SQLSaturday #21 – Orlando Pre-event Seminars Announced.

Wow!  Andy Warren has put together a week of low-cost seminars filling the entire week before SQLSaturday #21 – Orlando.  What a great list of speakers and topics.  Here’s the list:

• Monday October 12th – Essentials of Managing SQL Server by Andy Warren
• Tuesday October 13th – Learn Business Intelligence in a Day by Brian Knight
• Wednesday October 14th – Real World Performance Tuning by Kevin Kline
• Thursday October 15th – From Zero to SSIS by Andy Leonard
• Friday October 16th – Performance Tuning Methodology by Buck Woody

I think that there is something for everyone in this list of sessions and if you don’t see what you want in this this list then sign-up for SQLSaturday as it will probably be covered in one of the sessions there.  If you don’t see what you are looking for suggest a session and someone may do it!

Active August – Week 2 Recap

Well, I had a pretty good week this week.  I made an effort and met all my goals:

1. Eat smaller portions – this one is hard especially because I feel hungry most of the time.  I did okay, but probably still eat more than is really needed.  I really need to start eating breakfast every day which is supposed to help.
2. Healthier snacks – I’m mainly not snacking although I did break down and have ice cream for dessert a couple of times and Friday night we had dinner at a friend’s house and they served some kind of caramel flan (a custard like dessert), that I couldn’t refuse.
3. 20 minutes of purposeful exercise 6 days a week – I made this one easily by walking every day except Friday with some extra work in the pool about several days.
4. Sit-ups and push-ups every day adding 10 each week.  I made this one with some extra as I did 50 sit-ups and 35 push-ups on Friday night to close the week.

As I have said before this effort is more about lifestyle change than weight loss which is why I don’t have an official weight loss goal, but losing weight is definitely welcome.  Last week I weighed in at 182, this morning at 180.5.  Here’s a chart to plot my movement:

I’d like to think I’m making progress in a healthy manner, but I have to be honest, I’d like to have seen 5 pounds a week gone instead of 2, but as I said, it’s about a healthier lifestyle not fast weight loss.

No Training Budget Still No Excuse

When I first started by career in IT and SQL Server about 10 years ago I lived in a small town in northern New Hampshire.  I used my location as an excuse not to attend user groups and other events, unless the boss was willing to foot the bill.  Now I realize my mistake, I’m in charge of my professional development, and now, location is no excuse.  Here’s a list of just some of the FREE training available online:

• JumpstartTV - short (3-5 minute), specific how-to videos for SQL Server and .NET.
• Channel 9 – MSDN’s video training library. This has videos on just about everything microsoft. Over 200 on SQL Server 2008 alone.
• PASS - the Official Professional Association of SQL Server web site. PASS offers Virtual Chapters (user groups that meet online monthly).  Be sure to check out the upcoming 24 hours of PASS
• Quest Software – Quest offers free webcasts on several technologies including SQL Server and some on Quest products but many general ones. Check out Quest Connect
• SQLServerPedia - has video podcasts as well as blogs, wiki, and articles.
• SQLServerCentral – forums, articles, scripts, blogs, and videos. What more can you ask for?

I’m sure there are other resources as well.

Now on to the FREE events. 

• The biggest one for SQL Server, well, at least in my opinion, is the SQLSaturday franchise.  There have been about 20 over the last 2 years from Florida to Oregon.  I should make a disclaimer that I have spoken at 2, attended another, and the franchise is owned by my friend, Andy Warren and his partners.  Actually the first SQLSaturday event was when I met Andy, actually the day before at the Day with Celko event done in conjunction with the SQLSaturday.  It’s a full day of free SQL Server training with some national speakers along with the best local speakers.
• Code Camps – these one day events for .NET are what SQLSaturday is based on, so if you need .NET training here’s a way to get it.
• PASS – offers a SQLSaturday like event support with it’s Community Connections
• User Groups – just BING or GOOGLE for [your technology and location] User Group.  I’m sure you’ll find something in your area.  PASS has a list of official chapters for SQL Server.  I know of Sharepoint, Java, .NET, and Agile user groups.  I’m sure there are others.

As you can see there are plenty of training options that will only cost you time and maybe travel expenses and that’s really an investment in you. 

Office 2007 Pro Plus Installation Issues

Since I have an MSDN subscription I downloaded Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit this past week.  I installed it on my laptop and then began installing applications.  When I went to install Office 2007 Pro Plus it would start and then hang looking for ProPlsWW.cab.  I attempted the install at least 10 times.  I tried copying the install from the CD to my hard disk, I tried moving PropPlsWW.cab to another location, I tried screaming and yelling at it to “Work you piece of junk!”, but to no avail.  I did look it up on the internet (I am currently using Bing Vs. Google).  The most promising link I found was to delete the 11.0 or 12.0 registry entry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office.  I did try this and it didn’t work.

I finally unpacked the cab file and saw that the files in it seemed to relate to MS Access.  I re-attempted the install, but this time I did not include Access and I went through all the tools installed and deleted any that referred to Access.  I did not write down what I found because I wasn’t planning to blog about it, and not planning on re-installing again!.  Finally at this point Office installed successfully.  I then re-ran setup, added Access, and viola, install complete.

Active August - Week 1 Recap

Well, I made it through the first week of Active August (Twitter) without killing myself.  In my first Active August post I outlined my goals and I'll recap here.

1. Reduce portions at meals - I've actually done okay at this. How can I tell?  I'm hungry almost all the time!  I assume it is just my body adjusting to the reduced intake.
2. Healthier snacks - This is a hard one for me, but I have done well, mainly because my wife hasn't made or bought sweets in the last week.  I mentioned in the original post that I wanted to replace my nighttime junk food with healthy food, but as I thought about I decided it would be better to eliminate snacking after supper.  I estimate that I would eat 250-500 calories of junk every night, which is about a pound a week. If I can eliminate that along with more activity I should lose a couple of pounds a week fairly easily to start.
3. At least 20 minutes of purposeful activity 6 days a week.  I made 5 the first week.  One day I played basketball, but didn't do the extra 20 minutes, and 1 day I was sick.  Pretty good, although I need the 6th day to be honest.  I either swam or walked.  The swimming is a real workout.
4. Sit-ups and push-ups every day adding 10 to my beginning total.  Believe it or not I made this one.  I started at 25 sit-ups and 15 push-ups to start and ended with 35 and 25, so my goal for next Saturday is to be up to 45 sit-ups and 35 push-ups.

I have to admit to feeling a bit more energy and sleeping better due to the increased activity.  It also has been easier because I have seen other people's activity on Twitter and have been challenged to continue by them.  Thanks to Mike Walsh for getting this thing started and for the others involved. Oh yeah, my starting weight was 184.5, and my weight this morning was 182.  Pretty good week as my goal is more of a change in lifestyle than just weight loss.  I'll be happy with that many pounds lost each week of the month.

Technical Presenters – Make your point

I caught this blog post, Who says technical presentations can't be engaging?, today thanks to Dana Coffey (@crazeegeekchick on Twitter).  My takeaway from the post is that good speakers tell a story. 

Now, this doesn’t mean you just tell stories, what it means is that you are organized and know where you want to go and how you are going to get there.  Think about some good stories you’ve heard or read, the speaker/writer didn’t just wander around, did they?  No, they were coherent and went from point A to point B.  Everyone group of friends has someone who can’t tell a story to save their life (if you don’t know who that person is then you probably ARE that person), and the common theme is that they can’t tell a story without wandering all over the place.  Well, the same principle applies to technical presenting, “A good story has a point”.

The best feedback I ever received about my speaking was in Bible school, when I had to teach a Bible lesson to the class.  At least 3 people in the class said, “I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to learn”.  If that’s the reaction, then you haven’t told a good story.

The point I’m trying to make is that you need to know what you want your listeners to learn, and make sure your presentation takes them there.  If your presentation is “How to create SQL Server Login” stick to the point and don’t do into database roles because they have nothing to do with creating a SQL Server Login.

I hope I made my point.

Free Training! 24 hours of PASS

PASS is sponsoring a 24 hours of PASS event on September 2nd.  Consecutive live (Live Q&A also) 1 hour sessions by some of the best speakers in the business.  This event is loaded with MVP’s, authors, and SQL Server gurus.  Here’s a few names:

• Louis Davidson
• Kevin Kline
• Brad McGehee
• Grant Fritchey
• Gail Shaw
• Kalen Delaney

Wow! As far as I’m concerned that’s and impressive list.  I won’t be staying up 24 hours, but you can bet I’ll be taking in several hours.

It looks like a nice preview of what you can get at the PASS Summit, minus the networking, but free! 

Check it out and attend what you can!  Registration opens Wednesday, August 5th.