Even though I've recently changed jobs, I'll still be speaking at a lot of SQL events across the country and internationally.  There are still a few trips that I've yet to finalize, in particular with the fine folks in Houston, run by my friend Nancy Hidy (blog | twitter), and my friends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, run by ...

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 ...

I always enjoy spending time with my friends from Atlanta, as well as meeting folks and making new friends. If you live in the Atlanta area, I hope you'll join me on the evening of Wednesday, February 9th, 2011. Details are at the Atlanta SQL Server user group website. It's common knowledge that I have a terrible memory for many ...

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, ...

Back in late May, my pal Buck Woody (blog | twitter) and I presented SQL Server for the Oracle DBA.  Buck played Jerry Lewis' role, while I played the straight man a la Dean Martin.  You can see the recording and slide deck here.  Since both Buck and I spent a considerable number of years working on Oracle, we felt like we had ...

We've got two sessions that you need to sign up for right away.  The upcoming webcast for Oracle-oriented folks has huge registration numbers.  So get in while you still can before we hit the limit of what LiveMeeting can handle. Pain of the Week: SQL Server for the Oracle DBA Webcast: SQL Server for the Oracle DBADate: ...

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 ...