PASS Board Elections

Professional Development
Here is the list of suckers, uh, I mean, candidates, that actually want to subject themselves to the board. Look these people over, weigh them, and vote well. Things are running a little different this year. The elections are being held between the 6th and the 20th of December. The PASS Community is an amazing thing and these people are going to potentially improve it, maintain it, or degrade it. If you’ve attended any of the 24 Hours of PASS, the PASS Summit, SQL Rally, SQL Saturday, your local user group, and you’ve received something positive from any or all of them, then you’ve seen the benefits of the Professional Association for SQL Server. If you want to see PASS improved, or at least maintained, then it’s up to you…
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Installing SQL Server 2012 RC0

Uncategorized
Very short informational post. If you’re like me and you’ve been running the public Client Technology Preview (CTP3) of SQL Server Denali, uh, I mean 2012, then the news about the release of RC0 is pretty exciting stuff… until you realize that you’re going to have to tear down your virtual test machine, removing the CTP in order to prep for the install of RC0. I love playing with the toys, but I hate working on the toys, if you know what I mean. Great news. You can upgrade from CTP3 to RC0 in place. I know because I’ve done it. When you run the install and you get to the screen that asks what type of install you want, select Upgrade, as highlighted below: I know it doesn’t say…
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Thank you

Misc
I somehow made the Top 10 Community Choice Bloggers in the SQL Server Magazine 2011 awards (keep scrolling to the bottom). This was evidently a write-in list and some of you who read my rambling attempts to understand this SQL Server stuff thought enough to actually write down this blog. I’m completely and utterly gobsmacked, humbled, surprised… and yeah, happy. #6 …. Wow! Thank you. Gotta go get some posts written now.
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Meme Monday: SQL Family

Professional Development
Tom LaRock’s (blog|twitter) question this month: What does #sqlfamily mean to me? Wow… Geez Tom, couldn’t you ask a hard question for once? Hmmm… Just saying #sqlfamily and a whole series of images of people flashes through my head. And those images are accompanied by all sorts of fun, amazing, interesting situations. And you know what, they’re all very positive. I don’t have flashes of people I dislike or bitter acrimony or really strange relationships. In short, maybe it’s not a family. I have a huge, complex, and very extended real-life family. When I compare that to my #sqlfamily, parts of the real family don’t shine quite so bright as that #sqlfamily does (parts, of course, shine brighter, I love my family). The #sqlfamily is impressive. I get so much…
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Book Review: Guerilla Leader, T.E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt

Professional Development
As part of my commitment to read and review 12 books in an effort to be active in my own personal development, a commitment made on the SQL Cruise back in June, I’ve completed another book, Guerrilla Leader: T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt by James J. Schneider. This was not the book I was scheduled to read. I’m still reading it, but, frankly, it’s boring. This book came to my attention, a history book that is also an exploration of leadership, and I got excited. I’ve long been a student of history and I’ve had a fascination for World War I for a long time. I have over twenty books on the subject that I’ve read. So the chance to combine reading about a subject that I already…
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