01Nov 2010 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

More Voting

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As if the US Election and SQL Rally voting were not enough (and have you voted yet for the SQL Rally Pre cons? Polls close tomorrow at 8PM), I just found out that SQLServerPedia is holding an awards vote. You only have a week, so get on over there and vote. There are a ton of categories and some really excellent blog posts to choose from. Yes, I have a post in there, but in this instance, I am not asking for your vote and won't provide a link. All of those bloggers, many of whom I know personally, put in extra work to get that information out to you. They all deserve your vote. That is a collection of extremely hard working, smart people, that I learn a lot…
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31Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Get Out The Vote

PASS
It's actually kind of cool that SQL Rally voting for the pre-conference seminars and voting in the real(ish) world in the USA are coinciding. I'm in the running for the pre-con AND I'm volunteering for an actual election campaign for the first time ever. Volunteering for the campaign is hard work. We're walking around neighborhoods dropping off literature, which is actually enjoyable. We have to cold call people, and if you've never done it, it's rather hard to describe. I did telemarketing for about 9 months in my youth, so I had a sense of what was coming. I wasn't prepared for some of the more interesting suggestions (anatomically impossible suggestions) that I was going to receive, but there you go. Luckily, to try to get out the vote for SQL…
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28Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

PASS Summit Blogging

PASS
During the PASS Summit I have again been given the opportunity to keep my laptop plugged in... as long as I blog about the Key Notes. So, I'm going to do it, power is hard to come by in that place. Once again I can regale you, near real time, what's occurring in the key note addresses at the PASS Summit. Once more I'll have the opportunity to jump on to the table while wearing a kilt. But, this year, you may not want to read me. Instead, you might want to tune into the key notes yourself. PASS is going to transmit them live. You can go to the this link to watch them. Now, I can hear you, literally, thinking to yourself, "Right, just what I need in…
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28Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Writing Opportunities

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Are you looking for opportunities to show off your elite writing skills and consumate SQL Server knowledge? Want a chance to build up the resume a bit? Are you like me and you have a hard time thinking of ideas to write about? I've got a solution for you. There's a new forum over on SQL Server Central that is all about requests for articles. It's mostly small stuff, easy one-page articles, a bit more than a blog post but a bit less than a full blown multi-page drill down. Also, if you have ideas for articles that you'd like to see someone write up, you can post them there. You should read the rules about the forum, which aren't complicated, and then dive in.
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28Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

SQL Rally: Performance Tuning Abstract

PASS
I get the call, you get the call, everyone gets the call. "Hey, my app/procedure/query/report is running slow." Now what do you do? You go to my full day session at SQL Rally, that's what. Assuming you vote for it. I didn't post the abstract I submitted for the SQL Rally before because I thought that it would be redudant. However, since it's not right off the voting page (unless they updated it since I voted), if you're interested, here's what I thought I would do for a day. If it sounds good to you, please go here and vote for it. One of the most common problems encountered in SQL Server is the slow running query. Once a query is identified as performing poorly, DBAs and developers frequently don’t understand how…
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26Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

SQL Rally: One Day on Query Performance Tuning

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The SQLRally, a new PASS initiative taking place in the spring, is going to be a community driven event. This includes selection of the pre-convention (precon) paid presentations through a voting process. I have a session called Query Performance Tuning, Start to Finish. It's a one day session on everything about tuning queries. I won't republish the abstract and bore the heck out of you, but I will list the 5 skills I think you'll take away with you if you attend (after voting for me): The ability to collect performance metrics on your servers as part of an overall query tuning methodology The ability to generate, read, and understand execution plans from multiple sources in support of troubleshooting poorly performance queries An understanding of how the optimizer works in support…
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26Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

New Book on Query Optimizer

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Benjamin Nevarez (blog) has been working really hard on a book on the Query Optimizer. It just got finished in time so that there will be copies available at the PASS Summit. I strongly recommend you track it down. There's a lot to learn between the covers. How do I know since the book just got finished and isn't in anyone's hands yet? Because I've been watching it get built. I put in my small efforts as the technical editor. I feel bad about that because I've always learned from my technical editors and I'm fairly sure I learned more from Benjamin than he did from me. Get a copy of the book. You won't be disappointed.
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25Oct 2010 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Another Must See Session

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I can't believe I missed this one in all the posts and recommendations I've been making about great sessions coming up at the PASS Summit. I'm not sure where my head was. However, I'd be completely remiss if I didn't mention Jennifer McCown's (blog|twitter) session called T-SQL Brush Up. It was the most popular session at the last 24 Hours of PASS. It's going to be even better live, with an interactive audience. Holy cow, I thought I had put it on my Must See Sessions but I must have messed up. Sorry Jen.
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