Voice of the DBA

Tag: travel

  • Be Extra Careful When Packing

    Over the last couple of years I’ve gotten myself down to two small, carry-on bags for most of my trips. It has allowed me to save time in and out of the airport, and cut down on a lot of hassles from frequent trips (I flew on 18 round trips last year).

    One of the ways I’ve done this is with a couple dedicated bag: one for clothes/shoes and one for the laptop and supplies. I don’t ever really unpack them, and I just move clothes in and out when I go. That always has me a little nervous as I am counting on things to be in the bags, but it’s worked for a dozen trips lately because I keep spares of all my supplies in the bags, replacing them as needed, but not using them for other purposes.

    However that can come back to bite you. I did have a trip last year where I left my presentation remote at home since I’d been using it to practice and hadn’t put it back in my bag before I left. Fortunately that’s a minor inconvenience and not a major hassle.

    I leave for the UK on Saturday for my annual visit to the Red Gate office in Cambridge, and I need to pack for a week. I’m hoping to slip in enough clothes to go with just my two bags, but we’ll see. I’ll also use this chance to double check I have everything packed I need since replacing stuff in another country is less than exciting to me.

  • Spring SQL Server Connections / DevConnections

    I returned late last night from the Spring DevConnections event, delivering three sessions in the SQL Server Connections conference. I talked about Encryption, Filestream/Filetable, and Contained Databases. Always cool to see your name in print

    Photo Mar 28, 9 15 56 AM

    It was a nice event, with decent crowds in the SQL Server. I didn’t have a ton of people, but when you’re competing with the SQLskills crew, Brent Ozar, Allen White, Glen Berry and a few others, it’s hard to draw a large crowd.

    Photo Mar 27, 11 13 04 AM

    Grant and Brad both presented as well, filling up the slots in our SQLServerCentral track, and talking about a wide range of topics. Grant’s talk on continuous integration and deployment was really good, with lots of interesting information. It was good to hear from a few people in the audience that face challenges on this particular topic. We have a whitepaper from Red Gate that talks a little about how we solve this, but Grant gave some other alternatives that you could use to tackle this.

    Photo Mar 29, 3 29 29 PM

    The show was at the MGM Grand this time, and I have to say I really like that resort. Things seemed a little closer together, more food/dining choices, and close to other places on the strip. A walk to the Bellagio was no big deal. There were also three of my favorite morning stops on the road

    Photo Mar 27, 7 51 14 PM

    It wasn’t just me that liked the hotel. I left Paul Randal, Kimberliy Tripp, Brent Ozar, and Glenn Berry at Craftsteak Thur night to go to the airport. I say down before my flight to see a tweet that the First Lady of the US was having dinner that night in the restaurant.

    The sessions I attended and delivered were interesting. Lots of system administrators and developers mixed in with the DBAs, looking for information on various features. It was a twist to get questions that sometimes were more basic for DBAs, and at the same time, had a different view and some challenges when presented from another perspective. On a panel with Grant Fritchey and Brent Ozar, we had some interesting HA/DR questions from the audience about 2012 as well, things that made us think a bit.

    The exhibition hall was a little small, but it’s nicely set up with long breaks between some sessions for people to wander around and see what new third party tools are available. I spent a little time at the Red Gate booth and had some very interesting conversations with people, including a nice long one about .NET development.

    Photo Mar 27, 9 23 26 AM

    As I do everywhere on the road, I start the mornings out with a run. This time the loop around the MGM complex is a little over a mile and a half, which I enjoyed all three days with Allen White at 6:30 every morning. #sqlrun in Las Vegas!

    Photo Mar 29, 6 25 37 AM

    This time the Windows and Visual Studio tracks were on another floor, and with three sessions to prepare for, I didn’t get the chance to visit those tracks. I did see a great talk from Allen on Server Core, which I’ve been wanting to experiment with. Look for most of my future server VMs to be Server Core, which should make things run faster on my little Air.

    I also saw a couple talks from Mark Minasi on Windows 8 and that looks rather interesting in a few ways. I’m not sure I like the client interface, but some of the architectural changes look like good moves on the part of Microsoft. The server side, especially seems like it will end up being a good server OS for management by IT staffs.

    The other great thing about a show in Vegas is the wide variety of shows. I asked in my sessions and a few people saw Ka, one of the Cirque du Soleil shows. Someone saw David Copperfield as well, which I would have liked to see. Oh well, there’s always next time.

    My entertainment this time was a wonderful dinner with Brent Ozar and Grant Fritchey at e by Jose Andres in the Cosmopolitan. Brent invited us and I wasn’t sure since it’s a very fancy dinner. However I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not sure I’d go back myself, but I’d take someone else, just for the experience. The food was very interesting (I’m not a foodie), and the presentation amazing. I had a great time. Here was one of our “courses”

    Photo Mar 28, 5 44 38 PM

    Overall a great show, and a fun time. SQLServerCentral is one of the sponsors, and we have a track there every show.

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    We should be back in the fall, this time at the Bellagio, Oct 29-Oct 1. Hopefully you can join us, and we look forward to seeing you then.

  • Off to Vegas for DevConnections

    A few last minute prep items for DevConnections and I leave in a few hours for Las Vegas. My first trip since last November, and it’s been a welcome break from being on the road. I suspect that won’t last and I’ll be traveling to more spots in the future, but for now I only have a few things planned.

    SQL Server Connections is a great conference, in a fun city, and I look forward to attending. Not as much social activity as the PASS Summit, but a more intimate feel, and a diverse audience, with the chance to see talks on Windows, Exchange, development topics, Sharepoint, and more.

    I’m doing three talks this time:

    Unstructured Data in SQL Server – a look at Filestream and Filetable

    Contained Databases in SQL Server 2012 – as the name says, a look at partial containment.

    An Encryption Primer – a basic look at encryption options and techniques in SQL Server.

    If you’re at the show, please stop by and say hi, either around one of my sessions, or anytime you see me walking around in the cowboy hat.

    If you’re a runner, we’ll likely be running each morning (Tue, Wed, and Thur) around the MGM at 6:45 or so. We should be in the lobby, and if you’re interested in joining us, feel free.

  • Traveling More Than Expected

    For a guy that was looking to not travel much, it seems that I’ve got way more on my plate than I expected. Right now I have these trips scheduled. At most of them, I’m scheduled to deliver some type of talk.

    That’s quite a bit of travel for me. Add to that these personal trips:

    • Boy Scout camping in April
    • Summer Camp for Boy Scouts in June
    • Summer Camp for Girl Scouts (weekend) in July
    • Two horse race trips with my wife
    • Summer Camping with the family in August

    So much for an off year.