Move over Poseidon. I’m hitting the sea with my own trident (assuming I can get it through the TSA). My trident is made from the culmination of my favorite three things. My wife, SQL Server, and cruising. Let me explain.
Back in October of last year, Idera ran a contest called the “Get a life contest”. In order to enter the contest you had to describe how using Idera’s SQL Diagnostic Manager helped you “Get a life” by freeing up your time from hunting down production issues. The grand prize winner would receive a trip for two on SQLCruise! This contest had my name written all over it for two reasons.
The first is Idera. In addition to their great SQL Server products, Idera has become a huge advocate for the SQL Community. If you have been to any SQL community events then I guarantee you have seen them. I don’t mean the people standing behind their booth in orange shirts and sporting a rubber ducky. I mean the people checking you in at registration or handing you lunch. They are not wearing company shirts and appear to be local volunteers. Why do they do this? Easy. They love SQL Server and the SQL community just as much as we do. They may be Idera employees, but these people are DBAs and developers just like you and I. Idera supports and encourages these employees to be involved in the community and learn all they can. It’s this type of outreach and involvement that has ranked them high in my book.
The second reason is SQLCruise. I’ve been dying to go on SQLCruise since the very first one. SQLCruise means soaking up the sun while soaking up SQL knowledge from the brightest minds in the industry. We’re talking about classroom training capped at 15 people so you can actively participate and not just become another number. Unlike traditional training classes where you go home at the end of the day, you get to spend one on one time with the instructors. Have you ever been to one of those classes where a concept was introduced and you wanted to know how it would work in your specific environment? When you asked the instructor, did he say to catch him after class so he would have enough time to finish all the material for the other students? Well that is understandable so everyone else gets what they expected from the course as well, but it’s disappointing when the instructor bolts at the end of the day and leaves you hanging. On SQLCruise, they can only run so far before it’s all ocean! This kind of custom tailored training is impossible to find anywhere else.
Well I can no longer be one of those people that say I never win anything, because I was the second SQLCruise winner in the random drawing. That’s right; I won the Holy Grail of prizes! My wife and I leave for Miami tomorrow and could not be more grateful to Idera and SQLCruise for the amazing gift. We have had about 6 date nights since our 2 year old was born so it’s a gift of knowledge and a gift of time. We plan to actually finish a conversation without interruption!
