PASS Summit 2012 Day 2: KILT DAY!

PASS
Welcome to the fourth Kilt Day at the SQL PASS Summit. It might be a little silly, but it's fun. It's also Women in Technology day with the WIT Luncheon. Guys are invited. A short word about the bloggers table. Last year we were... a little loud. So this year, we were cautioned... well, more like told to be quiet or they'd take away our toys. I agree with the intent of the message, please keep it down. But the delivery... it hurt PASS at the bloggers table and upset people. As I was reminded last night by a dear, dear friend who I accidently hurt, how you deliver a message is as important as the message you deliver. But, that's OK. Let's learn from our mistakes, grow & move…
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PASS Summit 2012 Day 1

PASS
We're off and running here at the PASS Summit. New this year is live streaming all day. Bill Graziano is introducing the Summit. More importantly, he's introducing PASS. Further, he's introducing speakers to everyone. He doesn't mean just speakers at the summit, but anyone who has spoken at a SQL Saturday or a user group, and it was a scary large group of people. PASS has created a new web site to make it easier to find local Chapters. Track one down. On the one hand, it's weird that we're sitting at the PASS Summit and introducing the PASS organization, but I think they're right to do it. It's a great organization and I'm always surprised at how many people don't know about it. Bill's big announcement is the all…
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PASS Summit 2012: Day -3

PASS
The Summit proper starts on Wednesday, but the Summit starts at registration. I left a little early from work setting up for SQL in the City: Seattle in order to run up the hill and get to the convention center around the time that it opened. Why? Cause I get to meet my SQL Family for the first time this week. Lots of people are there and it really is like a family reunion. Smiles, hugs, catching up, stories. It's the best way to launch the event. Not a lot to report, but I just had to share. I love my SQL Family.
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More Surface

Surface
I’m continuing to work with the Surface. BOOM I just had my first crash. I was in IE when I tried to switch tabs and the pull down window would not stay open. So I tried closing IE. That didn’t work at all. I tried switching to the Start window or switching apps. No joy. I then did a hard restart, holding down the power button for about 10 seconds. On restarting, the system started updating itself, which was weird since I had made sure to do all the updates when I started. The update finished, I logged in, and noticed that the wifi symbol looked funny (wish I had a screen capture, ooh, is there a utility for that?). No big deal until I tried connecting to the wifi…
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Surface, Surface, Prepare to Surface

Surface
More stuff about the Surface. Web browsing works extremely well so far. I enjoy how you can swipe to move back a page. I like how the tabs work too. I'm not crazy about how long it takes to get the link option window open. You hold on a link and then eventually a little box appears. Then you remove your finger and you get option such as "Open link in new tab". Since I do this a lot while browsing, I need it to be faster, something like a right click. Which, you can do from the pointer on the keyboard, there are two little spaces right below the pointer area that act as left & right click. Cool stuff. But using the touch screen to do it, not…
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Microsoft Surface Update

Surface
Let’s talk some more about the basic keyboard. I’m really surprised at how well it works. But, it’s absolutely going to take some getting used to. Here’s some typing I did as a test to see where I missed keys, etc.; Once upon a midngith dreary while I pondered weak and weary over many a curious and quaint piece of forgotten lore while I nodded nearly napping suddnely there cane a tappig as if someone were gentlay wrappig, wrapping at my chamber door, only this and nothing more, S Four score and seve yars ago our forefathers vrought brough t brought forth on thi cnotentit a new nation conceived in liberty and dedid]cated to the propisiion that all men are created equal. You really do have to look at what…
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Microsoft Surface

Surface
I'm going to do with this what I should have done with the Piece Of Fruit (POF), blog about the experience. Getting the silly thing required several phone calls and a car trip, but I wanted it. Out of the box. It turned on. Yay! The first thing it wants is a Live login. No problem. I have two, my professional one and the one I use for all my personal stuff. Ooohh, which to use? All the fun stuff, Xbox, Music, is on the home account. But, I've set up Skydrive and all the more interesting technical stuff on the other. Crud. I decide to start with the professional account. Everything sets up nicely and I find myself looking at the all new Windows 8 interface. I've never been shy…
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Scary Reading List for Halloween

Misc
I know I focus on community, SQL Server, professional development and process. But you need to do other stuff occasionally too. For example, I've long been a fan of horror stories (and science fiction/speculative fiction and some historical novels and history books and... I like to read, OK?). I received this link because I guess I have Scary in the name. It's a pretty good list of scary books. I've read 12 of the 13 books listed (and I just added Blindness to my Kindle so I'll have all 13 done). Now, I wouldn't make anyone read The Castle Otranto or Mysteries of Udolpho unless, like me, you're completist nerds. However, the rest of the books really should be read, especially if you are a horror fan. But, I can…
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Clustered Indexes Have Statistics Too

SQL Server, T-SQL
It may seem obvious, but I've heard more than one person suggest to me that statistics on a clustered index just don't matter. That if the clustered index can satisfy a given query, it's going to get selected. That just didn't make any sense to me, but I haven't seen anyone set up a test that shows how it might work one way or the other. Here you go. First, I'm going to create a table and load it up with data. I'm intentionally using strings because I don't want to confuse the ease of management of integers within indexes. I also went for one column that would have a very attractive set of statistics and one that would have a very ugly set. Also, because we're only dealing with…
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SQL In The City: Seattle

PASS, Redgate Software
If you missed all the great speakers on the five city tour of SQL in the City, don't despair. Many of the same people will be back at SQL in the City in Seattle. It's scheduled on Monday before the PASS Summit proper starts, so if you're looking to get your learn on early and you can't sign up for a pre-con, this is a great, free, opportunity to pick up some additional instruction. Check out the list of speakers. It's going to be an event worth attending. I've seen the early drafts of the feedback forms from the prior five events. People really seem to enjoy this slightly different approach. In short, Red Gate puts on a heck of a show. During the five city tour, I was able…
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