Hi, ALL. Today's Blog is much ado about nothing? A totally free-form blog entry, with random thoughts on a passing scene.
Sometimes, it happens. Even, to the best of us. There is never a lack of content to write about, but yet, I have, dare I say, BlogLock, (a play on words for Writer's Block). Not really! Just quite the opposite. Too much to write about, too much to do. And distracted with some personal family matters that make my concentration effort go down. So, I will share some things I'm working on, rather abstractly, week-in-review,and some words for the weekend!
Actually, and hopefully, I'll get this out next week, I wanted to share some community updates, online training, reminders, and other technical articles of interest. I myself am working on a new technical article, a new sql Q&A publication, a product review, and some new and awesome features for SQLCentric v.3.0.
In addition, I am currently revamping my entire company website (new one not published yet) http://www.pearlknows.com - with some help from a cool web-designer professional! The new site will talk about our sql services, products and solutions, as well as feature dynamic content and blogs (better start thinking and writing conent in advance!), all to tie in with RSS Feeds, Twitter, LinkedIN, and more.
I just also completed some edits for the upcoming SQL PASS Session Abstracts - really great topics, for those fortunate enough to attend! Not a big exercise, but I was asked, and graciously accepted the task.
Speaking of editing and writing, I do have a chapter coming out in the upcoming MVP Deep Dives Volume II, in the Performance Tuning and Optimization Section. This is one great publication that will feature many top MVP SQL experts, and topics. It is truly an honor to be published among them! All the proceeds will goto charity! I think its ok to announce, that we fully expect the publication to be out by PASS! (if I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be hearing from some folks :-O)
Back at Headquarters, aka Redmond, Microsoft seems to be shuffling the deck! A lot of interesting, and I think awesome changes for the good. Many folks from within Microsoft, moving to new teams! The most public and prominent announcements being Robert L. Davis aka Twitter|SQLSolidier, becoming Program Manager for the SQL Server Master Certified Master (MCM) program, upon resignation from the role by another well-known Microsoft asset, Joseph Sack Twitter|josephsack. Robert talks about the transitions in his blog here: Goodbye Joseph Sack. So, now that Robert has taken on the reigns of the MCM program, where does that leave Joe?
I asked Joe what he'll be doing, and I was extremely delighted to find out that he now has taken the new role at Microsoft as the Program Manager on the SQL Content and Community Team. He will be responsible for SQL content strategy & execution. I immediately knew that we in the MVP group would be hearing from him soon! Sure enough, a day or two later, Joe emails us on the DL. Can't say much what we talked about, but it's definitely a win-win for the MVPs and SQL Community!
Congratulations to these two very talented individuals!
Speaking of congratulations, it's July 1, 2011 - Yes, it's Canada Day - and I wish everyone to the North a Happy One! I myself said hello to some Canadian Geese on the way to my client site :-). But, July 1, also means its Microsoft MVP Award Day! Each quarter, during the year, Microsoft announces its renewed and new MVPs. According to the MVPAward breaking twitterfeed, 179 new MVP's and 814 renewed MVP's have been awarded. Congratulations to all the MVPs, renewed and welcome to the newbies! (Glad I'm not a newbie anymore 🙂
Furthermore, RedGate is running their annual Exceptional DBA Awards! Nominations are now closed! Hope you had a chance to submit yourself, or nominate someone you feel is worthy! I submitted my nomination, and feel that this individual is an up and coming SQL Star and represents the journey of many of us from accidental DBA, to SQL professional and Community SQL Person. I will blog more on this once I clear with RG. Finalists will be announced in a few weeks!
If you're also interested in some good SQL Server Reading for the weekend, pick up the current issue of SQL Server Magazine or logon to SQLMag.com. I blogged about it here <-- Good Stuff for the DBA.
Don't have big plans for the weekend? Well, for those not celebrating July 4th - our SQL Counterparts around the world, log on to Jacob Sebastian's BeyondRelational.com, for informative and inciteful content, as well as your chance to win many prizes including an iPAD! You can do this by taking the SQLQuiz - all this month, you can participate in the SQL BI Quiz, and answer questions by SQL MVP's. Just last weekend, I played QuizMaster, and my question is now live! (Click on the 25th of June for Pearl's BI Question 🙂
So, there are so many SQL events and training brewing, I can't possibly mention them all! We so far have announced the latest SQLSaturday#97 - which means we're just 3 super saturday events away for SQLSaturday #100! Where will this be? Who will be there? No one yet knows! I did tweet the SQLServerCentral compadres and SQLSaturday founders, Steve Jones, Andy Warren and Brian Knight - wouldn't it be great to get them all together again at the 100th SQLSaturday? Granted, it all depends on when, where and each of their schedules. Brian pinged me to come to Vegas, so I'm not sure he wants to spot me at the craps table, inviting me on a junket, or to organize one there 🙂 Or, maybe there's something I don't yet know! We will see!
On training and local events, I've been promoting Adam Machanic's upcoming Taking It to the Extreme: SQLCLR and Parallelism Advanced Peformance Tuning Class in NYC. Only a few weeks left, and you can still register! The class will be on July 14th and 15th, and if you register using the code SQLCENTRIC, you will receive an exclusive $125.00 discount! Adam recently updated the agenda, to include his hot-off-the-presses SQLCLR Component which he will demo live! Testing has it that this component will reduce query run-time significantly!
Finally, I also announced as a preview, for the first time ever, the most exciting SQL event to come to NYC this fall, SQLPeople INSPIRE NYC! This truly unique and awesome event will be here in the Big Apple on November 12, 2011. We have just completed our superstar speaker list, and you will be pleased at the line-up! SQLPeople is not a training event, but in the mold of the inspirational TED-talks, Ideas Worth Spreading! - Remarkable Talks, by Remarkable People! Our speakers will truly inspire you. Incidentally, the "TED talks" staff is headquartered in NYC, and was born in 1984. So, who is this TED? TED is NOT a WHO, but a WHAT - a powerful convergence between Technology, Entertainment and Design. (T-E-D). I am on the planning commitee, and honored to be working with Andy Leonard, Brian Moran, Melissa Demsak, and Michael Coles on this effort! Stay tuned for more details and announcements!
But, wait - there's more! Well, I guess I said enough for now. I supposed I did have what to write afterall. Not a bad blog entry.
I wish everyone in the USA a Happy & Safe Fourth of July Holiday!
PearlKnows will return next week 🙂 You can follow me on twitter @PearlKnows
