Memorial Day Murph

A few of us in the office were discussing plans for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.  I mentioned that I was doing this thing on Monday called Memorial Day Murph (those of you who CrossFit know what I'm talking about).  I tried to describe the workout, and I couldn't remember the movements and rep scheme, …

Definitions that aren’t

This is yet another item that can be listed under tech writing frustrations. I was working on a project where we needed to rewrite a set of glossary definitions.  I won't go into the definitions (primarily due to corporate privacy), but for illustration purposes, let me use this analogy. Let's say you're looking up a …

Birth of a user group

At SQL Saturday in New York City yesterday, I debuted a brand-new presentation: So you want to be a SQL Saturday speaker?  Although only two people showed up, they were very receptive and engaging, which is exactly what I want out of my presentations.  As someone once said, the size of the audience doesn't matter; …

Ten Years at Redgate

Congratulations to my friend, Steve Jones, for ten years at Redgate!

Voice of the DBA

This year was my 10th anniversary of working for Redgate. The actual date was a bit ago, but they held off my celebration until I came over. These are nice at Redgate, better than at some companies where I’ve seen someone in management just give a mention during a company meeting and a token gift. At Redgate we get a really nice gift, which was a Garmin Forerunner 645 for me.

At Redgate, the CEO comes around and does a 5-10 minute speech on the person, with some of his thoughts and memories, and also shares some stories that others in the company have sent in. There is usually a few embarrassing notes, and in my case, I got this picture, which is likely one that everyone thought would generate the most red from me. It didn’t, though I don’t think there are any really embarrassing pictures or video for…

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On deck: SQL Saturday #716, NYC

Reminder: I am speaking at SQL Saturday #716, New York City this coming Saturday, May 19!  The conference will be at the Microsoft Technology Center, directly across 8th Avenue from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.  This is a secure location, so you must register using the link above if you want to attend! I will …

Upcoming speaking engagements

Here are my most recent speaking engagement calendar updates, as of today! Confirmed I am confirmed to be speaking at the following. Saturday, May 19 (a week from tomorrow): SQL Saturday #716, New York City -- I will be giving the following two presentations: I lost my job!  Now what?!? -- Tips and advice for …

Keeping it simple: it can get complicated

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." -- also supposedly by Albert Einstein If you're on Facebook, I'm sure that you've seen the memes that go something like this: "tell a sad/scary/happy (whatever) …