This past weekend I was very fortunate to be able to attend and speak at SQL Saturday #118 in Madison, Wisconsin. This was a top-notch event; all the hard work and planning that went into it really showed in how smoothly things ran.

My trip began around noon on Friday, which was a great decision because I hit no …

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Every once in a while I find myself building a report in SQL Server Reporting Services. I know my way around SSRS enough to get a report looking the way I like, but I'm definitely not an expert in the subject. While developing a report recently I noticed some very strange behavior that I have a hard time believing is …
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Imagine you had the chance to get together with other data professionals in your area in a setting outside of a training session or user group meeting. There's no formal agenda, just an excellent meal and some great conversation. Perhaps a respected expert is available to answer questions and bounce ideas off of. Does …
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I feel very fortunate to have been chosen as a speaker for SQL Saturday #118 in Wisconsin on April 21, 2012. After an excellent time speaking at MADPASS in February, I'm really looking forward to getting back to Madison for this event!

I'll be giving my presentation entitled The Skinny on Data Compression which covers …

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March Madness is once again upon us, which means it's time for one of the biggest time sinks of the year: filling out a bracket for the pseudo-sanctioned office NCAA pool. Along with the superbowl, this is a hallowed time when bosses turn a blind eye to all the cash that seems to be heading towards that person who has …
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This month's T-SQL Tuesday is brought to us by newly-minted MCM Argenis Fernandez (blog | @DBArgenis), who I had the pleasure of meeting in person for the first time a few weeks ago. Argenis is asking if we specialize or not, why we do (or don't) specialize, and why we feel that's a good thing.

For a very long time …
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This week I was very fortunate to speak at the February 2012 MADPASS user group meeting. I've seen lots of positive tweets about the group over the course of the past year and had been hoping to attend a meeting of theirs, so when I got the email a few months ago asking if I would present I jumped at the chance.

I left …

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Next Wednesday I'll have the pleasure of speaking at MADPASS! I've been meaning to visit this group for a while, so I'm very excited to head up there and be speaking. Here's all the pertinent info:

WHERE: 2310 Crossroads Drive, Madison, WI 53718

WHEN: Wednesday, February 22, 2012. 5:30 PM

I’ll be giving one of my …

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Happy T-SQL Tuesday to all! (and happy Valentine's Day too!) This month's T-SQL Tuesday comes to us courtesy of Steve Jones (blog | @way0utwest). Steve is asking us to write about "big data" – specifically the problems we've solved or interesting ways we've found to work with it. In honor of the holiday, I'm …
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If you're reading this, you probably already know that while backup strategies are important, restore strategies are what really matter. If you aren't able to restore a database when a disaster has occurred and money's on the line, you may find yourself very quickly updating your resume and leaving town. Practicing …
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