Voice of the DBA

Tag: travel

  • Off to the Center of the Universe

    “New York City…center of the universe..” – Rent

    I’m off to New York this morning for the start of the 2012 SQL in the City US Tour. It kicks off tomorrow in New York City.

    As this posts, I’ve just dropped my son off at school early for a Future Business Leaders of America field trip as I head off on a field trip of my own. This is the start of a few busy weeks as I deliver presentations in 5 cities in two weeks.

    I’ve got a group with me as well. A number of talented developers and business people from Red Gate software, along with my co-worker Grant Fritchey (b | t) will be at all the events. We have some special guest speakers at each stop as well from the local areas and I’m hoping we deliver some great talks that you enjoy.

    We had a great time this past July in London and I’m looking forward to these events over the next two weeks.

    I don’t love the travel, and I’m popping in and out of home the next two weeks between some of the stops. However I love my family and my bed, and the chance to get home for a day is worth a little extra travel.

    New York is an amazing city, and I love visiting it. I’m hoping to get into the city and checked in by 4pm at the latest. Then I’ll head over the Central Park for a run. If you want to join me, I’ll be coming up 7th to the park, hopefully by 4:15 at the latest, but watch Twitter.

    Red Gate puts on a great event, and I look forward to seeing some of you in New York, or at any of the other cities on the tour.

    If you wonder where the lyrics at the top come from, watch this:

  • A Long Day

    Flying all night from Houston, arriving in London at 6:40am, taking a train into the city and then finding a Starbucks to work in was the agenda for today. It worked out, but it feels like a long extension of yesterday, with very little sleep on the plane.

    Hotels don’t usually let you check in this early, which means that I’m struggling a bit to concentrate in the  center of London, people wandering in and out of the Starbucks by my hotel. Hopefully I’ll get checked in soon, and get some rest and then work in a little piece on my presentations for tomorrow. They’re done, but I want a little more practice.

    Traveling is always a little challenging when you need to get work done and you are out of your routine. Add in the lack of cell phone service in another country, and it’s a tough spot to be in today. Fortunately I got most things done before I left home, just working on a few Database Weekly things, which are easier to handle in a busy atmosphere.

    At least I found a Starbucks.

  • Back Across the Pond

    SQL in the CityThis coming weekend is SQL in the City – London 2012. Friday, July 13, and Saturday, July 14, I’ll be at One Wimpole Street in London. This is the Royal Society of Medicine, a fantastic venue for events near Oxford Circus. I’m looking forward to the event and the venue.

    This is the first stop in 2012 for our SQL in the City tour. These are the only two days in Europe and then we come back to the US with a 5 city, 11 day tour of the US. I’m looking forward to the events, but not the travel. It’s a lot of flights in a short time, and quite a few hotels. Fortunately I’ve consolidated down to one carry on bag and a backpack for travel, so I should be in and out of airports quickly.

    This week I fly overnight on Wednesday to arrive in London and recover on Thursday before the Friday and Saturday events. Then I’m back home on Sunday, just in time to start another week of work. A quick trip, and likely not much sightseeing for me, but if you’re up early, you might find me running down Oxford Street in the mornings.

    I’ll be delivering two sessions in London. They are both new and while I’ll link them to a few of the Red Gate tools, these aren’t sessions built around our products. These are sessions that talk about the issues of Disaster Recovery and Contained Databases.

    If you’re coming to one of the London events, please feel free to grab me and shake my hand. I’ll be the guy in the Hawaiian shirt and cowboy hat Winking smile

    sqlpassfriends03

  • Back to Pensacola and SQL Saturday #132

    This will be my fourth trip to Pensacola for SQL Saturday #132. I’ve enjoyed going every time and I usually take a day or two off from work on the trip to spend with my daughter. Last year we both got shirts, and had a good time at the event, and at the beach.

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    This year I’m giving three talks, which is a lot, but they’re spread out throughout the day. I have the Early Bird morning session, at 7:30, which is really there for the people that arrive early. I’ll be talking about Unstructured Data in SQL Server, going over the Filestream and Filetable options you have for storing binary data.

    At lunch I’ll be doing a Preparing for Disaster Recovery talk at the vendor session where I’ll talk about how some of the Red Gate tools can help you prepare for disaster.

    In the afternoon, I’m then talking Encryption at 4:30. It’s a beginner session, but I’ll show the various options you have and how they work in SQL Server. There’s a ton to learn about encryption, and I scratch the surface, but if you want to know what’s available, come see.

    If you’re anywhere near Pensacola, I’d urge you to register and come by on June 9th. This is a free day of training on all different parts of SQL Server and you get the chance to improve your career for the price of a car trip and a little time on a Saturday.

    If you’re not coming, cancel so others can atttend. It’s not sold out yet, but attendance is always good at this event.