"Statistics means never having to say you're certain" is a well-known quote that would often come up in my AP Statistics class back in high school. The same can be implied for estimation, and while estimates need not be perfect, they should at least be logical. While estimating the effects of compressing data …

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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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Knowing when and how often your indexes are used can really come in handy. Indexes that are never utilized aren't worth keeping around, and knowing their usage patterns can be a big help when making decisions regarding things such as filegroup placement and compression settings. SQL Server 2005 brought some great …

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Happy New Year to all! At the start of 2011, I laid out some goals for the year and did an update on them back in July. Now that it's 2012 it's a great time to take a look at what I accomplished (and fell short on) last year and also set some new targets. My 2011 goals were as follows: Speak More – I spoke at two SQL …

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This month's T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Allen White (blog | @SQLRunr) and is an invitation to show off a nifty T-SQL trick you use to make your job easier. Here's one of my favorites as of late: Some of the source systems we copy from shard their data across multiple similar tables. For example, instead of having 1 …

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The third time's a charm! SQL Saturday #119 (Chicago 2012) has been posted on the SQL Saturday website! It will once again be held at the DeVry University campus in Addison, IL and will be on May 19, 2012. SQL Saturday in Chicago has a special place in my heart for a few reasons. The first SQL Saturday I ever attended …

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