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Reflections in the 2013 Mirror

2013Reflections-lake2013 was a wild ride. I had set up my goals in December of 2012 and surpassed some of them half way through the year. I hope that I continue reaching my goals in 2014. If I do, it will be another amazing year.

Here are the goals I had and how I measured up.

Being Mentored

I knew I wanted to be mentored, I even wrote a post about it here. I had no idea how valuable it would turn out to be. After I wrote my post, one of my friends convinced me to ask Grant Fritchey (b|t) if he would mentor me. I really like his speaking style and the topics he speaks on. So, I held my breathe, sent him an email, and he said yes. I couldn’t believe it.

We Skyped all through 2013. Our meetings were very valuable for me. You see, like many people, my confidence isn’t that high, but Grant believes in me. He encouraged me to go after my goals. He critiqued my abstracts and even my first speaking event. This was definitely an achieved goal.

Speaking

This goal I blew out of the water. My goal was to speak at 5 events. I picked this number because there are 5 SQL Saturdays in California where I live. I ended up speaking at 15 different events. I exceeded my goal by 300%! Here is the full list of 2013 events and here is a summary of the events:

  • 6 User Group Meetings
  • 5 SQL Saturdays
  • 3 Women in Technology panels (I moderated 2 at SQL Saturday’s I was already attending, so I didn’t count them in the total count)
  • 2 Red Gate events (You can view one of my sessions here.)
  • 1 Conference (Dev Connections)

I’ve already listed the SQL Saturday’s I plan to apply for. The conferences will be added as I’m accepted as well as the user group meetings. Here is the list of 2014 events so far.

Blogging

My blogging goals were only half met. The first part of my goal was to write on my personal blog (this one) at least once a month. Since I like to participate in the T-SQL Tuesday Blog Parties, I knew this was most likely achievable. The other half of my goal was to write once a month for mssqltips.com. I did not reach this goal at all because there just wasn’t enough time. I was only able to submit one tip this year.

For my person blog, I exceeded my expectations. Since this was my first full year having a blog, I compared the first half of the year with the second half of he year. In that time, I doubled my page views. I had 40 posts for the year, 18 of which were in December, 8 of which were for the T-SQl Blog Party, and 1 was an incredibly fun (and funny) story based on the pictures that Pat Wright (b|t) took at PASS Summit.

Here are the 3 posts that had the most hits this year:

Obtaining a New Job

It took six months of carefully identifying exactly what I wanted to do and going through interviews and talking to recruiters, but this past July I finally took a leap into a new job and I’m glad I did. I miss my former colleagues, but I’ve acquired some pretty cool new ones too.

Friends of Red Gate (ForG)

Red Gate has my absolute favorite tools. They also have some amazing people working for them. This year had the privledge of being part of their Friends of Red Gate program. This program conects various proffesionals who are power users of their products with developers and project managers at Red Gate. We get to disucss new features and how to improve existing features. It’s a wonderful program and I think their product is better for having the program.

Unexpected Surprises

Those were my goals for 2013, but I had some surprises along the way that have shaped me this year and are worth mentioning.

Jan 2013 SQL CruiseSQL Cruise

In December of 2012 I won a trip (the registration) on Tim Ford’s (b|t) SQL Cruise from SQL Sentry. The cruise was for a week in the Caribbean. Three wonderful days at sea listening to amazing speakers like Kevin Kline (b|t) and Allen White(b|t). And three wonderful days in port. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and recommend it to ALL of you.

Authoring

Half way through the year, Marlon Ribunal (b|t) approached me and asked if I wanted to help finish the book he was writing on reporting services. I was very honored that he asked me and I said yes. Marlon and I had our book published this past October. It’s called SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Blueprints.

I also had the honor of being included in an ebook by Red Gate called 45 Database Performance tips for Developers. I’m very honored to be included in this endeavor with Grant Fritchey (b|t), Jonathan Allen (aka Father Jack) (b|t), Phil Factor (b|t), K. Brian Kelly (b|t), Ike Ellis (b|t), and Louis Davidson (b|t).

Volunteering

I was so impressed with the first SQL Saturday that I ever attended, that I agreed to help out with two local SQL Saturdays (Huntington Beach and San Diego). Since I enjoyed the planning and running around with my head cut off, I’ve agreed to help out again this next year.

I also help the Women In Technology virtual chapter (WIT). I had the honor of moderating three panels this past year, one of which was at PASS Summit in front of 600+ people. You can view the event here.

One of my most proud moments occurred this month, but it really started in September. (You can read the back story here.) I created an event for Jason Strate (b|t) and Bradley Ball (b|t) so that they could speak in Orange County. I had no idea if one person would show up or 100. QuickStart Intelligence hosted the event and they helped find attendees by calling all of their former students. Between my contacts, QuickStart’s former students, and Jason and Bradley’s reputations I was able to get 48 people sign up and around 30 people attend the event. I also found a sponsor for the pizza so it didn’t cost me or any of the attendee’s a dime. I call that a win!

Nominations

I thought that my 2013 SQL year was at a close once December hit, but I was wrong. Red Gate put out a call for nominations for their new Tribal Awards and I was nominated for Best New Community Voice. I wrote about it here. All that I can say about this one, is that I’m pleasantly surprised and that I’m secretly hoping that Koen from Belgium wins.

2013CheersThank You

I want to thank all of you for reading my posts this year, for the comments that you leave, and for coming back time and time again. Cheers to you!

Where am I going now?

So what does 2014 hold for me? You’ll have to wait for my next post. (Evil grin inserted here.)

Tribal Awards – Nominated For Best New Community Voice

In December Red Gate introduced the Tribal Awards. Some of the awards are fun like “SQL Karaoke Performer of the Year” and others are more serious like “Blog of the Year”. They collected nominations and I found out that I was selected for “Best New Community Voice”. I’m very honored to be included with the other four gentlemen… all from Europe.

  • Koen Verbeek from Belgium
  • William Durkin from Germany
  • Rob Sewell from United Kingdom
  • Mark S. Rasmussen from Denmark

Now that the nominees have been selected, the community can now vote for the winners of the Tribal Awards, but be quick. The voting ends on January 3rd with the winners being announced on January 7th.

OC SQL Server Meeting: Jason Strate & Bradley Ball Presenting at QuickStart

DSCN4178This past September I had the privilege of speaking at Dev Connections in Las Vegas where I had the opportunity to hang out with several members of our SQL Family. Two of which were Bradley Ball (b|t) and Jason Strate (b|t). Bradley and I were chatting about how they were going to be visiting Irvine in early December and they wanted to speak at the local User Group Meeting while they were here.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t arrange the presentation during the User Group Meetings, but that didn’t stop me. Many moons ago, I worked at QuickStart Technologies (now QuickStart Intelligence). I gave them a call and they were very happy to host a presentation from Jason and Bradley.

If you will be in Irvine, CA on Monday Dec. 9th, then please come join us for FREE pizza and a FREE presentation by both Jason Strate and Bradley Ball. If you have never heard these two gentlemen speak, then now is your chance. I have attended presentations from both of them and am looking forward to seeing them present again next week.

Seats are limited, so sign up soon at Eventbrite: OC SQL Server Meeting: Jason Strate & Bradley Ball Presenting at QuickStart

If you’ve never heard of QuickStart, then let me give you the inside scoop. QuickStart has been training professionals in Microsoft Technology for 25 years. Their classes are great for learning SQL Server and many other products. Each student is given their own computer for the class where they will be given hands on labs to work on throughout the 2 to 5 day classes. Their classes are also great for preparing for any of the Microsoft Certifications.

Once Upon a Time, In A PASS Summit Far Away

Once upon a time, in a PASS Summit far away, there was a princess named Buttercup. When she turned twenty something her father introduced her to SQL Society in grand style. There were many sessions that she had to attend and many parties. Everyone loved her.

dsc_0461

One night there was a wonderful party full of singing and dancing. Everyone was having such a swell time.

SummitStory2013_-006

Princess Buttercup had heard about the party. Her father had forbidden her to go because it was well known that SQL Hippo was known to hang out there. Princess Buttercup didn’t listen to her father though. She set up some Powershell scripts to make it look like she was doing homework and headed out. When she arrived at the party she met three suspicious looking attendees. They were asking her all sorts of database questions.

SummitStory2013_-003

After a few hours had passed, Tim heard the three attendees talking about princess Buttercup, so he went looking for her. He couldn’t find her anywhere and became concerned. He tried to get everyone’s attention and said, “Hey everyone! Where’s princess Buttercup? Has anyone seen her? Maybe the notorious Oracle gang has made off with her! We should send someone out to find her!”

SummitStory2013_-005

At that very moment, the notorious Scary DBA himself entered the party. He sauntered over to Tim, looked down at him, and said, “I’ll go search for her!”

SummitStory2013_

And without another word he jumped into his really cool car to head out!

SummitStory2013_-015

Tim ran after him, and yelled, “WAIT!” you have to get your eyes checked first so that you don’t miss any clues”

SummitStory2013_-005

So, before the Scary DBA could head out in his really cool car, he stopped to get his eyes checked by Dr. Emmett Brown. He told the Scary DBA, “If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour… You’re gonna see some serious shit.” Then he put his hand on the Scary DBA’s shoulder and told him, “So if you don’t want to go blind, keep it under 88 miles per hour son.”

SummitStory2013_-010

The next morning, the Scary DBA headed out looking for clues, and he found some scribbled on the sidewalk. He knew they would lead him to the infamous SQL Gator.

SummitStory2013_-008SummitStory2013_-008 SummitStory2013_-008

EdThe Scary DBA followed the clues to a little bar in UpTown where SQL Gator was known to linger on Sunday nights. He wasn’t disappointed either. In the very back of the bar, he found SQL Gator. With a great big knowing grin on his face, SQL Gator said, “I hear you’ve been looking for GrantPrincess Buttercup.”

The Scary DBA replied, “Why yes I am. Do you know anything? I’m not leaving until you spill the beans.”

SQL Gator chuckled and took a sip of his drink. “Your execution plans might be the fastest in town, but this is my town and you don’t scare me. “ He paused for a moment. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll help you out this once, because I like Princess Buttercup.“ SQL Gator looked behind him to make sure he wasn’t being watched and whispered, “Go see the Quiz Bowl council. They’re overseen by The SQL Agent Man and Dr SQL. Maybe they can point you in the right direction.”

The Scary DBA looked SQL Gator in the eye and said, “You better not be leading me astray, or I’ll sic my parameter sniffing dogs on you.”

The Scary DBA jumped into his really cool car and headed over to the see the council. It took two hours, but he was finally brought before them.

SummitStory2013_-002

They told him in order to finish his quest, he would have to find the Knights who say Ni.

FirstTimerBuddies

After many nights of searching, he stumbled upon a great battle and watched with much interest from above. The battle seemed to stand still at times, but finally it came to a gruesome conclusion.

SummitStory2013_-012

He walked down to the battleground searching for the survivors of the Knights Who Say Ni. The Scary DBA came across seven knights in kilts and asked, “Are you the Knights Who Say Ni?”

Knight one replied, “We are now no longer the Knights who say Ni.” Knight two hastily added, “NI.” The other knights shushed him. Knight one ignored his brethren and in a strong voice announced, “ We are now the Knights who say… “Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG. Zoom-Boing. Z’nourrwringmm.”

SummitStory2013_-016

The Scary DBA was very confused and started to get frustrated when he was approached by a Jedi Microsoft Certified Master. The Jedi whispered in a haunting voice, “These are not the kilts you are looking for.”

SummitStory2013_-014

“Look to the east where the SQL Sisters live. They lured princess Buttercup away from the party with promises of chocolate and faster queries.” Then he vanished.

JulieAndMickeyMentors

It took some time, but the Scary DBA was able to track down the kidnappers. He cornered them in the community zone and had them arrested.

SummitStory2013_-013

The Scary DBA was so pleased to see that Princess Buttercup had not been harmed. Princess Buttercup had him kneel before her and she dubbed him Sir Knight of the Red Gate.

SummitStory2013_-004

That night there was much rejoicing at the return of their beloved princess Buttercup.

SummitStory2013_-007


The End

 

No Database Developers were injured in the making of this tale. 99% of the pictures were taken by Pat Wright. Please visit his website for the originals and other great pictures.

PASS Summit 2013 in Summary

PASSFlagMy second PASS Summit concluded a week ago. It was just as amazing as my first, but also completely different. It’s like trying to compare an orange and a mandarin. The differences weren’t just related to the different locations. The differences came with how many people I already knew, even if I only knew them as a twitter friend. Last year I knew less than 10 people at the beginning of the conference. This year I knew over a 100 people personally before the conference started and by the end of the conference I had at the very least doubled that.

Side note: Please don’t be bummed if I don’t list your name below. If I listed everyone I met at Summit, this post would look like the book of Numbers in the Bible (and be just as exciting). I enjoyed my time with everyone, but can only mention a few.
Summit BuddyMelissaAndMickey

My absolute favorite part of PASS Summit is meeting people and networking with them. With 5000 people attending Summit this year and 1400 of which were First Timers, I had ample supply of new people to meet. Last year, I participated in the First Timer’s program as a First-Timer. Joe Fleming (t), my “Summit buddy” really helped me get my bearings before attending the Summit and helped with questions that I had throughout the Summit. I so strongly believe in this program, that I signed up to be a “Summit Buddy” myself this year. I’m so glad that I did, because it let me start networking before I even arrived in Charlotte. I was assigned five First-Timers and immediately started sending them emails on how to prepare for Summit. I also had them send a bit of information to our little first-timers team including a picture so that we would be able to recognize each other all week. Along the way, I even picked up two others.

I did find it difficult for us to coordinate meeting each other as a group though. Mostly due to my various volunteer duties and meetings that were during the prime time to meet. While the whole group couldn’t meet, I did run into half my group throughout the week, and was able to hang out with David Maxwell (b|t) and Melissa Chen at various events. Melissa even shared with me that she loved the emails I sent her so she shared them with her team at work who were attending Summit, but didn’t have a “Summit Buddy”. (Loved that!)

Side note: I do think we need a different name than Summit Buddy. I think Summit Mentor, or SQL Big Sister and SQL Big Brother sound a bit better.
SushiNightExisting Relationships

PASS Summit is a wonderful place to spend more time with SQL Family. The downside is there is not enough time to spend quality time with EVERYONE. So, I decided before Summit that since there was no way I can see and talk to everyone, that I would try my best and leave it at that.

This year I really enjoyed meeting all my Twitter friends. You know, the ones you have been talking to for months, but have no idea what their real names are and half the time you don’t even know what they look like because they have a coffee cup for a “mug shot”… Speaking of Father Jack (b|t), I really enjoyed getting to hang out with him all week with all of our Australian friends. It’s funny how some “in person” time can alter a relationship and make it more meaningful. I also enjoyed spending time with Richie Rump (b|t) and tweeting with him during the Keynote speeches on the first day.
This year I found myself hanging out more with my international SQL Family members, than I did last year. I shared many meals and drinks and had wonderful conversations with Julie Koesmarno (b|t), Martin Cairney (t), Father Jack (b|t), Rob Farley (b|t), Scott Stauffer (b|t), and Mladen Prajdic (b|t) . I miss them all terribly. I also enjoyed my time with Maria Zakourdaev (b|t) from Isreal. I remembered having breakfast with her last year on Friday morning and she was so quiet. This year it was like watching a flower bloom. I can’t wait to see her again next year.

GrantAndMickey

One of MANY favorite memories in Charlotte was getting to spend some time with my mentor Grant Fritchey (b|t). We rarely get to see each other since we have three time zones between us and are usually with a large crowd of people when we are at the same event. I enjoyed having dinner with him and a few friends Monday night after SQL in the City, getting to say “hi” here and there all week, and finally getting a whole, uninterrupted hour of his time on Friday for us to talk shop.

New Relationships

I don’t want you to think I spent the whole week just hanging out with people I knew. I purposefully found people I didn’t know and introduced myself. I now have many new friends on my SQL Family list. Here are some of the highlights.

· I was introduced to Paul White (b|t) and had the pleasure of talking to him about SQL Sentry Plan Explorer.

· Someone introduced me to Ola Hallengren (b). We enjoyed a couple of different conversation, but our first conversation was at a Karaoke bar and it was about the song Mickey by Toni Basil which was also sung by Swedish popular music singer Carola Häggkvist. (Tim, put that in the Quizbowl next year!)

MickeyAndJK

· I actually met Bradley Ball (b|t) and Ben DeBow (t) two weeks before Summit. All three of us presented at Dev Connections in Las Vegas with several other amazing speakers, but at Summit I got to attend both of their sessions and spend some extra time getting to know them.

· I also enjoyed several great conversations with JK Wood (b|t), Jamey Johnston (t), and Wayne Sheffield (b|t) just to name a few of the amazing people I met.

MickeyAndMartin.jpgLocation

I will admit, I was bummed we were going to be in Charlotte this year, but looking back, I’m glad we were there. I still miss Seattle and can’t wait to go back next year, but there were some great advantages to Charlotte. It was easy to find dinner fairly close to the evening events and I only needed a taxi on one night. The down side was the places to eat were more expensive, and their scotch selection was dismal… Except at The Black Finnthey have Oban (pronounced “Oh-bin”).

I did absolutely love the two places I went to for SQL Karaoke, especially since they had room to dance. I even danced with my good friend, and fellow SQL Cruiser Neil Hambry (b|t).

Getting InvolvedJulieAndMickeyMentors

You may have noticed that I’m an extrovert and I doesn’t sit still. This year I was asked by Tim Ford (b|t), to be on a team with Julie Koesmarno (b|t) in the Quizbowl. We paired up with Mike Donnelly (b|t). We had such a great time, even when we were down by -1700 points and Tim put me on a time out for answering a question (very) badly. The good news is, we bounced back laughing all way and ended up coming in second place which won Mike a gift card.

I also enjoyed being a Summit Buddy, which I wrote about above. I plan on doing that again next year.

I didn’t stop there either, I volunteered in the Community Zone on Friday which I think was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I wish I could hang out there all day! The community zone is a great place to hang out while you charge your electrical devices. It’s set up to encourage talking. Anything from find out where the closest User Group is in your area for engaging with Andy Warren (b|t) about mentoring programs. I even participated in a Star Wars Flash Mob at the Community Zone.

PASS_Summit_2013_WIT-1But the cherry on top of my volunteering at Summit, was moderating the Women in Technology (WIT) panel. Our WIT Virtual chapter spent months preparing for the luncheon which hosted over 750 attendees. This was all possible due to our sponsor SQLSentry. (Thank you!) The topic was Beyond Stereotypes: Equality, Gender Neutrality, and Valuing Team Diversity. This topic is near to my heart since I’ve been excluded for various reasons throughout my career and even in my childhood. The panel discussion was streamed on PASStv so there is a 60 minute recording that you can watch here. I truly enjoyed moderating the panel and hope that they will let me do it again next year.

Sessions

I did actually attend sessions, and I enjoyed all of them. My favorite one was Skewed Data, Poor Cardinality Estimates, and Plans Gone Bad by Kimberly Tripp (b|t) whom I admit to now having a Geek Crush on. She spoke on my favorite topic and I can’t wait to listen to it again here.

I took both of Jes Borland’s (b|t) classes. I took Index Methods You’re Not Using to validate what I already knew about indexes and I’m glad I did, because I learned a few new things.

I also took a class that was out of my comfort zone. Data Internals Deep Dive was given by my friend Bradley Ball (b|t), who incidentally is a great speaker and I am in total awe of his knowledge. I learned about extents and I watched him teach us how to decode Hex and binary data. I found the session quite fascinating.

Thanks for All the FishJulieAndMickeyFriday

I do want to take this time to thank all the volunteers, speakers, and sponsors that help make PASS Summit educational, fun, affordable, and just plain awesome. I also want to thank my SQL Sister, Julie Koesmarno for being an awesome roomie and friend.

Side note: I’ve been going through Summit withdrawals all week and am eager to attend all the SQL Saturdays I can to feed my SQL Family addiction until next year’s PASS Summit.

Prelude To My PASS Summit Summary

Captain’s Log, day one (beep, beep). I have landed on a strange planet. Scotch is
not served with the evening meals and singing out loud is forbidden by the young
red-head who keeps calling me “mom”. No one seems to speak our home
language of SQL, so I must translate my stories from the PASS Summit mother
ship. I have been informed that tomorrow I am supposed to operate a machine
called a “car”. I am to take to take another young female (who looks just like me)
to her school and then proceed to a place called “my job”. I hope they speak SQL
there.

T-SQL Tuesday #47: SWAG And A Hit

Kendal Van Dyke (b|t) is hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday blog party. The party was started by Adam Machanic (b|t) in December of 2009.  The topic this month is a fun one, just like last month. Kendal wants us to brag about our favorite SWAG.

Wow, my favorite SWAG. Only one? Can’t do that. So I will give you my top 3.

Number 3 on the list

Tim Ford (b|t) gives the best All Inclusive Package of SWAG when you partake in his SQL Cruise conference (b). When I went on SQL Cruise this past January curtsey of SQL Sentry (b) (Thanks guys for paying for my classes!), we received the coolest fabric cooler. Inside this cool bag, was more awesome SWAG. There was a beach towel, several gifts from various vendors, and the coolest little multi-tool. (I unfortunately learned the hard lesson that multi-tools can’t be part of carry on luggage. Sad Panda.)

I use this bag when ever I need a simple cooler, which is ever SQL Saturday. I have so many food allergies, that I usually need to bring something for me to munch on. This bag does the trick.

Number 2 on the list

The PASS Summit 2012 backpack. I love this backpack. It’s sitting next to me right now while I type this post at the Las Vegas airport. This backpack is comfortable to wear and full of great pockets. My absolute favorite pocket, is the little pocket right under the handle. It’s great for putting my phone and wallet.

This bag is my laptop’s home. Timmy my Think Geek monkey gets to ride on the side of the bag, and my laptop gets to ride in the center. I can quickly store all my odds and ends for my speaking needs.

 

And Number 1 on the list

When I spoke at my first SQL Saturday in Silicon Valley (b), the speakers weren’t given speaker shirts, but were given jackets. The jackets were made by Port Authority and are absolutely wonderful.

Being that Southern California doesn’t “really” ever get cold, this jacket is now my new “winter” jacket…which means I wear it a couple of times a year.

 

Thanks for all the fish

Thanks go out to Kendal Van Dyke for hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday blog party. Please visit his website at http://www.kendalvandyke.com.

T-SQL Tuesday #46 – And I shudder

Rick Krueger (b|t) is hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday blog party. The party was started by Adam Machanic (b|t) in December of 2009.  The topic this month is a fun one. He has asked us to write about a Rube Goldberg type of solution (aka a hack job) we created at some point in our careers.

Like many of you I worked at a Start-up back in 2000, but I wasn’t a database developer back then. Back then I was a web developer who specialized in the business layer which I wrote in VB and later VB.net. Back then I never thought about consulting with the DBA to see if my idea was good idea from a database point of view. I can tell you that I shudder at the mere thought of the “brilliant” solution I came up with back then…It was actually a great idea…until you put in a database and queried it.

The Plan

The company I worked for was building a shopping cart from the ground up. We needed a way to keep track of the state of each item in an Order and display that information at the Order level. My idea was to keep track of each Order Item state with an alphanumeric letter and we would string them all together into one field at the Order level so that we could query for Orders with Items at a particular state. (This is where we all shudder.)

When I thought of the idea, I thought there would only be a couple of letters. R for return, O for ordered, C for Canceled, etc. As we started going through all the permutations we found a ton of exceptions. I think by the time I handed the responsibilities over for this one field, we had almost 10 different designations.

The Flaw

Since (back then) I could read execution plans as well as I could read Japanese (which means not at all), I had no idea the impact of my design. I didn’t know that indexes on that field would become pretty much useless since a Like operator would have to be used to find a particular part of  the concatenated field.

A better approach for this same solution would be to leave the designations at the item level and for reporting concatenate the values at the Order level.

Second Verse, Same as the First

Since I never learned at the first company that my idea was flawed from a database perspective, I pitched the same plan at the next company…where we implemented it…again. I have learned my lesson since then and advocate to all .net developers that working with the DBA or DBD from the beginning can help achieve a better application.

Thanks for all the fish

Thanks go out to Rick Krueger for hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday blog party. Please visit his website at http://www.dataogre.com.

Fall Speaking Engagements

A year ago I had no intentions of speaking this year. I didn’t think I was mentally ready for public speaking once again. Boy was I wrong. Not only was I ready, but I’ve become addicted to speaking at various SQL Events. I even found a SQL Saturday to speak at on my family vacation in Louisville, Kentucky. Between September and October I will be speaking at 5 venues and moderating two Women in Technology (WIT) panels. That will be a total of 8 sessions. Here is a bit about each of them.

SQL Saturday #249 takes place in San Diego, CA on Saturday, September 20th. This year, instead of a pre-con the day before , Red Gate will be hosting a half day called SQL in the City Seminar.

Dev Connections takes place in Las Vegas, NV between September 30th and October 4th at Mandalay Bay. I’m very excited about my two brand new presentations.

SQL in the City takes place in three different cities in October. I will be speaking at two of them. I’ll be in Pasadena, CA on October 9th and I’ll be in Charlotte, NC on October 14th the week of the PASS Summit.

PASS Summit takes place in Charlotte, NC between October 15th and 18th. This is the most amazing conference for the SQL community. While I’m not speaking at it this year, I am participating in other ways including being a buddy to a new attendee or two.

SQL Saturday #237 also takes place in Charlotte, NC on Saturday October 19th.

  • This is my last SQL Saturday of the year and it is the “BI Edition”, so I had to do my session, Scalable SSRS Reports Achieved Through the Powerful Tablix.

I’m looking forward to these sessions and to meeting new people as well as reconnecting with my old friends. I hope to find you in my sessions and that you have the time to introduce yourself. I really enjoy meeting new people and sharing the knowledge that I have.

SQL on my friends.

T-SQL Tuesday #45 Invitation–Follow the Yellow Brick Road

This month marks the 45th month in Adam Machanic’s (b|t) T-SQL Tuesday blog party which started in December of 2009. Each month an invitation is sent out on the first Tuesday of the month inviting bloggers to participate in a common topic. On the second Tuesday of the month all the bloggers post their contribution to the event for everyone to read. The host sums up all the participant’s entries at the end of the week. This month I’m the host and the topic is …

Auditing

An audit trail is needed for various reasons. Some companies need it for compliance, others need it to find out who “accidently” did something stupid last week, and some specialized audit trails can tell you how the data has changed over time.

So, it is time to follow Dorothy and Toto down the yellow brick road and to share your experience with auditing data. If you are new to the T-SQL Tuesday blog party and need some ideas, here are a few:

  • How to implement SQL Server Audit which was introduced in SQL 2008.
  • Your favorite audit pattern.
  • Your worst experience with an implementation of a bad auditing pattern.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

The Great and Powerful Oz has spoken! … and these are the rules.

Rule 1: Make sure that you include the T-SQL Tuesday image at the top of the post which will help identify your post as a T-SQL Tuesday blog post.  Please include a link back to this invitation too.

Rule 2: Sometime next Tuesday using GMT, here’s a link to a GMT time convertor, publish your blog post.  For example in California, that would cover 5 pm Monday to 5 pm (PDT) Tuesday.

Rule 3: Come back here and post a link in the comments so that I can find all the posts for the round up.

Rule 4: Don’t get yourself fired. Make sure that you either generalize your post or get permission to blog about anything from work.

Rule 5: If you roam the Twitterverse, then don’t forget to Tweet about your blog post with the hashtag #tsql2sday.

Rule 6: Go read someone else’s blog on the subject!

Final Rule: Have fun!

 

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