An open letter to young people entering the job market

This is aimed mainly toward young people who fall into any of the following categories: has graduated from college within the past five years and is actively job searching, has graduated from high school (maybe also within the last five years) and is looking to enter a trade, is still in school (high school, college, …

Want to connect with me? Send me a note #LinkedIn #Facebook #SocialMedia #Networking #Rant

I hate spam passionately. There are few things that piss me off more than being bombarded via email or social media about products for which I don't give two damns. These days, with the proliferation of bots and malware, spam can also represent a security issue. I suspect it's probably already happened to me, but …

Yes, I’m still alive

I haven't done much writing in this 'blog since 2022 started. Quite frankly, I've been preoccupied with a number of things, including work and personal happenings. This isn't to say I don't have article ideas. In fact, I've started a few articles, but haven't gotten around to finishing them. Hopefully, I'll get back to them …

A few tips for #networking

Last month, I got an email from my alma mater about a new networking forum that they developed (if you're a Syracuse University engineering or computer science alumnus or student, check it out). I signed up for it, and I've been fairly active on it, posting about some of my own activities and dispensing my …

Heading graphics: it’s not just about good looks

I've been building Confluence pages as my initial projects for my (still-relatively) new employer. I've been building landing pages, coming up with designs and layouts as I go along. For a couple of these pages, I wanted to come up with graphics -- not just to be aesthetically pleasing, but also to give each page …

Archiving my talks, part 1: #SQLSaturday schedule PDFs — #PASS

With the imminent demise of PASS, I figured I should take Steve Jones' advice and archive my presentation links. For this round, I went through all the SQL Saturday events where I spoke and downloaded the schedules. Each SQL Saturday schedule has a link to save it to PDF (there is an "Export to PDF" …

#PASSSummit2020 part 4: The final day #PASSSummit #PASSVirtualSummit

Well, it's Friday. Today is my third -- and last -- day of PASS Summit 2020. I'll start right off the bat with why this day is important for me, personally: today is my day to present. The funny thing is, I'm not really presenting. PASS is using my prerecorded session that I put together …

#PASSSummit2020 part 1: Planning out the week #PASSSummit #PASSVirtualSummit

I decided that I would do what I had intended to do last year, but didn't: live 'blog my PASS Summit experience. So this is my first "official" article in which I write about my activities for PASS Summit 2020. These articles will be tagged in my categories as #PASSSummit2020. When I went to PASS …

A busy week of #PASS events #PASSSummit #PASSVirtualSummit #PASSSummit2020

This will be a busy week for me. Tonight at 6:00 pm (EST), my local SQL user group is hosting our monthly meeting. Use the Meetup link to RSVP (note: you must RSVP for the Zoom meeting link to be viewable). If you need the Zoom password, please send us a message. The rest of …

The #Coronavirus chronicles, part 23: Learning songs in a new language #COVID19

Before I get into this article, I need to direct you to a few other articles that I wrote, all of which are directly relevant to what I'm about to write. You will likely not understand some of the references in this article unless you read these other ones first (or are friends with me …