Just a quick note that the PASS Summit 2014 Early Bird rate of $1095 ends Friday 6 December. You don't have to look very hard to find lots of [blog posts][2] about how PASS Summit is an [amazing experience][3] at any price, but this is a great opportunity to save $1200 off the full registration rate. Starting Saturday …

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I'm very happy to be making the trek up to Appleton, Wisconsin to speak at FoxPASS next week!

I'll be delivering my presentation entitled "Whatcha Doin'? Passive Security for Hostile Environments", which I presented to a packed room at this year's PASS Summit. Here's the abstract:

Ideal database security …

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There was an interesting debate on Twitter the other day over whether or not it's important for an interviewee to know what a company does, or if they should just know whatever technology the job description calls for and nothing else. Jen McCown blogged about it in detail and included a lot of comments.

There are …

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I'm very proud to have contributed a chapter to Tribal SQL, which is now available for purchase at Amazon and finer bookstores everywhere. This is the first book I've had any part in writing, something I never thought I would do. I always hated English and literature classes in school – if it wasn't math, hard science, …
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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:

• I love …

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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 …
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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 …
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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 …

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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 …
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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 …

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