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…
Read More
10Apr 2014 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

I’m a Traveling Man

PASS, Redgate Software
We are coming into quite a busy time for my speaking schedule. I'm hitting the road. It does one thing for me that I truly love, I get to talk to people. So, if you have questions, want to chat, need to call me a pompous know-it-all to my face, I've got some opportunities for you. Next week, April 13-16, is SQL Intersection. You can register by clicking here. The following week, I've got two events. First, on Friday April 25th, Red Gate Software is hosting a free half day SQL in the City Seminar in the Chicago area. We'll be talking database deployment all day. Go here to register, but don't wait, seats absolutely are limited. And, since this is a Red Gate event, at the end of the…
Read More
04Apr 2014 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Speaker of the Month, April 2014

Professional Development
I'm really enjoying picking a speaker of the month. It forces me to sit through a lot more sessions at the events I attend. I had been getting rather slack about attending sessions. It's easy to get caught up in networking so much that you're not taking advantage of the learning opportunities. This month we're on to the East Coast to pick a speaker from the Boston SQL Saturday event. The talk was called, "What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a DBA." The speaker of the month is Mike Walsh (b|t). Mike's session was just a general discussion about the job of being a DBA. He didn't get into a lot of technical detail. Instead it was like a conversation with your friends talking about personality traits, work/life balance, restore…
Read More
07Mar 2014 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Speaker of the Month, March 2014

Professional Development
This never gets easier. I was able to attend a bunch of sessions in the last month from a number of speakers that I'd never seen before. A lot of them were good, very good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I think the general level of speakers within the SQL Server community is improving. Which means we'll all need to up our games. I also saw several that I've seen before because I always learn from them. In short, my cup runneth over. Anyway, the person I picked this month, well, I'd never seen him present before. But, I have hung out with him. He's got this incredible, fast, sharp wit and he'll protect you from dangerous objects in orange. I'm picking Mark Vaillancourt (b|t) and his…
Read More
07Feb 2014 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Speaker of the Month, February 2014

Professional Development
I didn't get out to many events in January, so I was somewhat limited in the pool of presenters that I could choose from. Luckily for me, that pool primarily consisted of the entire Caribbean since I was on the SQL Cruise. There I got to see some of the best in the business doing serious teaching (and networking, and water slides, and rum, and beaches, and rum). I could easily cop out, cheat, and name the Cruise as speaker of the month, but I have not yet sunk that low (plus, the rum is gone). Every speaker I saw was great too. Tim Ford doesn't let just anyone present in his watery venue. So, I could pick from any of them and be 100% right. But, I had to…
Read More
03Jan 2014 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Speaker of the Month, January 2014

Professional Development
A whole new year. Cool. I was at SQL Saturday DC, #233, at the beginning of December. I sat through several really good presentations. I could honestly give the award this month to any of the ones I took notes on, but I have to pick one person (although, not always, my award, my rules). So, speaker of the month for the brand new year is Konstantin Melamud (li|t). Yet another speaker without a blog. Maybe I should enforce my own rules at some at some point. <sigh> Anyway, I enjoyed Konstantin's presentation. Let's talk about it. Performance Tuning - Index Optimization was an excellent presentation. Konstantin came at the topic very carefully. He started off with a knowledge level baseline, right at the start. I thought that was a…
Read More
18Dec 2013 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Speaking in 2014

Professional Development
I love that I get to travel around and learn from my #sqlfamily. We're still filling in the majority of the 2014 schedule, but the plans are to go to as many events as Mrs. Scary will let me. I'd like to alert you to a couple coming up in January, and then I should be able to get a fuller schedule for the first quarter posted soon (that way you can complain to me in person about Managed Backups). On Friday, January 10th, I'll be presenting a SQL in the City Seminar on Database Deployment in Cambridge, UK. Presenting in the UK is just fantastic. And this is a live event. And it's at the stately Red Gate Towers. Oh, and this is a free event, but seating is…
Read More
06Sep 2013 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Speaker of the Month: September 2013

Professional Development
This is my second post in what I hope will be an ongoing series. You can see the rules for this, such as they are, and the last winner here. I didn't travel this past month, so I'm pulling my speaker of the month from a session that was recorded at 24 Hours Of PASS. I love the topic of database design. I love the topic performance tuning. So, my speaker of the month is Audrey Hammonds (b|t) and her session Design Matters! The Performance Impact of Database Design. I've known Audrey for a few years now, but I'd never sat through one of her sessions. What's wrong with me? I don't know, but I finally did and I'm really happy that I took care of it. I loved how…
Read More
21Aug 2013 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Speaking this Fall

PASS, Redgate Software
I've been at home through the whole month of August, restingworking hard, but it's time to get on the road again. First up, it's off to San Diego for two events. On Friday, September 20th, Red Gate (my Lord and Master) is hosting a free afternoon session of training. Steve Jones (b|t) and I will be walking through several sessions oriented towards the DBA and the skill sets they need to get things done. It's a free event, training done the Red Gate way, so register here, get some free training, a little networking and finish up with a frothy beverage. Then it's off to SQL Saturday San Diego the next day, Saturday, September 21st. As I write this, they haven't posted the schedule, so I'm not sure what session I'll be doing,…
Read More
02Aug 2013 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

Speaker of the Month, August 2013

Professional Development
I'm trying out a new blog post series, mostly for myself as an exercise. I'm going to pick one speaker each month that I've seen present recently and tell you what I thought of them. Now, don't panic. If you stunk up the place, I won't abuse you... by name. Kidding. This is going to be endlessly positive and supportive. I'll try to find places where you can go to see these speakers in the future, if I can (Lanyrd.com people). If not, maybe they'll notice this post and tell us themselves. For those interested in getting picked, don't bother me. This is arbitrary & random. However, be sure that you have a blog (or equivalent) that I can direct people to or I'll skip over you. If you don't…
Read More