Timing
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They say that timing is everything. That when something happens is often very critical to making something important. I know when looking for a job, timing it crucial and trying to line up the timing of the various offers you may get is very important so you get the job you want without missing out on all your opportunities.
With our magazine, the SQL Server Standard, timing has become a part of my life. Every other month we release an issue and that means that every other month, I'm scrambling with our editor, Sue Page, to get the content edited, in some order, and then through the layout process. Which is a professional layout person that we send the articles, images, and ordering to and get back a PDF. Usually quite a few drafts until we're satisfied with the result.
By the time you see your issue, Sue and I have read each one a couple dozen times. We've done the tedious, monotonous tasks of checking spellings, matching up pages numbers, and many more things that you probably though you left behind in high school or college writing class.
And we've moved on. We just sent the May issue to the printer, which means we have the final PDF available in your virtual briefcase and available for purchase. This one was interesting and tackles a few different aspects of SQL Server performance. Greg Gonzalez has a fantastic article on disk contention and Randy Dyess decodes forwarding pointers, something I'd never thought about until I read the article.
But we've already moved on to July. Today I read a couple outlines and I've already been emailing and working with authors to line up the replication series for July. So May is already gone as far as I'm concerned.
Which caused a problem in March and I'm still apologizing to people. You see, I got my March magazine in the mail on Monday. Not such great timing there 🙁
Usually we send the PDFs to the printer and the subscriber list to the mailing house. The printer then sends the magazines over and they get mailed. In them middle of this, the mailing house sends us a bill, usually email, and we run a check by. Actually Brian runs the check by because he's closer. It's a long drive from Denver to Jacksonville 🙂
However in March, the mailing house had email issues. So he mailed us a bill. And by mail I mean the old, snail mail, guy walking around in knee socks and shorts carrying a large satchel. Which means that we didn't get it and since Brian was out of town, a check was mailed back to the mailing house. Snail mailed again. So the magazines sat in the mailing house for two weeks before they got mailed.
A frustrating process for me, especially as I'd kind of assumed it was a smooth process. However, it was my assumption and my problem and I do apologize to all our readers. So hopefully everyone will get their March issue this week or next and their May one the week after 🙂
Steve Jones
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Hi Steve,
This may be my own problem but when I went to open the May issue of SQL Server Standard (in PDF form), all I got was a blank screen. Has anybody else experienced this?
- Mike
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Mike,
Apologies, a typo in the filename. It's fixed.
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Hi Steve -
When I click on the SQL Server Standard Subscriptions, nothing happens.
Michelle -
Michelle,
It has now worked for me. Just give it some time to load.
If you had tried earlier, you may need to hit refresh in the browser window comes up?
- Mike
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All I got in the mail was 'Sexy Quails and Llamas'and your meaning for 'hitting the refresh button' means something different to you guys than I.
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We got lost in the employee shuffle at Microsoft when our old contact moved on and it took awhile for a new one to appear. I spoke with him last week and he was working with the MCP web group to get this in the next flash as well as a landing page. Apparently there are like 3 departments that have to coordinate this at Microsoft. When I get it up there, I'll let you know.
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