11Nov 2014 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

I’m Still Not on the Board

PASS
I'm just back from the PASS Summit 2014. What a great event. But this year, it was a little different. I did a lot of the usual things, presented a pre-conference seminar to about 130 people, helped out at the Red Gate booth, presented a session on execution plans on Friday, went to a few after hours events (that included karaoke). You know, the Summit. My tenth one. But, I am starting the process of transitioning onto the board. This will be my first report on the work I've been doing around that. However, please let me point out something, that was made very obvious to me during the event, I'm coming on to the board, but I'm not yet on the board. I say this because whatever work I…
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16Sep 2014 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PASS Summit 2014 Pre-Conference Seminar

PASS, T-SQL
I'm putting on a pre-conference seminar (also known as a pre-con) at the PASS Summit this year. I'm really honored to be able to present this and I'm pretty excited about it. So, if you want to talk query tuning, let's get together at the Summit. For a few fun facts about the event, check out this Q&A over at PASS. To register for the event and my pre-con, go here now.
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21Jul 2014 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

Victims of Success

PASS, Professional Development
I took part in the PASS Summit 2014 selection committee this year because I was really curious about seeing how the sausage gets made. I've seen how actual sausage gets made and I still eat sausage.  Despite a few hiccups and communication issues, internal and external, I think the selection process for the Summit went really well this year. But, there was still some controversy. Being a naturally pushy person, I got involved in the controversy, for good or ill, and subsequently have had conversations with many people about the selection process (which, reiterating, I think went extremely well overall). But, the one thing that kept coming up over and over was a simple question: How come I/PersonX didn't get picked? The easy answer is because you/PersonX had a horrible abstract. But you…
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06Feb 2014 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Thank You!

Azure, PASS
I am humbled and honored (and more than a little horrified) to be on this list of the Best of PASS Summit 2013. I mean look at those names. Every single one is a person I look up to and respect and learn from constantly. How I made a list like this... well, thanks. I appreciate the support and kindness that was shown at the PASS Summit when you filled out your evals. Oh, and while I realize intellectually and SQL skill-wise he totally kicks my behind... Neener, neener Conor. You're in the DBA track and I'm the only one in the top 10 in the Cloud track. By the gods, I'm going to pay for that, but it'll be worth it.
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17Oct 2013 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PASS Summit 2013 Day 2 Key Note

PASS
KILT DAY! Today we have to eat our vegetables and then get lots and lots of sweet desert. Or. Today we hear about PASS Finances as a part of the official annual meeting and then we get to hear Dr. David Dewitt speak (completely and utterly getting our nerd on and squeeing like teenage girls at a Bieber concert). I will be live-blogging this event, so watch this space. 8:20: Douglas McDowell kicks off the key note today.  the vast majority of the money that runs PASS comes from the Summit. That's right, by attending the Summit you're also supporting the organization. The Business Analytics Conference, which kicked off this year also provides quite a bit more money to the organization. 8:25: PASS has changed its budgeting process. At this…
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16Oct 2013 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PASS Summit 2013 Day 1 Keynote

PASS
I am liveblogging the keynote from the bloggers table at the PASS Summit again this year. Just keep scrolling. Watching the introduction video as people trickle in. All the other bloggers are setting up. I get in early. I didn't rearrange the seats this year. I see others doing it now. 8:11: Watching the videos of all the attendees registering and meeting people at the start of the event and last night's welcome reception is awesome and fun. 8:21: The lights go down and the videos of what everyone is looking forward to at the Summit. In keeping with our location, right next to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, we've got a bit of a race theme going on. We're seeing current PASS President, Bill Graziano having a dream about…
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26Aug 2013 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Make the PASS Summit Work For Your Employer

PASS
It was pointed out to me that since PASS is such a huge networking event, any employer would be crazy to send a good employee to the event. They'll just come back and hand in their two weeks notice. You know, that's entirely possible. But, let's not confuse networking with job hunting. Funny enough, while I did get my latest job while at the PASS Summit, it wasn't through the personal network that I had built up over the years of going to, and speaking at, the Summit. I use that network as an extensive knowledge base. If I have a question about Availability Groups, I have at least three different people I can reach out to. If I get stuck on some internals question, I have other individuals I…
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01Jul 2013 by Grant Fritchey 15 Comments

Getting Started With SQL Server 2014 the Easy Way

Azure, PASS
You know you want to at least take a look at the new Client Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2014. I don't blame you either. I want to spend hours swimming through it too. But, you're thinking to yourself, "Heck, I'd have to download the silly thing, provision a new VM, walk through the install... Nah. Too much work." I don't blame you. I found myself on the road the day the software was released, so I was going to attempt to do all that work on a hotel wireless system. In short, I was going to have to wait, no options. Or were there? Actually, there is a much easier option. Azure Virtual Machines. And no, it's not that I can simply get a Windows Azure VM ready to go…
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22May 2013 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

PASS Summit 2013 is Looking Cloudy

Azure, PASS
No, this isn't some complaint about PASS or the Summit. This is an announcement that not only will I be speaking at the PASS Summit, but I'm speaking about Azure... a lot. First up, I'm going to be doing an all-day pre-conference seminar specifically aimed at getting you into Azure. No, I don't want you to drop your on-premise databases and infrastructure. Are you nuts? No, wait, you think I am. OK, fair point. But what I actually want you to realize is that some pieces of your work are better done in the cloud. There are all kinds of terribly fun and cool things you can get done there, as an addition to your existing infrastructure. There are way, way too many things that are better done locally to ever think you'd move…
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09Nov 2012 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PASS Summit Day 3: Dr. David Dewitt

PASS
Two quick points, I'm putting this blog together using the Surface.. ooh... and this isn't a keynote, but a spotlight session at the Summit. Still, I thought I would live blog my thoughts because I've done it for every time Dr. Dewitt has spoken at the Summit. Right off, he has a slide with a little brain character representing himself. But, we're talking PolyBase, and futures. This is basically a way to combine hadoop unstructured nosql data with structured storage within SQL Server. Mostly this is within the new Parallel Datawarehouse. But it's coming to all of SQL Server, so we need to learn this. The information ties directly back to what was presented at yesterday's keynote. HDFS is the file system. On top of that a framework for executing…
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