05Dec 2012 by Grant Fritchey 11 Comments

Experimenting with Social Media

Professional Development
After multiple talks with Jason Strate (blog|twitter) and Denny Cherry (blog|twitter) about how they are working on automating more of their blogging and social media interactions, I'm going down that road... a little ways. The first thing that I'm trying out is Pocket. It's a way to capture web sites that you want to read later. You don't want to have to try to manage book marks in your browser. They all suck (and Google Chrome on the Mac sucks even worse) in this task. So this app lets you quickly mark a site and tag it for reading later. Further, you have an account that you can access from multiple devices. I'm already trying out two different readers that will work with Pocket on the Surface and I already…
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28Aug 2012 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

These People Are Exceptional

Professional Development
I should know. I was one of the judges of this year's Exceptional DBA of the Year award. I had to read through tons and tons of submissions and help to arrive at a final list of people who truly personify the concept of both the DBA and the exceptional person. They are all worthy of your votes, but you can only pick one. Today is the final day to make your voice heard and get your influence in. Please, let us know who you think the Exceptional DBA of the Year is by clicking on the link, now, and voting.
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28Aug 2012 by Grant Fritchey 34 Comments

Please, Call Me Richard

Professional Development, T-SQL
I presented a session at the SQL Saturday event in Oklahoma City last weekend. The event itself was pretty good. The organizers put everything together pretty well and the venue was quite nice. Plus, since I grew up in Oklahoma (Tulsa), it was a chance to go home. The event was good, but my presentation went a little downhill. The name of the session is "Top Tips for Better Stored Procedure Performance." I should rename it to just say "T-SQL Query Performance" because it's not focused on stored procedures, but on queries. The presentation is 1/3 talking about how you write your queries, naming syntax, formatting, etc. The second 2/3 is all about common mistakes made in writing T-SQL such as using NO_LOCK everywhere, nesting views, joining and nesting multi-statement…
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16Aug 2012 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Coming to Your Town

PASS, Professional Development
I can't sing and I can't play and I left the young generation behind a while ago, but I'm still coming to your town, or maybe one near you. Between August and December I'm hitting a substantial portion of the country, so if you want to have a little fun, discuss SQL Server, network, or just chat, here are your chances. Please, ask me questions. Please, walk right up and say hello because we can learn from each other and I love my SQL Family. Here's where I'm going to be: SQL Saturday #125 in Oklahoma City, August 25: Only one presentation here, Top Tips for T-SQL Performance, but it's a fun presentation. Register now because time is running out. SQL Saturday #156 in Providence, RI, September 15: This is…
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15Aug 2012 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

Being Right, the Other Side

Professional Development
I read an excellent article by Camille Fournier about the importance of recognizing that being right is not the only factor that needs to be taken into consideration when making a decision. You could even change it from "being" right to "doing" right. Although, I mean it in a technical sense, not a moral one. If you haven't read it already, go ahead, I'll wait... I agree with her. I've been that guy... more than once.... okay, okay, a bunch of times. You know that guy. The one who just couldn't see past the point that we were doing something wrong, something stupid, something that would bite us in the butt for the next three or four years. Oh yeah, that guy. The popular one (not at all). The one…
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16Jul 2012 by Grant Fritchey 12 Comments

SQL In The City: London 2012, Recap

Professional Development, Redgate Software, T-SQL, Tools
Wow! How's that for a recap? The concept for the SQL in the City events is pretty simple. Put on a free event that instructs people on SQL Server, Azure, and related technologies along with a healthy smattering of Red Gate tools. All teaching is done by some of the best people in the business (and me). This was the second event in London. The concept was launched there last year and succeeded quite well. This year the event filled it's registrations so quickly that Red Gate felt obligated to have a second day, which almost completely filled up too. There were more than 350 people in attendance on Friday, and then, on Saturday, a day off, another 250+ people showed up. That's well over 600 attendees over the two…
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26Jun 2012 by Grant Fritchey 29 Comments

Problems with my new book

Professional Development, SQL Server
First off, I apologize. As if writing a book wasn't hard enough, now we get new problems because of on-demand printing. Here's the story. Book. Nine months of writing. Excellent technical editing. Great copy editing. Book complete about six weeks ago. Yay! Now things get fun... Here's how it works. Everyone these days uses digital copies of the book and prints on demand. So Apress is printing some copies of the book, but not all. They send a file out to places like Amazon. Amazon uses that file to print some copies of the book, as needed, on-demand. Everyone is, in theory, printing from the same digital file, creating exactly the same book. Or are they? What happens if, oh, let's just say that a file was corrupted somehow prior to…
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16May 2012 by Grant Fritchey 18 Comments

Don’t You Know Who I Am?

PASS, Professional Development
I’m happy to say that for most of you out there, the answer to this question is “no.” That’s as it should be. I’m not anyone all that special. I present technical sessions at various events from local user group meetings to SQL Saturday’s to international events like the PASS Summit and 24 Hours of PASS. Why? Not because the attendees know my name, that’s for sure. It’s because of a combination of at least two of these three things: The organizers might know my name or may know of my books or the fact that I’m working for a vendor that sponsors their event I’ve submitted sessions that seem to be of interest to the people who might be attending the event being organized I’ve got a track record…
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08Mar 2012 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Let’s Talk

PASS, Professional Development
I’m travelling to several upcoming events and I’d love to sit down and talk with you. Yes, I get it, most of these events you’re going to see the sessions, but you really should plan on networking too. Here’s your chance to get started on that: Southern New England SQL Server Users Group, East Greenwich,RI – 3/14/2012: TSQL Deployment and Continuous Integration Best Practices SQL Saturday 120, Orange County - 3/24/2012: I’m presenting two times here. They’re both presentations that I’m working up for Connections. Common Backup Problems and How To Deal With Them TSQL Deployment and Continuous Integration Best Practices SQL Connections:Las Vegas 3/26 – 3/29/2012: I get it. You don’t go to Vegas to network. That doesn’t mean you can’t still do that too. I’m presenting three sessions.…
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06Feb 2012 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Meme Monday: Deadlines

Professional Development
Tom LaRock (blog|twitter) has assigned an interesting topic for Meme Monday this month, working with deadlines. Some people hate deadlines. Some people love deadlines. But when you have one, there’s a good chance you need to really meet that deadline or there could be repercussions. I have a tip that I’ve found useful in the past. When I have a deadline for delivery of X, I evaluate that requirement and determine what, if anything, is dependent upon other people. I’ve found this to be the biggest issue because my deadline is seldom their deadline. So if there are parts of my deadline where I’m dependent on others, that’s my first task: Go have a chat. Here are a few questions: Is X a deadline for them? If so, when do…
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