Winners Announced

Kalen Delaney — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:28:00 GMT

All the book winners have been sent email. If your name is on this list, but you haven't received an email from me, please check your junk mail folder, and also confirm that the email address you sent me with your entry was correct.

The first prize winner, of all four Inside SQL Server 2005 books, is:

Borys Bychkov

The second prize winners, who will receive two books (The Storage Engine and Query Tuning and Optimization), are:

Raj Kai
Gary Marttila

The third prize winners, who will all receive a copy of my latest book (Inside SQL Server 2005: Query Tuning and Optimization) are:

Loren Zubis
Natalya Chaldyshev
Jay Willis
Bikramjit Goraya
Matt Farrell
Frank Veprek
Brent Conner

Note that there are a couple of other winners who will be receiving SQL Server branded swag, but I haven't yet determine exactly what I will be giving away. I'll post again with the last two names in a couple of days, after I have notified those winners.

I also usually give away at least one book every time I speak at a users group meeting or conference, or when I offer a seminar, so please be sure and check my schedule to see when I might be somewhere near you.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who participated.

~Kalen

Did You Know? It's Almost My 20th Anniversary!

Kalen Delaney — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:47:00 GMT

Maybe this post should have been a Geek City post, because 20 years is the length of time I've been working with SQL Server! Some people might think it's very geeky to spend 20 years working with the same software product.

I started working with the Sybase Corporation on October 27th, 1987. They gave a certificate to everyone after their first year, and I had that certificate on my wall for years and years, proudly proclaiming "I survived a year at Sybase!" with the dates clearly indicated. I actually survived over 5 years at Sybase before moving to the Beautiful Pacific Northwest and starting to work independently.

In the Beautiful Pacific Northwest, some of the native peoples have a tradition of "potlatch" when celebrating special occasions. Although there are many aspects of true potlatch, both spiritual and practical, one of the features is that the host of the celebration gives gifts instead of receiving them. With the release of my latest book occurring close to this momentous anniversary, I decided to follow that tradition and give gifts to thank my readers for all their support and encouragement over the last many years that I have been writing about SQL Server.

Fabulous Prizes:

First Prize:
      A set of all four Inside SQL Server 2005 books
                     The Storage Engine
                     Query Tuning and Optimization
                     T-SQL Querying
                     T-SQL Programming

Second Prizes: (2 sets will be given away)
                   Two of the Inside SQL Server 2005 books:
                        The Storage Engine
                        Query Tuning and Optimization

Third Prizes: (7 will be given away):
This one is hot off the presses (Microsoft Press, that is)
Inside SQL Server 2005: Query Tuning and Optimization

Additional Prizes:
Various SQL Server branded items that I have in my possession

First prize will be shipped anywhere in the world.
Other prizes will be shipped to US, UK or Canada addresses only.

To enter the giveaway, please follow these rules:

1. Create an email message to this newly created email address

2. Include "Happy Anniversary" in the subject line. The mail will be filed as junk if you don't.

3. The body of the email should consist of a single T-SQL INSERT statement (shown below). A value for country is required. If you include a city or region, I will add you to my mailing list so that when I speak at user groups in various parts of the world, I can let you know if I will be in your area. Examples of city or region would be "Beautiful Pacific Northwest", "San Francisco Bay Area", "Western Australia", "Central Europe" or "London". If you do not want to include city or region, please explicitly include NULL in the INSERT.

4. Doublecheck the syntax! Make sure you have open and close quotes for all strings, and that the quotes are STRAIGHT quotes, as in the INSERT statement below. If you use Word to add a quote of your own or replace one that's there, it's usually a "smart" quote, which in this case is NOT smart. SQL Server will reject the INSERT if the quotes are not STRAIGHT. I suggest you use SSMS to write the insert.

5. Send the email.

6. Wait until October 27th to find out the winners. I will send the winners email, asking for a mailing address.

Here is the INSERT statement. Replace the strings in red with your specific information, and include it in your email:

INSERT INTO Anniversary.Raffle(emailAddress, firstName, lastName, country, city_region)
VALUES('Your email address', 'First Name', 'Last Name', 'Country', 'City or Region' )

Thank you!

~Kalen

Kalen Delaney : prizes

Winners Announced

Did You Know? It's Almost My 20th Anniversary!