Voice of the DBA

Tag: syndicated

  • Daily Coping 6 Aug 2020

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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.

    Today’s tip is to try a new recipe or food.

    I realize that not everyone likes to cook. I know some of you don’t even love food like I do. However, we all eat, and food can bring joy to your life, whether that’s ordering something different from a restaurant or preparing something new.

    My wife got me to watch Chef, which was quite enjoyable for me. When we finished, she said she’d never had a Cuban sandwich. I was surprised, thought not as surprised as her. I’ve had them numerous times when I’ve visited places with lots of Cuban food, like Miami.

    I would have made her one, but before I could, we were out one day and decided to look for Cuban food. We found a place and she tried one. I did, too Winking smile

    In any case, I also ordered some other items. I got some Maduros and a Palermo. I hadn’t tried those before, though I have had plantains in some recipes. I enjoyed these much more, and I’ll be looking for some recipes to try at home to expand my cooking.

  • Without PASS, Our Community is Worse Off

    This year the PASS Summit is virtual. I’m speaking, as a donation, and Monica Rathbun has written some thoughts on the event. I’m hoping that attendance is high enough to enable to organization to survive beyond 2020.

    You can help by registering for the event. There are lots of great sessions, and some wonderful pre-cons.  I want to do a pre-con, but I’m struggling to pick one. I need to decide soon, and 2 pre-cons alone is about what the entire conference costs. I’m going to get some training at a good cost, but also support the organization and pre-con speakers.

    PASS Brings Us Together

    I have a bit of a like/dislike relationship with PASS. It’s not much stronger than that, but I have struggled to support them at times, for various reasons.

    However, as I talked about the organization with a friend, we both agreed that PASS, however flawed they are, makes our community better. From user groups to SQL Saturdays to the Summit, they have fostered an environment that brings us together.

    Certainly volunteers make user groups and virtual groups go. Organizers keep things on track and speakers make the events worth attending. SQL Saturdays are almost completely driven by people in the community. Even the great networking experiences at the Summit are largely driven by speakers and volunteers that openly great people, put on events like Game Night, the Photowalk, and SQL Karaoke.

    It’s us that makes things special. It’s not the PASS staff or the Board of Directors or a conference.

    It’s us. Each of us, engaging with each other.

    At the same time, I think that without PASS providing the central place we congregate, that marketing can focus on (mostly community marketing), and giving some financial or other resource support, I’m not sure how well things would go.

    I think we’re worse off if PASS fails. In some sense, I hate writing that sentence.

    Is the Summit Worth It?

    Training typically costs $400-700 a day, depending on who you go to. Online training might be worth less, or feel that way, but a lot of full classes cost this much. If that’s the case, then the $999 bundle, which includes 2 pre-cons is worth the cost. Heck, 2 pre-cons are $800, and it’s only $200 more for the Summit included.

    To support PASS, get other sessions, and keep alive an amazing event that has likely helped you in your career, and by proxy, your employer, I think it’s worth it.

    Forget about Microsoft and Amazon doing their large conferences for free. They lose money anyway on those events, spending hundreds of thousands, or millions, on Ignite, ReInvent, or something else for marketing. The DevOps Enterprise Summit, the Pass Summit, and others can’t survive without some revenue. Apples and oranges trying to compare these.

    I think the cost for the Summit is fair. Maybe it should be $100 more or less, but I wouldn’t quibble about that. If you’ve enjoyed the Summits, if you’ve learned, support PASS if you can. I think the two pre-cons are a good value, and I would emphasize that to your boss.

    Two full days of intense training from experts, then 3 more days available for a year. That’s not a bad deal to sell to the boss.

    Once in a Lifetime

    This pandemic is a once is a lifetime event. I hope.

    To me, this is like the hurricane that nearly destroyed PASS in its early years. Kevin Kline makes a case that we should step up because of the nature of these difficult events. I tend to agree, though clearly PASS has struggled through some difficult times.

    I don’t know if I would continue to support this as a virtual event in the future. I have to see how this year goes. I don’t know if the way that the PASS organization is structured or handles finances makes sense. I’ll give them a pass this year and come December we can review and debate this.

    I don’t remotely think PASS handles communication, transparency, and governance well. My view is the culture and BoD has failed miserably here for over a decade.

    I’ll still support them this November and give them a chance to improve.

    Now is the time, in my opinion, to support PASS. We can push for change in December, but for now, I think the world is better with PASS in it, and we, as members, should support the organization.

  • Daily Coping 5 Aug 2020

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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.

    Today’s tip is to go for a drive or a solitary walk and enjoy the changing scenery.

    This tip actually came from my wife. I was a little overwhelmed by the announcement of various companies and organizations extending their lockdown into the fall. This includes Redgate, where it seems like we’ve abandoned any changes in 2020 and this is our way of working until at least 2021. If schools don’t open, then maybe not until H2 2021.

    In any case, she suggested going for a drive as a relatively safe way of changing our environment. I wasn’t sure, but I agreed. So one afternoon, she stopped work early and we headed out. No real destination in mind, but I drove a random route through Denver, heading north. It was good to wander through some places I haven’t been in a long time, and after a couple hours, I looped over to my son’s apartment, grabbed him for a light meal, and then heading back home.

    A wasted 4-5 hours of not getting thing done, but a good coping mechanism for me.

  • Quick SSMS Tip: Map Mode for Code–#SQLNewBlogger

    Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBloggers.

    In recent versions of SSMS, there’s been an addition to the query windows that I find helpful and useful. This is the map mode for code, and it means that when you have a large script, you can get a quick view of where you are in the file, and where you code is located.

    First, turning this on. In the Options for SSMS, select the Text Editor section on the left, then expand the All Languages item. There is a Scroll Bars section to select. When you pick this, on the right you will see the Behavior section near the bottom. The default is bar mode, but you can switch this to map mode.

    2020-07-23 16_44_26-Window

    When you do that, if you open a script that is bigger than your query window, you will see a map of the code, along with a light colored bar that shows where you are in the code.

    In the image below, Glenn Berry’s diagnostic script is open, and  I have actual code near the middle of my screen, and on the right, you can see the pink just at the bottom of the oval that’s lighter in color than the map.

    2020-07-24 10_24_27-Window

    This is a little hard to describe, but if you turn this on and experiment, you’ll get an idea of what happens.

    Let me add some blank links to this script. When I do that, I can see the map expand with some gray spaces near the top.

    2020-07-24 10_46_23-Window

    You can also get a preview of code by putting the cursor on the map to the right. Below I’ve put the cursor on the right side, above the current location in the query window. I see a preview of the code, while I see the locator bar below the preview, showing me where I am in the code file.

    2020-07-24 10_47_33-Window

    Map mode is an interesting way to manage large code files, which sometimes occur in stored procedures and complex queries. While I would hope that most people don’t have hundreds of lines of code in any one file, I do know some do. Map mode can help.

    SQLNewBlogger

    This was a question someone asked me in a presentation. It took me almost as long to type an explanation as it did to take a few screenshots. Adding a little text made this a 10 minute effort.

    This is the type of thing that you can do, showing how this might help you with some code that is complex and harder to navigate. In addition, this is a nice way to show you are honing your craft and learning to use your tools.