ID=103


A few articles I've written on the subject.

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/audit/Automate_Audit_Requests%20_p1.aspx

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/audit/Audit_Data_Modifications_p1.aspx

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Auditing/63249/

PASS Call for Speakers Now Open

Hey, is that a bandwagon i see? Wonder if I should hop on? Yeah, it will be a fun ride. I know lots of the guys on there, and it seems they are having fun. So, here I go!!!


I rarely blog these types of infos, since others typically do before me.
But today, i was in a weird mood, and wanted to do a fun blog for a Friday, and this was all i could come up with.

Since others have already done this, i'll just list their blogs, and count them as my own... hehe

http://sqlbatman.com/2009/03/pass-call-for-speakers-now-open/

http://wiseman-wiseguy.blogspot.com/2009/03/pass-summit-2009-call-for-speakers.html

Well, it turns out, thats it. Those are the only ones so far that have blogged about it. Crud, I shoulda jumped on the bandwagon and blogged about it. Wait, thats what I'm doing, but under the disguise that I am doing a funny blog about it, and not actually doing the call for speakers... so, you decide.

I was just bored on a Support call, saw a few tweets come across my screen, and got a funny notion in my head. Its probably only funny to me, but in the end, that all that really matters. Did I make me laugh? If so, blog it. Check and mate.



So, i hit Search.twitter.com and looked for more. I did find more folks talking about it there...


sql_joker: SQL Batman - PASS Call for Speakers Now Open: Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Commun.. http://tinyurl.com/cf3egu (expand)
23 minutes ago from twitterfeed

AndyLeonard: RT @SQLBatman: [Blog] PASS Call for Speakers Now Open:Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Community Summit? http://s3nt.com/d8rb
34 minutes ago from TweetDeck

SQLBatman: [Blog] PASS Call for Speakers Now Open: Did you want to speak at the upcoming PASS 2009 Community Summit? Well, now ... http://s3nt.com/d8rb
36 minutes ago from Ping.fm

unclebiguns: New blog post: http://tinyurl.com/cv4k9e (expand) - PASS Summit 2009 Call for Speakers Open
about 2 hours ago from web

SqlAsylum: RT @sqlpass: PASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for details.
1 day ago from TweetDeck

AndyLeonard: RT @sqlpass: PASSSummit2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10.Check out the PASS Home Page for more details.
2 days ago from TweetDeck

BetsyLM: RT @sqlpassPASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for more details
2 days ago from web

sqlpass: PASS Summit 2009 Call For Speakers Opens Friday 3/20 and will close on Friday 4/10. Check out the PASS Home Page for more details.
2 days ago from TinyTwitter

SqlAsylum: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks. it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TweetDeck

peschkaj: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks.
7 days ago from TweetDeck

statisticsio: Retweeting @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks.
7 days ago from OutTwit

AndyLeonard: RT @sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks... it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TweetDeck

sqlpass: PASS Call For Speakers opens 3/20, closing on 4/3! Get your abstracts together folks. With your help it's going to be a great Summit!
7 days ago from TinyTwitter


So, get out and get your presentations dusted off. Submit them. Prepare yourself for an incredible experience at PASS by becoming a presenter. Its a thrill of a lifetime. Or so i have been told. I'm to scared to do it myself, and who would wanna listen to my half baked ideas anyway. Wait, i should listen to the other advice i just gave, and do it myself. I did submit an abstract a couple years ago... Maybe i still have it somewhere....

PASS High

I did not coin the phrase, but fully intend on stealing it and using it.  

Last week, the Professional Association for SQL Server held its annual Summit.  This is basically a world-wide user group, ran by users, for users, with a little help from MS and CA.  There is a board of directors that have been elected, by-laws, volunteers and the rest of the members.  Each year, those that get to go get a chance to meet the movers and shakers in SQL Server communities world-wide.  I have often said to other SQL peeps that I have probably met at least 1 author of a SQL book they probably have in their office.  So far, that prediction has been 100% true.  I have been able to sit at the feet of the giants in our community and learn from them.  Some have even become my friends.  And i get to see them each year at the Summit.  As my attendance has increased, i have also met and made many friends that are repeat customers, like myself.

Someone else at the summit coined this phrase, and i stole it too.  Summer Camp for DBA's.

This is an eerily accurate portrayal of the event.  We all show up from across the world, and slowly remeet each other.  Excited handshakes and embraces are exchanged.  We talk about what we've been doing, what we want to do, what our plans and dreams are for our careers and systems.  We learn from others and each other.  We attend classes during the day and learn tons.  We play at night and revive old friendships and new ones.  When its over, we are exhausted, tired, a bit homesick, but sad to leave our summer camp buddies.  We go our separate ways, but continue to stay in touch.  When we return home, we have a renewed vigor for our jobs and a thirst to apply neat new things we have learned.  We could not attend all sessions, so we thirst for the missing knowledge we skipped and watch it on video.  We attend to our various volunteer efforts with new ideas.  We discuss new ideas outside our scope of influence. We tweet way too much with our newly found friends.

This is the High i and others are talking about.  Its a natural high from an amazing week of camaraderie and learning and mayhem.  Each year i attend, i come back with this High and hope it doesnt go away.  Its enjoyable to have the SQL endorphins running through my system.  Menial tasks seem to take on an extra significance.  Rote discussions seem to trigger latent memories of learned skills from sessions attended.  Life simply seems more enjoyable and less dull.

As i start my holiday weekend (thanksgiving in the USA) i hope to retain some of this feeling.  Maybe simply postpone it until next week when i am in the chair in front of the db's again.  I have set myself some goals for my volunteer efforts, and plan on documenting these for myself, so that i can remain focused the entire year.  I have written an article already about my experiences with Twitter and the summit.  I am working on getting that published. I have a notepad file of notes that i need to traverse and assign out as tasks. 

If nothing else, PASS Summit has sparked that inner light in me to get up and move a bit more, do a bit more, be a bit more effective.  I believe that this High and versions of it received from other events is what has propelled the folks i termed 'movers and shakers s in SQL Server communities world-wide' previously.  they simply got excited years ago about their jobs and stepped up a notch.  Continual stepping up a notch has posed them as 'movers and shakers'.  Do i hope to attain this alltitude someday?  sure. Will I? Who knows.  What's important to me now, and i hope in the future is to simply step it up a notch myself.  Make myself better tomorrow than i am today.  In the end, wherever i end up on the scale will not really matter, only that i am a better person for it then, than i am now.

Summer Camp for DBA's (#SQLPASS) is over for 2008

I wanted to thank everyone that i met and remet at PASS this past week.
I started sending this over Twitter, but ran out of 140 characters too soon.
Either I know too many people, or all their names are too long. hum...

So, here it goes.

Thanks goes out to :

People that i follow on twitter that i met or remet while attending PASS


@alibro
@AndyLeonard
@blythemorrow
@bradmcgehee
@BrentO
@Bugboi
@DevSQL
@donalddotfarmer
@douglasmcdowell
@drsql
@Grant_Fritchey
@greglow
@jessicammoss
@joewebb
@KevinIC3
@lyndarab
@PaulNielsen
@peschkaj
@Peter_Shire
@robboek
@rushabhmehta
@sqlagentman
@SqlAsylum
@SQLBatman
@SQLDiva
@sqlinsaneo
@stuarta
@wardy
@way0utwest

Thanks goes out to those twits that were not in attendance, yet involved themselves in a positive way and contributed to the PASS summit
@statisticsio
@sh3n3rd


And the folks that i met and remet that have yet to get with twitter, but still provides a valuable social experience at the PASS summit.

Andy Warren
Ben Miller
Bill Graziano
Christoph Stotz
Chuck Heinzelman
Erin Welker
Itzik Ben-Gan
Kalen Delaney
Kevin Kline
Neil Watkins
Rick Heiges
Wayne Snyder

And all the wonderful folks at Red-Gate
Dominic
Andras
Rachael
and more i do not remember names of, i'm sure.


I am sure that i missed some folks, and i will try to add to the list as i remember them.



Twitter

While at PASS, i had the chance to meet and talk with so many different folks. All of which taught me. All of which i learned from. From the presenters, from the organizers, from the board of PASS, from the volunteers, from the attendees (delegates), from the speakers, and from others. If you do not take the time

What an amazing experience PASS was this year. With the advent of the Social Networking toys we all picked up, plus the combination of close proximity to everyone in the Summit, I was able to meet and interact with people in a way i never have before. Le't's talk about a few of the new experiences that i was able to participate in over this new wave of Social Networking that was unleashed with a vengance upon #SQLPass.

Where else, or when else have you

• been an audience member, and seen the inner thoughts of people about to take stage in front of 3000 people, and seen and read what they were thinking before, and after? and then seen that person later alter their presentation based on feedback from the audience, before taking the stage?
• been able to get the insights of a dozen individuals if not more that are participating in an educational experience, at the same time you are?
• been allowed the opportunity to meet up and organize into small groups quickly and efficiently, while those same people are scattered amongst the city in different locations?
• been keyed into great sessions that others are participating in and be able to decide to jump to that session or stay in yours?
• been able to wake up or goto bed, and get a slight iternary of peoples actions, even though you are not present?
• been able to join a group of friends that have all taken off to a destination, and realize its the same destination you intended on going too? Now you are not alone.
• been able to get someone to save you a seat, as you were late getting into a capacity filling room, and been able to experience the session with them?
• arrived at an airport and asked to share a ride in the cab with someone, and been able to trust that individual that you had never met before?
• been in a small group of folks, and had an entire subtext of converstaion and reality occur, and be able to witness it?
• found someone who had an extra bag to lend you out in your packing needs?
• met friends you may feel a kinsmanship with, yet never met in person? and find out that they are exactly like the friend you had before meeting them?
• peek into the minds of bloggers and writers commenting and disecting anothers speech, giving you a unique opportunity of seeing the words in a different light than your own, and understand them in multiple ways, as they are still emerging from the speaker?

All this, and much more was afforded us at PASS by virtue of Twitter, and Social Networking. An amazing experience PASS has been for us all in years past, and the networking advantages we have reaped have been countless. But this PASS, 2008 PASS Summit was incredible to be a part of the upper, lower and middle realities that surrounded it with Social Networking.

An amazing experience, brought to new heights.

#PASS Day 3

#PASS Day 3

Today is Thursday at PASS Summit.  I started the day early by getting up, and getting to snooze.  Then again and again and again.  I then changed the alarm for alater time, and snoozed that a few more times.  When i finally got up, I was lae for the Quest breakfast event with the panel of experts.  I showered and hurried over to the conference center.  Its awesome to be so close, so that the trip is in minutes.  Once i got there, i had a little bit of breakfast, and listened to the panel of experts talk about their ideas.  It was neat to hear so many different ideas up there, and solutions ot real world problems.

After this event, i made my way over to the keynote event and sat in the second row behind the board of directors.  While the keynote event went on, twitterverse was reap with underlying information from myself and others.  Its great to see others insight into an event, in realtime.  When the Keynote was over, we had a friend in Kalen Delaney's session already saving us seats.  Many thanks goto Grant Fritchey for getting us seats.  Kalen is always interesting to listen too.  she has such a way of sharing experiences with us, and not following a script.  Before you know it, you are pulled into her world and are learning along the way.  I love it.

After this sesion, i made my way to the Women in Technology luncheon.  The purpose for going was there is always good food at this event.  Secondary purpose was because Sanj invited me to attend, and i felt like i should help out the women in thee PASS organization that i work with.  While i sat there eating the great food, i learned a lot too.  The panel consisted of a few women with great experiences that they shared with the audience, and opened it up to questions from the audience. Here are some of the nuggets of wisdom i caught during WIT.

• No schedule wednesday. Not allowed to have meetings on wed. U r allowed to plan life events to occur that day. 
  
• Find friends who enhance who you are but let you be who you are. 
  
•  Kalen made a great point. Set a goal and strive for it, but do not be afraid to reevaluate it. Do not be imprisoned.\

Search Twitter.com for more tags on WIT to find more insights.

And in that vein, goto search.twitter and look at all the comments on #sqlpass to follow along.  Some will be out of context, but others will be priceless.

I spent some time grabing pieces of information i was listening too, and throwing it out to the twitterverse for others to read.  I was even commented on by Louis Davidson as the only one on twitter posting about the WIT event.  Though there were a couple others also.

After this lunch, i went to another session, then another one, etc.  I leared some great things and always enjoy these sessions.  some more than others, but most will teach us great tidbits we can bring back home.  One of them was Tom LaRock's session on Operations Manager.  This is a tool i really need to dig into, and see if i can get it implemented.  It seems like a great tool for monitoring your databases.  Tom actually was remoted into his work, via VPN, and amazingly, did a great job demoing this, with few issues.  The session was great overall, and i hope to learn from it, and implement it.

I made my way down to the exhibition hall and got a bit more swag, and even filled out my card, in the hopes to win one of 15 prizes to be given away later.  After getting it filled out, i ran back to the hotel to dump my swag, and get back for the drawing.  On the way, i ran into another chapter president, Fransisco Rosario.  He ended up winning an XBox guitar hero game and gear.  It was cool to be standing by someone who won.  Earlier, a name was read off of an individual that i recognized.  It was an interviewee that i met over the phone when i interviewed him for Cybersource.  He was not present, and didnt win.  Too bad.

After the drawings occurred, and i didnt win, i went up to Brad McGehee's talk on being an exceptional DBA.  I also went to Joe Webb's session on quering suggestions.  It was hard to hit both these, as they were at the same time.  Both had good information and i look forward to reviewing the slides and videos online later.

At 6pm, there was an event for everyone.  It was a huge concert like arena.  Music, guitar hero stations, lights, etc.  I wondered around a bit and talked with a bunch of people.  Its always fun to network and see people and alk shop and not shop.  I didnt stay long, as there was a dinner being thrown for Friends of Red-Gate at Ruth's Chris Stakehouse... yummy.  i went with a few other PASS folks (Pat Wright, Grant Fritchey and Tim Ford).  Once there, more shmoozing occurred, good food, and great conversation.  We ended up at a table with Greg Low and his wife, and had stimulating conversations about a good dozen different topics.  They were a joy to discuss to many different things with, and i really loved the time spent together.  By this time, it was about 9pm, and aboout 14 plus hours of being up and going.  Its tough to be up and going so long and learning and networking and all that.  It seems to tire me out so easily.  I returned to the hotel, spent a couple mintues recording a podcast for my family, and this blog.  Now i'm done, and will crawl into bed.  Tomorrow, i get to be an ambassador at breakfast, and sell PASS to folks eating.  Then more sessions will occur, more learning, more networking, and more learning.  I can't wait, but first, sleep.

#PASS Day 2

Day 2 - Which is actually t minus 1 to the true start of PASS.  The day before the summit starts is dedicated to volunteer training.  My first PASS event was in 2004, in Florida.  My family came along to attend Disneyworld while i was at conference.  At this summit, i was so new, i didnt know that there was breakfast served, nor a keynote.  So i would show up in time for classes, and attend, then bail.  I didnt meet up with many, or do much  networking at all.  The next summit i attended, i had been indoctinated in volunteering.  I loved learning about PASS board of directors, and some of the inner workings of hte summit and beyond.  I fell in love, and saw a huge benefit to volunteering.  I was a Chapter leader, and i volunteered to be on the Chapter Committee.  The next summit, i volunteered to be on a SIG, and had taken over a Regional Mentor role as well.  So, volunteer day is a busy one for me, and an enjoyable one learning so much.  I have not volunteered as much or as many years as some of the folks there, but we all remember each other, and know that we are making a small splash into this organization and helping it out.  Its great to learn the inner workings, learn about the finances, and ive attented enough of the volunteer trainings to see a wide variety of leaders and thier different ideas and personalities.  Its an amazing thing to see others doing similar jobs as predecessors in different yet very capable ways.  

As I set in the room, i would wonder over to the twitter world periodically, and catch up on the folks tweeting about what i was watching.  A little surreal.  the food is always good, and the networking is always even better.  Sharing ideas. stories, learning and fun times.  

We get an overview of the organization, its past directions and future directions.  We break out into groups in the afternoon, and get down to the nitty gritty.  I sat in the Chapter meeting with Greg Low and many other chapter leaders.  We all get to meet each other, and share ideas. 

Greg is a great leader and has such a keen eye for directing folks.  He is a gem to listen too and i always get great ideas from him.  As he is talking, i end up getting inspirations about how too run my chapter and be a better regional mentor.  I always come away with a list of items i can improve upon, implement, and attempt to be abetter volunteer.

After the Chapter meeting, i ended up talking with a few folks about ideas of transforming our user groups.  

I ran into Ben Miller and discussed our local chapters and issues surrouding them.  I have had a hard time the last 6 months getting presentors and a stable location to house my User Group.  We talked about some great ideas.  This actually made me late to the Opening Social and my manning the table at my Special Interest Group.  Luckily, not a lot of people were interested in the SIG, so i didnt miss a lot.  A few folks did stop by and talk to me, and i had a couple volunteer kinda.  I'm not sure that the SIG actually has been given a life, but at least a few were interested.  I had chances to meet up with some other folks, give away my MOO cards, and network.  This is what PASS is all about for me now.  The learing that i will get tomorrow thru friday will be great, but the networking is amazing.  

After the Opening Social, i made my way up to the SQL Server Central party.  Last year, i just showed up, and luckily Steve Jones let me in.  I didnt register with the SSC code, as i was sponsored with other codes, so i felt like i was cheating getting into the party.  I didnt play any of  the games, but just watched.  But this time, i paid my way in, got my book, shirt and chips for playing.  I ended up at a table playing 21.  I ended up getting 22 a lot of the time, and it was soon apparant that i had no idea what i was doing, but i had fun doing it.  I had others helping me out, even the dealer would raise her eyebrow when i suggested making a dumb move.  At a couple different points in the game, Steve Jones would stop by, and dump off some prizes to be given away at the next blackjack.  I watched Todd Robinson win and win and win.  Many a joke was made as his hugely accumulating stack of black chips, soon becoming yellow, and then finally blue.  I wallowed with my white and red chips, and the occasional green one i would trade for more red ones.  I bet slow and steady, and rarely won, but kept in the game.  Steve Jones stopped by one more time with a movie and an IPod nano.  It was blue, just like the one that my daughter Kylie picked out at the store as something she 'had to have'.  I made a few jokes about never being able to win it, but got close a couple times.  Each time i had a face car or an Ace, we would ramp up and cheer, hoping to hit a blackjack.  When it missed, there was oohs and ahs, and yelling.  The table next too us started wondering what they were missing.  After about 4 chances of getting the ipod, and missing, i ended up hitting it.  Got my only Blackjack of the night and won the IPod nano.  Woohooo.  An immediate direct tweet was sent to my family.

After the gaming was over, and we watched Todd Robinson win the 1st place chip leader, i headed home to the Sheraton with others.  After running into more PASS board folks i finally got to my room.  Now, im fighting getting iTunes installed and trying to get some songs to the ipod so i can use it on my morning run.

In any event, this is my report.

#PASS Day 1

I arrived in Seattle on Sunday night, in preparation for the PASS Summit.  The next day, i got up, attended to some work, went off of on-call duties, and had a chance to catch up with some PASS folks.  We had a good time catching up, seeing some sights, and talking databases.  There was a fair amount of teasing and twittering, and photos were taken as well.  Its always nice to catch up with some folks from past summits, and Social Networking this past year.

Monday night, we attended a Volunteer party that Pat Wright and the volunteer committe put on.  It's always such a great thing to meet up with the volunteers, rub shoulders with the Board of Directors and other members of PASS.  It's also fun to hang out and get free food and play.  (the next day we always learn how much it really cost), but today its free.  We gathered at the convention center and walked what i thought would be 8 blocks, but uphill, it seemed like a lot more.  We got to the bowling alley and after the mad rush for shoes, we went downstairs to an area set apart just for us.  The music was loud, the blowing was  loud, and the people were loud.  The snack were great, the blowling only as good as i could bowl with my sore shoulder.  Great time were had.  I bowled 3 strikes, and 3 gutters.  I even got a couple spare's , but one was when i took over the guy before me's spot.  I got to bowl twice in a row that set... hehe.

Lots of people came and went.  I had conversations with a ton of people, and even got a hug.  The night was a blast.  I made friends with @peschkaj  as we were some of the few that didnt drink that night.  

Getting ready for PASS - MOO cards arrived

Today, about a week later than i thought they would arrive, my MOO cards arrived. They are very professionaly done and look great. I gathered the family around to look at them, as I put about 20+ different pictures of my mug on them. The kids loved seeing their dad on cards.


After seeing a few other folks get their cards from MOO, i thoought it was a great idea too.

Thanks too SQL Batman, SQL Agentman and the one that started it all, Brent Ozar.

I usually print my own cards for PASS, and they have the little perforrations on them, and the fading ink im too cheap to replace before printing. One year, one of the colors was simply gone, and I was left with teal colored business cards. So, this year things will be different. I'll look professional. At least until you turn them over and see pics of me dirtbiking, boating, etc.