Looking back on 2011, I'm surprised by two occurances. First, I got a lot of work done, despite myself. My biggest obstacles to high-performance are all self-derived; procrastination, disorganization, and plain ol' laziness. Second, I'm surprised I survived my personal travails. I've had my fill of frowns this year, from wayward children to ...

The last quarter of the year is usually my busiest due to the fantastic PASS Summit and SQLBits events. The fall looks a little different ... BECAUSE IT WILL BE EVEN BUSIER! Here's a rundown of where I'll be this fall through mid-October:   BASTA! SQLCON.NET September 26 to 29; Mainz, Germany This big developer and admin conference ...

Those of us over a certain age (read - old as dirt) can remember the theme songs to certain TV shows better than we can the National Anthem. Try these lines out and see if you don't immediately remember the tune that goes along with them: Come and knock on our door | We've been waiting for you ... Makin' your way in the world today | ...

Brent Ozar (blog | twitter) and I did an interview with TechTarget’s Brendan Cournoyer at last summer's Tech-Ed, which as turned into a podcast titled “Cloud efforts advance, SQL Server evolves.” The podcast covers all the major trends at the conference (like BI), virtualization features in Quest’s products (like Spotlight), Brent’s new book ...

Good grief, there's a lot of travel in my future. <sigh ... deep breath> It'll be exhausting and it'll be hard to lose so much time with the family. But if I'm able to avoid travel mishaps, it'll be fun.  Meet Me In St. Louis I'll be speaking in St. Louis, MO on Tuesday, September 14th for their mid-day meeting. The details, ...

Pardon me, sir. Do I have a dog in this fight? Do I have a dog in this Fight? If I did, it'd be the Warner Brothers Barnyard Dog. After my term of service on the PASS board of directors ended in December of 2009, I fully intended to stay far, far out of the way.  It's an intention that I've largely been able to fulfill,excluding the ...

Dream Team Forms Around Azure If you're wondering whether to hedge your long-term bets on cloud computing, this should help you solidify your thinking. Microsoft has been building a dream team for Azure, including the patriarch of Windows (and father of Windows NT) Dave Cutler.  Tweets from several Microsofties reveal that another revered ...

How 'Bout a Little Context? Let me be direct with you.  I love SQL Saturday.  If it were a woman, I'd marry it.  (Avoiding all extraneous thoughts of what my real wife would say, etc etc). Check out this fun Flickr Feed from the recent SQL Saturday in Chicago or these picks by Jorge Segara (blog | twitter) to see the ...

Join Us for 24 Hours of SQL Server Training (with a special focus on SQL Server 2008 R2)Did I mention that your Cohorts in Crime (that be me and Brent Ozar) are presenting?!? The FREE 24 Hours of PASS event is bringing an exceptional lineup of SQL Server and BI experts to your computer starting at 12:00 GMT (UTC) on May ...

The Suggestion The Modern Language Association hasn't made up all the new rules yet to govern how one blogger should reverence, er, reference another in their blog posts.  But they should!  Let's get that ball rolling for them.  I'm not exactly sure who started this format, but it's my favorite.  When writing a blog ...