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Month: May 2010

Beautiful German

Coming to Germany & Austria in June

Last Updated May 26, 2010

I’m returning to the land of great cars, superb beer, and friendly database administrators. In June, I’m visiting four cities in four days to do eight presentations. Ready, set, go! Monday 21.6 – Munich, Germany Expert Campus on SQL Server I’m presenting, “SQL Server Storage: Files, Filegroups, Partitioning, & More.” It’s hard to find good…

Bourbon Street Blues Company

Quest #QTweetup at TechEd – SOLD OUT!

Last Updated November 13, 2012

Think fast! The first 75 people who sign up at http://QuestTweetup.eventbrite.com can join me, Kevin Kline, Joel Oleson, and the rest of the Quest experts for an evening of fun on Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street Blues Company We’re getting together on Wednesday night at 9pm at the Bourbon Street Blues Company smack in the middle…

SQL injection caught on film

How to Solve the Environmental Crisis

Last Updated May 27, 2010

I don’t usually get involved with issues like this, but I think it’s time I step in to help. SQL injection caught on film Your SQL Server environment is a disaster. There’s data spilling out all over the place. Users are writing bad queries, developers are throwing triggers in all over the place, and your…

I can tell when someone's been surfing dirty web sites.

NoSQL Basics for Database Administrators

Last Updated June 7, 2020

Most SQL Server DBAs don’t even like MySQL, let alone NoSQL. They cringe when they hear people say things like, “I don’t need transactions” or “The data will eventually be consistent” or “Indexes will be supported in the next version.” SQL Server and Oracle people are constantly trying to out-feature each other, and the abject…

Ayinger Celebrator and The Beer Trials

The Beer Trials Review

Last Updated May 23, 2010

In high school, my dad’s side of the family had a restaurant and bar in Whitehall, Michigan. The Galleon was a high-end (well, for the local price range, anyway) seafood and steak restaurant on the shores of White Lake, and we catered to the tourists and well-off locals with a taste for the finer things. …

Hey Ma, Watch This!

Sessions I Submitted for the PASS Summit

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Every year, the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) holds an international Summit. This year it’s Monday, November 8th through Thursday, November 11th in Seattle, Washington. Anyone can submit sessions to present. If your session is accepted, you get a free registration, saving you around $2,000. Even if you’re not planning on going to the…

It slaps! It chops!

Why I Pimp Our Book

Last Updated May 20, 2010

My presentation style is really interactive. I try to write my presentations so that I can go off on wild tangents when it’s a great question that pertains to the presentation. It slaps! It chops! In every session, though, I get at least a couple of questions that are good, but don’t quite relate to…

Why Use Schemas?

Last Updated February 14, 2017

The ever-insightful Buck Woody (Blog – @BuckWoody) wrote a post telling you to use database schemas. He writes: “But I still see a lot of applications, developed by shops I know as well as vendors, that don’t make use of a Schema. Everything is piled under dbo…. But if you’ll use them properly you can…

Free Quest TechEd 2010 T-Shirts

Last Updated May 17, 2010

Not going to TechEd, but you wish you could pick up some of those cool vendor freebies? I got your hookup right here. Register for a free Quest t-shirt and you’re also entered into a drawing for a $200 AmEx gift card. Rules and restrictions apply. Drawing not open to my family members, people who…

TechEd 2010 Schedule and Info

Last Updated June 5, 2010

Here’s the sessions I’m planning on attending at TechEd 2010 (my first TechEd!): Sunday: Afternoon – touring The Museum of the American Cocktail with Adam Machanic (Blog – @AdamMachanic) and Tim Ford (Blog – @SQLAgentMan) If you’re in the mood to party (not sure if I’ll be, or if we’ll veg somewhere with a drink):…

One for me, one for you.

I passed the MCM! iPads for everyone!

Last Updated July 8, 2020

Microsoft Certified Master (MCM)

Quest: “Brent, here’s a top-of-the-line Apple iPad 3G, case, camera kit, dock, and all the trimmings.” One for me, one for you. Me: “What? Why?” Quest: “Before you went for the Microsoft Certified Master program, you kept telling us how hard it was and how high the failure rate was. We wanted to thank you for…

SQL Server 2008 R2 Review

Last Updated January 23, 2011

In August 2008, Lady Gaga released her premier album The Fame. This 13-track work produced several hit singles including Just Dance, Poker Face, and Paparazzi – but it also produced plenty of controversy. Her exaggerated use of fashion, musical cliches, and sex gave her plenty of media attention – both good and bad. If you’ve…

Sex Panther: 60% of the time, it works every time.

5 Things SQL Server Should Truncate

Last Updated May 12, 2010

Paul Randal (Blog – @PaulRandal) nailed a blog post to the church wall entitled, “What 5 things should SQL Server get rid of?” His choices included auto-shrink, putting databases in full recovery by default, GUIDs as clustered indexes, and more. He tagged me, and I knew right away what I’d say. 5. IntelliSense restrictions on…

Lacie Iamakey USB Drive

I ___ with Brent Winners

Last Updated May 10, 2010

You people are crazy. Crazy like foxes. Lacie Iamakey USB Drive You responded to my call for slogans with some really hilarious ones. Here were my favorite three, each of which will win a Lacie iamakey USB drive: I trololo with @BrentO – Jeremiah Peschka (with tweak by Mike, who refused to take credit for…

DBA Survivor

DBA Survivor by Tom LaRock – Book Review

Last Updated February 13, 2017

How do you become a DBA? Usually the answer is, “By accident.” You’re a developer or a Windows admin, minding your own business, when the company acquires a SQL Server or somebody installs SQL on a server somewhere. Since you’re the closest thing to a DBA in the shop, your manager asks you to keep…

Telecommuting

Why You’re Not Telecommuting

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Professional Development

Want a job working from home like Jeff Atwood described in his On Working Remotely post today? You’re probably not gonna get it. You Take Too Long to Prove Yourself Think about how long it takes for you to: Get your company equipment Get your environment set up Understand how the company’s system works Work…

I'M KING OF THE WORLD!

I Know Kung Fu

Last Updated May 5, 2010

I'M KING OF THE WORLD! The UPS guy is lucky that I didn’t know what was in this package.

StackOverflow VC, SQL Server, and Whuffie

Last Updated February 9, 2017

Yesterday StackOverflow announced that they’d accepted $6 million in venture capital funding. Joel Spolsky held a quick public chat to discuss it, and there were some interesting questions from the audience. I’m going to paraphrase some of the questions and give my own answers. Q: Now that StackOverflow is going to be big, will they…

Joel and Kevin - Awesome Buttons

I ___ with Brent

Last Updated February 12, 2017

I need creative help with my name. At TechEd, Quest is promoting their MVPs and experts like Joel Oleson and Kevin Kline with a really cool series of buttons, t-shirts, and banners. Joel and Kevin have awesome buttons: Joel and Kevin - Awesome Buttons Really cool, right? But what on earth do we do with…