I was extremely fortunate to be able to present at the PASS Summit this year. It was an amazing and energizing time, despite getting about 15 hours of sleep the entire week. Much like last year, here are some of my thoughts and highlights in no particular order: Pusateri Christmas Summit (circa 2000) I love community. …

Read More

There have already been several posts on this topic, but I feel compelled to add my thoughts to the mix. For years I told myself only half-jokingly that by the time I became a Microsoft Certified Master, MCMs would either be a dime-a-dozen, or nobody would care. This past weekend Microsoft fulfilled this prophecy and …

Read More

When I'm presenting on SQL Server data compression, I frequently get asked if data compression and backup compression can be used together. I keep meaning to put together a blog post with a demo so I have something to direct people towards for further reading. So here we are – let's give it the old college try and find …

Read More

Last week Microsoft announced that they will be retiring their TechNet Subscriptions service. This is very disappointing and will profoundly affect myself and many others. What Is TechNet? If you're not familiar with TechNet, it's a program Microsoft offers that contains "Resources and Tools for IT …

Read More

I was recently extremely honored to find out that I earned the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) certification for SQL Server 2008. For me, this is a major milestone in a long, difficult, and costly journey. I have received several questions about it already, and while I can't answer everything, I am happy share as much …

Read More

Yours truly, age 4, at the Illinois Railway Museum I've loved trains ever since I was a little kid. I have no clue why – it goes back as long as I can remember. From an early age, my parents fed this fascination by taking my brother and I to the Illinois Railway Museum. It's an awesome place – the largest railway …

Read More

Tomorrow I am making the trek up to Madison to speak at MADPASS! I had a great time there last year and am looking forward to heading back. I'll be giving my talk on SQL Server's data compression feature entitled "The Skinny on Data Compression." I'll be explaining how data compression works and sharing some …

Read More

A huge thank you to all who took the time to write posts for T-SQL Tuesday #41. I was overwhelmed at the number of replies! I had a ton of them to read, as well as back-to-back SQL Saturdays in Madison and Chicago that have kept me busy the past few weeks, hence the delay in posting this. Without any further ado, here …

Read More

This month's T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by…ME! I asked everyone to share stories of how they came to love presenting, and I have not one but two tales of my own. They both took place at about the same time: my freshman year at the University of Illinois. I can't remember which one came first, so you get to read both! …

Read More

It's been almost two years since I last hosted T-SQL Tuesday, and I'm very happy to be doing so again! If you're not already familiar, T-SQL Tuesday was the brainchild of Adam Machanic (@AdamMachanic), who prophesized that we all could benefit from "a recurring, revolving blog party" with a new topic given …

Read More