Technology
SQL Cruise – The good, the best and the awesome
In about a month, I’ll be joining a handful of data professionals to attend a wonderful event called SQL Cruise. Yes, as you guessed from the name, this event is happening on board a cruise ship and not only we are going to enjoy the wonderful view of Alaska’s mountains, but we are also going to have excellent speakers with fabulous content, as well as fantastic networking opportunities between the attendees. So what’s so special about this event that keeps me coming back every year? Let start with the speakers AND the...
read more2011 in one word: AWESOME
I have read a lot of posts lately that talk about accomplishment or things you didn’t do last year, or even summaries about the whole year, and they were all interesting to read. Those blogs really made me play the 2011 year in my head. You know, like those old movie projectors (remember those? before the HD video out of youtube? I don’t personally, but I have seen old movies that reference them…) Anyway, I’m going to just list those here. Both. Things I did, and I didn’t do and hope that I can be better...
read moreSQL Family in Action
ER Nurse: “Who are those people on your laptop? They are on video” Me: “They are my family. My SQL Family” Earlier today, I fainted, tripped on the stairs, fell and sprained my ankle. Being 10 days away from my marathon, I didn’t want to take any chance and want the ankle to get looked at (on top of the excruciating pain I experienced), so off to the ER we went. We got there around 9:30am and pretty much in the exam room within 5 minutes, had 3 nurses around me. Long story short, they wanted to make...
read moreMeme Monday: #SQLFamily
Thomas LaRock (t) assignment for Meme Monday November is about SQL Family. When I saw the topic, I knew that I had to jump on the bandwagon and write something about this because this topic holds a dear place in my heart. As most of you already know, I have had some health challenges in the past few years. Earlier last year, I was starting to get more involved in the SQL community. I joined Twitter and started to get to know people in the community, both virtually and in person. I was amazed at how generous people in this community...
read moreI’m a Big (SQL) Sister!
I have recently joined the Orientation Committee for SQL PASS Summit 2011 and become a ‘big sister’ f0r eight first-timer attendees. This is one of many ways of mine to give back to this awesome community that we have. I have many big brother/sister in the community that help me tremendously even with their busy schedule and I am excited about the opportunity to give back. This program launched last year and I heard a lot of great stories about it. I wasn’t able to participate last year since I wasn’t attending...
read moreAnother Awesome Tools in my Toolbox
No, this is not your everyday tools and your normal toolbox. These awesome tools came from a week long training with SQL Skills on their Performance Tuning week. I learned new shiny techniques to troubleshoot performance issues, different ways to look at problems and new approaches on how to prevent problems before they even become one. These tools are extremely important to have in my toolbox and an awesome addition to the ones I have. Soon, I might need a bigger toolbox! I’m not going to go over each day on what we covered in...
read moreWhat gets measured, gets done
One of SQL Cruise sessions that I attended last week (I will have separate post for summary of the whole event) leave us with some homework to do. We have to pick 12 books to read for a year that can enhance our career, read it once a month and post a review about it. Buck Woody (blog | twitter) already post his, and even though I wasn’t tag by him – I’m going to publicly list mine and link back to his post and even tag a few cruisers so they can put their list as well Here’s my list, in no particular order: First,...
read more#SQLHike – SQL Fun before Portland SQL Saturday
Karen Lopez (blog | twitter) started this event throwing an idea of having a bunch of SQL peeps to run a half-marathon together (or walk it) at Portland Marathon on Sunday October 9, 2011, which is a day after SQL Saturday Portland. I’m not a runner, even though somehow I was dared talked into registering to the event and I know it will be a lot of fun and we can just walk it. It’s an 8 hours event, so just like Karen said – you can walk it, run it, take a nap, do a little shopping and still finish the course 🙂...
read moreOpen Box DBA
There are some (maybe “alot”) of perceptions that DBA’s work in a silo, or a black box. There are a lot of folks that don’t really know what exactly we do, well, until something goes wrong that is. Then, all of a sudden, we suddenly have the spotlight on us, and a big red X in our back. But when we work hard to be proactive and make everything “just work” (that is really possible, you know) somehow others question what we really do on daily basis. Yes, it is true, you have done your work, the systems will alert you before the customers...
read moreSecret to be a successful DBA
When you just start your career as a DBA, there’s a few things that I think are very fundamental to have so you can be a successful one. This goes for pretty much every profession actually, but I’m focusing this post for DBAs, because, well, that’s what I’ve been doing in the last ten plus years. I’m not talking about mastering T-SQL or being a PowerShell Guru or even knowing about SQL and Index Internals here, no I’m talking about basic, fundamental skills that will make you become a successful DBA. ...
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