What a rush. Standing on the stage in an almost-full 1,000-person room, I (very) momentarily wondered what I'd been thinking when I submitted a 500-level talk for the biggest SQL Server conference in the world. But despite a rough start--my laptop crashed and I had to reboot it two minutes into the talk--I found my rhythm and the entire 90 minutes ...

When working with SQL Server 2000, I used to have this little trick I'd pull out after exhausting all other ideas for tuning a query.  And I thought that my little trick was dead in SQL Server 2005, but thanks to fellow SQL Server MVP Rob Farley, I am officially reviving my trick from the dead here and now, in this blog post.... But first, ...