Sometimes It IS The Network

Over the years when a performance problem comes up there is always some speculation that it’s a network issue and not the database (can’t be us!). I always ask a few quick questions to see if I can see a reason to pursue the network angle: Is the problem affecting multiple database servers? Is the […]

Miscellaneous Reading for July 2013

Must read blog: Sacha Chua. Lots of info on going solo, being productive, sketch noting. Related, if you’re trying to manage life and focus and progress, take a look at QuantifiedSelf.com Don’t tell people they can borrow your tow truck The Generals is a look at the evolution of the US Army as far as relieving […]

A Long Summer Vacation

Based on a bit of luck/happenstance I’ve been able to stretch my summer vacation to two months. I had planned to take a few weeks off to reflect on life and think about where I should be focusing (and I have done a lot of that), but the chance to take the summer off with […]

Notes from SQLSaturday #231

First time event in Cocoa Beach went really well! Speaker dinner well attended Friday night at Florida’s Seafood Quite a few out of town speakers, and it seemed like more speakers brought their families. Having the event at a hotel on the beach certainly made it What are the odds – the speaker shirt (red […]

Encourage Someone You Respect To Run For The PASS Board of Directors

PASS is accepting candidate applications for the 2013 election through August 7th, 2013. Later this year we – the PASS membership – will be voting to fill three seats on the Board. To have a good election we need a great selection of candidates. I hope for a slate of candidates so good that we […]

Headed to Cocoa for SQLSaturday #231

I’m leaving mid-morning today to drive to Cocoa with my family for a beach weekend and SQLSaturday #231. I’ll be presenting PCI for the SQL DBA and I’m really looking forward to it. I did a virtual presentation of it earlier this month and it ran long, so I’ve made some adjustments and can’t wait […]

The SQLAndy Rules for Storing Credit Card Numbers

I’ll try to write more about these over the next couple months, but I wanted to write down a quick reference for those that have to deal with storing credit card numbers. These rules cover the basics – the full topic of protecting card data is easily a book or two. These are my rules, […]

Blog Images and PNG Compression

I’m not terribly good at putting at least one image in every post. The images I do use are either screen captures from Snagit or photos from my phone. I rarely do much in the way of editing them, a luxury of running a low key blog. As far as process, I typically just insert […]

Moving The Bottleneck

Most of you probably get that there will always be a bottleneck in a system. You implement a fix in one place, now something else becomes the constraint. The hard lesson to learn is that there is point of diminishing returns on optimizing (anything). Doesn’t mean you should stop, just that you should think about […]

I Learned Something From You

I learned something from you – that was something someone said to me at the end of a recent consulting engagement. I wasn’t teaching, just doing, so that it made it all the more interesting to hear. Part compliment, part acknowledgement, maybe even part surprise, regardless, it was a very nice thing to be told. […]