Voice of the DBA

Tag: work

  • How I like to work

    This is a great sign. I see if every time I go to Brother’s BBQ in Denver and it never fails to make me smile.

    brothers

    I snapped a quick picture last week, and in case you can’t see it because of the sun, the sign says:

    OPEN EVERYDAY

    FROM AROUND 10AM

    TO AT LEAST 10PM

    Those are great hours, especially for restaurant. A little flexibility is good, especially if business is good. Why knock off if things are going well, but why commit to longer hours if there’s no business.

    It’s also fun, and fun should be a little more part of our lives.

  • Leaving (for) Las Vegas

    Tomorrow I’m off to Las Vegas for SQL Connections. Since tomorrow is also T-SQL Tuesday #012, I’m writing a pre-trip blog a day early.

    vegas1[1]

    I’ve never been enthralled with the image of Las Vegas, but I went there earlier this year with my wife for a vacation and had a great time. I did finally gamble at a card table, and actually won money, but it’s not something that I’m overly excited to do again.

    This is my first trip ever to SQL Server Connections and DevConnections. I had hoped to go last year, but my wife broke her arm and I ended up cancelling my trip. This year SQLServerCentral is sponsoring a track again with some great speakers to teach you about SQL Server. We have:

    • Brad McGehee
    • Allen White
    • Buck Woody
    • Glenn Berry

    I elected not to speak so that I could see more of the show and report on what it’s like. With more and more people becoming hybrid DBAs, I think this is a great format for a show. Many people these days fine themselves needing skills in other technologies, like Windows, Sharepoint, .Net or something else.

    I am curious to compare this event with others, and see if it might be a great place for SQL Server professionals to get a wide variety of knowledge that can help them work with the different aspects of IT that they need in their jobs.

    I’m also looking forward to sitting down with a few friends I haven’t seen in some time and catching up on what’s happening in their lives.

    If you live in the area, but won’t be at the show, I’ll also be speaking at the Las Vegas SQL Server User Group on Thursday night, so come out and say hi.

  • Shopping

    In about a week and a half, the SQLServerCentral opening night party takes place at the PASS Summit. And while I won’t be there, I’m in charge of the prizes that will be going out to everyone attending.

    In the past I’ve usually done a couple big Best Buy trips to load up on prizes, but this year I tried a few new things. Up until about two weeks ago, I was worried about my budget since the registration numbers were down for my referral code. So I went looking for some lower priced prizes since I tend to value some level of quantity and try to get more prizes out to people.

    Fortunately, about that time I ended up with an email from ThinkGeek. With my kids by my side, we surfed around the site and ended up with a few things. I won’t list them all, but I did get some of these:

    I also did hit Best Buy and grab a bunch of DVDs that were on sale. Among the titles I got were:

    • Iron Man 2
    • Hancock
    • Matrix all 3 in one
    • Batman – all 4 in one
    • more!

    As I wandered around, however I saw some other interesting things and grabbed a few:

    and

    And since my budget was a little higher than expected, I grabbed nice prizes. I wasn’t sure that I’d get one of these, but I did (these are going to Connections, but I have another).

    In the past we’ve saved three big prizes for the most profitable gambling winners, though I’m not sure I’ll do that for the iPad. Likely I’ll have someone do a drawing from the tickets at the Exceptional DBA presentation and award it then.

    Good luck to everyone!

  • New Looks

    It’s been quite a few years since I updated the Hawaiian shirt wardrobe. I bought a series of 5 shirts for TechEd years ago, having “SQLServerCentral.com” embroidered on each of them. I had 3 copies of each shirt, with Andy, Brian, and myself having a selection of shirts to wear.

    In the in between years I’ve purchased a couple more, but no customization. However this year I needed to outfit my “Scary DBA bouncer” for the SQLServerCentral party. He made a joke about getting a shirt like the one I wore for the Baton Rouge SQL Saturday keynote, and I decided it was time to get a few more for myself, so I started searching around.

    The last time I was looking for someone that would customize the shirts. I didn’t find a lot of places in 2004, but there are more now. However I was a little worried about turnaround. So I looked locally. After pinging 3 or 4 places in the Denver area, Burbank Embroidery said they’d be able to handle a few pieces (I was thinking 6 or 7 shirts) at a reasonable rate and have them done by Oct 29th.

    So then I was searching for shirts. For some reason I wandered onto Beanteacher Hawaiian Wear and found some great shirts. They had a nice online store, and when one of my shirts was out of stock, they promptly emailed me with a few choices and I picked one. My order arrived within a week, and I was happy with the qualify and service from them.

    The shirts are at the shop, and I should pick them up next week sometime, just in time for them to accompany me to SQL Connections in November. And in time to get the Scary DBA properly dressed.