Category: Blog

I don’t trust ATT.

That’s saying something. AT&T, the company that built US telco, that gave us innovations from Bell Labs, including Unix. They got an exclusive deal for the coolest phone I have ever used, and I don’t trust them.

Their network, despite upgrades, still has me worried. There are so many people I know with iPhones that hate the company. They have constant issues with both voice calls and data access. If I had even 50% of my ATT friends happy with the service I’d order an iPhone 4, switch to ATT and be happy.

Instead I’m at a bit of a crossroads.

Not that T-Mobile is that great. Last night I had to turn airplane mode on/off to get a data connection to sync up. There have been issues with T-Mo in my area at times, and I don’t get data access most of the time I’m near the house. Not a huge big deal as I have wifi at home, but annoying at times.

I have an iPhone 2G, jailbroken and running on T-Mobile. I’ve had it over a year, after having a Google G1 (Android 1.5, 1.6) and a T-Mobile Dash (WinMo 6.0) and the iPhone blows them away. In terms of what I use it for, I have email (so-so), calendaring (crappy), music (excellent), reading (excellent), camera (excellent), lots of special purpose apps for things like banking, travel, etc. that I use. Trying to do things in a browser, even a mobile site on a cell phone sucks. Many times it’s not even usable. However many things that I do need, and use often, have fantastic apps on the iPhone.

It’s not the best business phone, but it’s a great one.

The iPhone wins for me, mostly because of the platform. Music/reading/apps that work for me. Android is getting close, with the Kindle app coming, and (hopefully) Google Music with a desktop sync that works. Android 2.2 looks interesting, but until the platform gets more mature, with more useful apps and capabilities that I need, I won’t move.

So the rest of you, please, please, please, order your iPhone 4s now so that I can pick up a used 3GS, crack it, and upgrade to iOS4 🙂

As the plane was landing the other day for SQL Saturday in Pensacola, I was struck by how amazing my career has gone. 19 years ago, working in a cube in a power station, programming dbase and Clipper applications. A geek at a desk.

Now I’m flying halfway around the country to give a couple talks to database professionals.

That’s amazing to me. Never in a million years when I left college did I see myself as someone that would be giving talks and presenting to people. I did a shared keynote in Charlotte earlier this year, and I’m doing another in Baton Rouge (SQL Saturday #28). When I was younger, these were only for famous people, for people I looked up to. I can’t believe that people are coming to see me at events.

And there are a lot of us. The SQL Server community is amazing, and more than a few other technology niches are looking with awe at all the database professionals that are taking the time to give presentations and go to events like SQL Saturday.

I think it’s cool, and I’m still awed by the place I’ve gotten to, and all the company I have with me. I’m proud to be associated with the rest of those speakers that are out there helping everyone learn more about SQL Server.

A short while ago someone complained that some of the headlines on SSC were deceiving in terms of what they represented. A few people noted that webcasts or other headlines weren’t technical information, and they didn’t want to click through to find that out.

Made sense to me, though I do try to note things like events in the description. So in any case I went searching around for icons and images, and found an icon that I wanted to use for technical articles. I added some text and had this displayed next to some articles:

Not bad, I thought for a non-artist like myself. So I did a few more, one of which was my puzzle icon:

I did this one from scratch since Ii couldn’t find a puzzle piece. Admittedly I could have spent more time in Paint, but that was only slightly less horrifying than working on income taxes to me. I saw the icon this week on the site and thought it looked horrible. So I decided to dash a note off to the Red Gate designer. We have one (or two?) on staff, and they respond to requests sent to a specific email. I included my image, and a day later got this:

That’s why it pays to hire an artist once you have an idea of what is needed. I sent off the other icons I’d made, and while my $5 each investment in a few logos is likely lost, it did get something up on the site, and gave my artist a base from which to start.

I was excited to attend the networking session last year at the PASS Summit. Andy Warren and I had talked about it quite a bit and tried to promote it as a way to build your brand and perhaps get a better job. We were concerned that networking is a leap of faith, and you invest in it, without possibly getting a return. I think you can, and it will pay off in strange ways. It might be help with a new job. It might be someone that you help, or it might be just a feeling of comfort the next time you see someone at an event.

The networking seminar at the PASS Summit is back, with Don Gabor, and you can read more about it. I spent my own money on it last year, learned a few things, and enjoyed it. Am I using the techniques? Have they helped?

I’m not sure. I know that I think about some things I learned, like the technique for remembering people’s names, and there are times I’m at a SQL Saturday, or maybe a dinner party, and I use them. I think about touching my network a little more often, and I do look at ways to interact with people more, stopping to spend a few more minutes chatting with them, or getting contact information.

It hasn’t directly benefitted me, but I think it might at some point. I have some closer relationships in my network because I make a little more effort to touch base with them, share something or strengthen the bonds we have. On one hand it commits me slightly more at events to talk to people, but on the other, it means I have a few more friends that I can count on.