Author: way0utwest

I traveled quite a bit in 2009, hitting 3 SQL Saturdays, 5 user groups and a few other events during the year. It made for a busy home life with my wife flying 25,000+ miles for her job and taking a few horse trips. Add in about 7 or 8 scout weekends through the year and it seems I was moving more often than not on the weekends throughout the year. I know I missed 3 baseball games because of travel, which is 3 more than I wanted to miss! I also cancelled SQL Saturday #23 in Louisville and SQL Connections because of conflicts with my wife’s schedule.

In 2010 I’ve already told two events in Jan that I can’t come because of vacation. My wife and I are taking a week for a long-overdue honeymoon (we never got one a decade ago) and we also have a family ski trip planned. My wife is planning on a trip in February, and between that, her birthday, and Valentine’s Day, traveling that month is out. We might be having a SQL Saturday in Denver as well, so I’m not sure I’ll get out.

November has me booked for the PASS Summit, an annual event. Be sure you use the SSC3D code when you register. That might not be the final code, but use it for now. If you can book now, you save a ton of money. Tell your boss and get them to register. They can always move the registration to another person if you leave.

Apart from that, things are somewhat open. My daughter is bugging me to go back to Pensacola for SQL Saturday #22 , which is around her birthday. With TechEd 2010 the next week, it might make sense for me to go down there and then go to the Big Easy for a few days at least.

I just say SQL Saturday #35 in Dallas is set for May 22, and I had tentatively committed to that. Tim Mitchell is a friend and runs it. I have to be sure it’s not graduation weekend as my oldest son leaves high school in 2010 and I can’t miss that.

I am assuming I’ll be renewed as an MVP for Microsoft, and I’d like to go back to the MVP Summit. It’s a good time for me to contact people and catch up with the Microsofties.

There’s also a few other events:

• SQLConnections Spring – I’ve still never been and while I don’t think we’ll sponsor a track here, I’d like to see the event and decide if I think we should do the fall show.
• Utah User Groups – I’ve been telling TJay Belt that I’ll come out sometime. I’d like to hit ski season, so I’ll see if I can get a trip in March, but this year is not looking good.
• SQL Saturday – There are quite a few, especially Charlotte, that I’d like to attend. Unfortunately they’re bunched up. Once again Jan is popular with Tampa, Boston, and Richmond putting them on. Portland conflicts with Dallas, and I’m sure a few more will come about. I’m not sure how many I’ll get to here.

I’m sure some other things will come up. I’ll likely skip speaking at the user groups, but try to convince a few others to do so instead and give them support that way.

I’m glad I called Toshiba last night. When my laptop died on Sunday, and never came back Monday, I wasn’t sure what to do. I searched through all my folders, but couldn’t find a warranty item and when I checked the Toshiba site, it said I was out of warranty.

So I pulled the drive and copied things off it onto my desktop, getting copies just in case and so I could continue working. Then yesterday I called Toshiba in the afternoon to get a price for a repair. After all, a new laptop would be in the $1500 range and I wasn’t sure what my boss would pay. So I just thought I’d compare and then decide.

Turns out I have an extended warranty that wasn’t showing up on the Toshiba site. I have typically gone to 3 year service plans, just in case, for machines, and I was pricing that into a new laptop. I figure that I need things fixed in that time frame, and after 3 years I’d just get a new one anyway. This one is 2 years old, so it would be good to get through 2010, or most of it before buying a new one. Seems like Quad cores are just getting into new machines, and I’d like to go with one on the next laptop.

So I got an order going, and drove down last night to ship out the laptop. It should arrive at Toshiba tomorrow and then we’ll see how long it takes to get it fixed and back. In the meantime I’m moving forward with more setup on the desktop to be sure I can work.

I sure do miss working from bed with the laptop, however.

I found a nice post from a friend, Roy Ernest, on an effective way to learn. He notes that one of the best ways he’s found is to write an article on a topic. It forces you to research, double check yourself, and explain things clearly.

I agree.

Not everyone wants to write an article that is published specifically to an audience, but this is where a blog comes in. Even a private blog or document that you don’t expose on the Internet. If you want to be sure you understand something and look to explain it back to yourself, write it down. You’ll have to do some research, and if you read it carefully, you’ll realize where you don’t really understand things.

That’s if you take pride in what you are putting down. I’ve seen plenty of people scribble things down halfway, not check themselves or their work, and they’re not really taking advantage of the time to make sure they’ve learned something.

If you want to publish, look for places. If you just want to make yourself understand something, try writing it down.

I saw this report that a good percentage of online social media users (27%) find that their offline relationships benefit from online interaction. I think that’s true, and I bet that the SQL Server people I follow would agree. I think the online posts among us leading up the Summit helped us become more engaged once we arrived in person. Especially with SQL Karaoke.

However I don’t think this is anything new. As I’ve read accounts of people’s lives from history, it seemed that those that engaged in writing letters, the offline communication of the past, were often very social in public. They kept engaged with their friends and family with these delayed communications over time.

That’s essentially what we do with IM, Facebook, Twitter, etc., it’s just at a quicker pace. I’m sure Abraham Lincoln would have liked to engage with Mary when he was on the road, or his Secretary of State, Seward, or his Secretary of the Treasury, Chase, with a telephone or Twitter if they had been available. As it was, he spent many nights awaiting word of what was happening in his country in the telegraph room.

I think social media has a place in today’s world, and in your career. It’s a way to interact with others that aren’t physically located near you. And while it can be a time sink or a drain on your resources, it can also be very rewarding in growing relationships with other professionals.