Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Viva Las Vegas–Off to VS Live

    I’m off to VS Live Las Vegas  for a few days this week. I was in the UK last week and I leave early Wed-Fri for a trip this week.

    If you’ve never been to VS Live, it’s a neat event. Smaller than many conferences, but it covers a bunch of different technologies for developers. Databases are a small part, and I’m always honored when I get to speak there. I hear different perspectives and questions than I find at many data professional events.

    I also learn some interesting things about software development from others. To me, this is a great way to round out my knowledge. When I was more of an attendee than a speaker, I liked going to these events that are focused on multiple technologies.

    If you want a last minute trip to Vegas, come this week. If not, there are some other great events coming up this year. Think about going to one if you do a lot of development:

    I won’t be at those, sadly, but my schedule is a little crazy in 2023, so I’m limiting the submissions. Hopefully I’ll do a few more of these next year.

  • Daily Coping 20 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is to get outside and notice how the weather feels.

    This was a good tip to see before my trip last week to the UK. I flew over Mon, arriving Tue in London. I tried to get outside a bunch last week in these ways:

    I spent a day at the T4 Hilton at LHR to recover from travel. While there, I went for a walk along the road circling the airport. I managed to get a look at an airplane coming in to land. It was a nice, sunny day, about 50F/10C, not too windy, refreshing and brisk.

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    Walking from the conference center to the hotel is a short outside section for me. Lots of rain in Wales, but I managed to take a few minutes and loop around the building during dryer moments and enjoy the very green open space and cool spring weather.

    Not as much outside time as I would have liked, but it was Wales. Lots of rain during the week.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

  • Enjoying SQL Bits

    It’s been a good week at SQL Bits. This is my favorite conference, and the organizers go out of their way to make it a fun and sustainable event.

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    I brought three different shirts. Day one:

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    Day 2:

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    and Day 3:

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    The conference center in Newport is fairly large, and dedicated to Wales. We see the dragon out front.

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    I even got a chance to stand next to this, and it’s pretty big.

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    And castles inside. The theme for the week was dungeons and dragons, and Redgate joined in with the castle theme.

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    Overall, the Expo was a nice success, and often busy with the food (and coffee) available inside.

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    We even had a mini dragon for Lego Steve

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    And more full sized dragons

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    There were the bean bag chairs everywhere, with the updated logo on one side. Sponsor logos were on the reverse side.

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    There was a big wall where artists were sketch noting after sessions. I thought this was pretty cool. I forgot to check after mine, but I was saying good bye and getting ready to leave and forgot to look.

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    Overall, it was a great week, and again, an amazing conference put on by the SQL Bits crew. I enjoyed it and look forward to coming back in the future. Wales was a great site, and I had a lot of smiles, laughs, and fun with others.

    The Redgate crew was great, and it was nice to spend time with them, something I don’t always get to do at events.

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    The party was a lot of fun as well, with some amazing costumes. Some random shots here:

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    As I walked back through Heathrow, I always pass this iconic image, which both makes me smile and brings up a little sadness as I leave the UK. Another great trip though.

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  • Blogging for the Tech Professional PowerPoint

    Thanks to everyone that came to my talk at SQL Bits.

    Powerpoint here for download.

    If you have questions, reach out.