Today I received an email notifying me that I have been awarded the Microsoft “MVP” award. An excerpt from Microsoft’s website states

“The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award is our way of saying thank you to exceptional, independent community leaders who share their passion, technical expertise, and real-world knowledge of Microsoft products with others.”  reference

It is a huge honor to be given this award just as it has been extremely humbling to be nominated for this award by friends within the SQL Server community. I feel very lucky to be part of the awesome SQL Server community, to have made friends all over the globe and now to be part of the MVP community.

Little did I know how much my life was going to change when on 10/28/2008 my boss told me that our training budget got reinstated and did I want to go to the PASS Summit. I quickly registered and when I arrived in Seattle and felt the energy of our community I was hooked. During that Summit I was attending a session on DMV’s when Grant Fritchey shared with the audience about SQL Saturday’s.  I took note of it, attended the next two in the South East USA and then started speaking at them.

My passion and desire for learning never let up. I have attended every PASS Summit since, attended or spoke at dozens of events the past few years, contributed on forums, written blogs, been a PASS Regional Mentor, Chapter Leader, PASS Big Brother, etc.  As much as I try to give back I still feel like I am receiving more from this community then I can contribute. The friendships I have made and the lives I have been able to touch make all the time and energy put into it worth it.

There are so many others deserving of this award world wide. If you know someone who consistently gives of themselves back to the Microsoft community please take time to nominate them today.