Notes on Moderating a 24 Hours of PASS Presentation

Last night (8pm Eastern) I had my first run as a 24HOP moderator and wanted to share some thoughts on it: I usually use the microphone on my laptop, but in test we were getting echo in some places. I fixed it by turning down the speaker volume. Definitely recommend a headset as safest plan. […]

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 […]

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, […]

PASS Nominating Committee for 2013 Elections Announced

I was pleased to see the email this morning announcing that community volunteers Erin Stellato, Ryan Adams, and Tamera Clark will be joining Board members Sri Sridharan and Rushabh Mehta for the 2013 Nominating Committee. More information on the election site. The work of the NomCom is not glamorous and if anything can be tedious […]

Presenting at SQLSaturday #231 in Cocoa Beach

I’ll be attending the very first SQLSaturday held in Cocoa Beach on July 27, 2013, and doing a brand new presentation, PCI for the SQL DBA. If you store, plan to store, or think you might some day store credit card information come spend an hour with me. I’ll try to talk you out of […]

Notes from SQLSaturday #200

My first time in Philadelphia (and in Malvern, the actual event location). I drove up Friday night for the speaker dinner, nice seating area on the restaurant patio and hot enough to make me think I was still in Florida! Nice evening. I drove back to Philly to my hotel, and then drove back to […]

I’m Not Presenting at PASS Summit 2013

Last week I got the news that none of the four sessions I submitted for this year were accepted. Disappointing for sure, but not cause for despair. Because I’ve been lucky enough to have been accepted to speak many times in the past I don’t get too stressed out about it, I know that there […]