27Jun 2011 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Presentations in Action

Misc
The first book I read for my 12 goal oriented books was Jerry Weissman’s Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters. Up front, let me say, this book met my expectations. I expected to see a lot of things I already knew. I expected to learn a few new things. What I didn’t expect was more books for my reading list. The book is broken down into 80 little stories and these are grouped into five sections talking about Content, Graphics, Delivery Skills, Q&A (dealing with it, not your questions), and Integration. The sections made a lot of sense even if a couple of the stories felt like they had been sort of shoe-horned into the section. Most of the stories made a lot of sense, and…
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13Jun 2011 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

Time for a Little PD

Misc
No, PD doesn’t stand for PowerShell Development. It stands for Professional Development. Sharks either swim or die (and yes, I know that’s not 100% accurate, but I need a hook on which to hang this lesson). Knowledge workers either develop more knowledge or become buggy whip manufacturers. It’s that simple. Keep moving/learning or die/become obsolete. I’m voting for continuing to learn. In keeping with this, during SQL Cruise Alaska (I’ll be posting more on my thoughts about the trip), I was privileged to sit through Buck Woody’s (blog|twitter) presentations on “Three C’s on the High Seas.” Buck is a great teacher and not at all afraid to hand out homework, which he did before and during the cruise. Confession time, I did fail to do one pre-cruise assignment and Buck…
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08Jun 2011 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

SQL Cruise Alaska 2011

Misc
Yes, I went on the SQL Cruise to Alaska. Yes, it was as grand as you've heard. Yes, I'm going to be putting up a series of blog posts about it. This is the first. It's also part of my class work done during the cruise. Three Reasons for Choosing to Cruise 1. My first, and most important, reason for coming on the cruise is because I thought it would be good for Red Gate Software. I’m still figuring out how to do my job as a product evangelist, so I’m experimenting with contacting audiences in as many ways as I can. This is one way to make that contact. 2. Frankly, I thought it would be fun. Fun because I knew a bunch of the people running the show…
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15Feb 2011 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

UN-SQL Friday #003–Vendor Love

Misc
The love that dare not speak it’s name… Yes, love for vendors. <shudder> Oh, I mean I love my new employer, but other vendors, no never. Although, there was this one time, at band camp… Well, I don’t think we need to go into the details here, Let me just express a little love for a vendor that might not hit everyone’s radar every day, but one that I use almost daily, especially while I’m working on a book. That’s TechSmith, and their excellent tools Camtasia and Snagit. I was introduced to Snagit by Apress, who required their authors to use the tool while working on screen captures. They even provided a licensed copy. I dutifully installed it and started using it. I was impressed. Although, I found out it…
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21Jan 2011 by Grant Fritchey 63 Comments

A Friend of Red Gate No More

Misc
Don’t get me wrong. It’s been great. The beta tests. The advanced notices. The opportunity for feedback. It’s been a great relationship, a fantastic friendship. Look, it’s not you, it’s me. I want more. I want to take our relationship to the next level. That’s why I’m excited as can possibly be to announce that I’m no longer in the Friends of Red Gate program because I’m now a Red Gate employee. That’s right, I’m colored Red! This is an amazing opportunity to step up my game to a whole new level and I’m thrilled to be able to take advantage of it. I have a fascinating title: Product Evangelist. I’m going to be traveling around the country to various events, SQL Saturdays (Cleveland & Chicago already booked), SQL Rally,…
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14Jan 2011 by Grant Fritchey 11 Comments

Failed Blog Posts

Misc
Over the last week I've started and trashed two blog posts. Let me tell you, that's painful. You get some great idea and then it all goes south. For example, I was going to explain the difference between a table/heap scan and a clustered index scan. The problem was, I ran into gaps in my knowledge, some outright errors in my beliefs on how data was stored, and really faulty conclusions drawn from those facts and a less than thorough set of tests. I'm not even going to tell you what went wrong with the other notion. Luckily, all this was behind the scenes so I didn't post my ignorance for all to see.  Since I'm not offering you a chance to point & laugh (in this instance), you might…
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11Jan 2011 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

TSQL Tuesday: Resolutions

Misc
Sounds like a good action adventure movie. The theme this month on TSQL Tuesday, thanks to our host, Jen McCown (blog|twitter) of SQLawesomesauce, is Resolutions. In particular, Techie Resolutions. I have to do this because Jen just received her MVP award, in case you’ve been under a rock since last week. I’m not a resolutions kind of guy. I tend to make plans. The plans might start on January 1st, or they might start as soon as they lawyers are done making up the contract. I’m not hung up on schedules except as they relate to due dates. For example, when submissions are due for the PASS Summit or something along those lines, then I’m date driven. In other words, I don’t sit down New Year’s Day or New Year’s…
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20Dec 2010 by Grant Fritchey 12 Comments

The iPad/SQL Monitor Results

Misc
I ended up with 131 posts (1 late hit, sorry), not counting any duplicates with Brent or Steve. It was clear that people really took this thing seriously and put thought and effort into the posts. I wish I had about 60 iPad's to give away instead of only 10. But, decisions had to be made. The point system is utterly meaningless, but, points were awarded for pithiness (I warned you), for a well-turned phrase, and as much as I'm loathe to admit it, for poetry (just because of the work involved). Originally, I planned on just randomly picking the winner. But, I only had 131 entries, and you all worked so hard, I decided to read them all and work hard for you in return. This really was a…
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15Dec 2010 by Grant Fritchey 8 Comments

The iPad, So Far

Misc
[caption id="attachment_1765" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="In the front yard, using the iPad & SQL Monitor"][/caption] After a great deal of unseemly begging, I managed to acquire an iPad. My intentions were to make it into a internet browser, email reader, blogging, and light writing machine. Additionally, I knew there'd be some time suck from games and I could set it up as a book reader, music player, movie viewer. I had hopes of possibly doing something resembling work with it. Illusions are easily shattered. Let's start with internet browsing. It's great. Really. As long as I stay away from Flash, which, for the most part, so far, I've been able to. +1 for the iPad. Email reading, it was easy to set up an email account, and there's a Google app,…
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