30Nov 2009 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SQL Saturday #34/New England Data Camp v2.0

Misc
It's official sports fans. Well, it's been official since last week since Adam Machanic set up the web site. The New England SQL Server Users Group and the Southern New England SQL Server Users Group are again jointly hosting a full day of SQL Server goodness on January 30th. The call for sponsors and speakers is open. We already have several local luminaries lined up to present including Aaron Bertrand on Management Studio Tips & Tricks and Scott Abrants on Automating Database Deployments with Visual Studio. Please register to spend a day with your peers, learning and networking. It's being held at the Microsoft Waltham office, a great facility. We should have a full day with lots to do and learn.
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23Nov 2009 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Slow Blogging

Misc
Sorry, I've been travelling for three weeks and, except for the posts around the PASS Summit, I've been blogging very intermittently. I'm back in town, all travel done. The posts will pick up from this point forward.
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16Nov 2009 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Proof

Misc
SQL Rockstar tells me that unless there are photo's, it didn't happen. Brad McGehee published some pictures from DevConnections. See, I really do try to get people to buy my book... uh, I mean present technical sessions at conferences. Note the laptop with the styling stickers from: SQL PASS SQL Batman (defunct) SQL Serverpedia SQL Server Central Thrive SQL Server Bible SQL AgentMan SQL Rockstar One of these things is not like the others...
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16Nov 2009 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

I have a Tag

Misc
That's a Microsoft Tag. I'm not quite sure what exactly to do with it, but here it is. Evidently you're supposed to take pictures of it with your phone or something and it will lead you back here. I'll have try making a sticker out of it or something. Scary_DBA_Blog_200911172047
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16Nov 2009 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Dev Connections Recap

Misc
Last week I attended the Dev Connections conference for the first time. It was held in the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas. The conference is different because it doesn't concentrate on any one technology, but combines a bunch of them; ASP, Sharepoint, SQL Server, Visual Studio & Architects. That makes it a bit more like Tech-Ed than the PASS Summit. I showed up on Tuesday night and was there through Friday. I attended a few sessions and presented three of my own on the SQL Server Central track of SQL Server Connection. Overall it was a very good experience. I enjoyed meeting a lot of different people that don't go to the PASS Summit. My sessions went well (except for an odd interruption half way through my morning session…
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27Oct 2009 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

SQL Server Standard, Volume 6, Issue #1

Misc, PASS
It's alive! It's alive! That's enough from Colin Clive. It'll be out for the Summit. SQL Server Standard lives again! Although, not quite in the same shape as it used to be. But hey, stitching stuff together out of dead tissue is messy work. I want to thank our first author who had to suffer through quite a few growing pains and help us blaze a trail through the woods, Thomas LaRock. I want to thank my boss at PASS for all the support especially the time I started whining, Andy Warren. And there's this other guy, who has helped just a ton in this effort in every way, and lead the technical edit team, Brad McGehee. We have a photo credit to Pat Write for the front. Craig Ellis has done…
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15Oct 2009 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SQL Server Standard Update

Misc
The first article should be out within a week or so (knock wood). I hav a winner for the contest to help us pick the artwork for the cover. Leo Pasta. Congrats. Get in touch with me at: grantedd -at- gmail.com so that I can send you your prize.
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14Oct 2009 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SQL Server Central Guest Editorial

Misc
My second guest editorial is up at SQL Server Central. These are fun to do (especially the video) even though they're a shocking amount of work considering their size. My hat's off to Steve for churning these out day after day. The man does earn his keep. Anyway, go on over and let me know if you have a favorite character from history that might make a good DBA.
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08Oct 2009 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

SNESSUG September Meeting

Misc
We had a good night with 13 people attending. I ran unopposed for president of SNESSUG for my second, and final, term. We were graced with the prescence of Jeff Moden, MVP and on of the top posters over at SQL Server Central. He was just visiting. He's a great guy and I was very happy for the chance to meet him in person. Jeff is going to be at the PASS Summit this year, so you too can have a chance to meet him. The presentation was on SSAS and SSRS by Sunil Kadimdiwan. He did a full introduction of cubes from Excel to Analysis Services, all with the purpose of showing how to generate good reports using Reporting Services. Attendees were very interested in some of the security settings…
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02Oct 2009 by Grant Fritchey 15 Comments

Free Stuff and a SQL Server Standard Update

Misc, PASS
Great news. We've managed to get one article all the way through the process. We'll have our first publication out within a couple of weeks. We might even get a second out at the PASS Summit. We're working through the final details on contracts, author payments and the layout of the magazine, including cover art. That brings up a question. The intent is to publish high quality articles by great authors (and believe me, we've got exactly that coming down the pike). In order to reflect this, instead of just an HTML layout, we're going with Adobe Acrobat so that we can get that magazine feel, but online. My question... We're trying to decide what to do with cover art. Our options are: Some type of stylish picture, say, stamps…
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