Last year, I had a series of blog posts that matched up with a webcast I did targeting First Timers to the PASS Summit 2011.  Here is a link to the final blog post which is a summary of those posts and links to the main points in the series. A good deal of the information in those posts are still relevant.  I am in the process of ...

Research, Contemplate, Vote. In case you didn't hear, there is a campaign going on that impacts the PASS Organization and the SQL Community.  If you were a PASS member before June 1, 2012, you should have received a ballot link via email.  Polls close at 3pm PT on Friday, Oct 12, 2012. I am fortunate to know all 5 candidates for ...

It is almost time to cast your vote in this year's PASS BoD Elections.  Things have changed considerably since the first PASS BoD election that I participated in.  That was in 2001.  I hadn't even been to a Summit or even a chpater meeting yet.  I had registered for the PASS Summit 2001 (which was postponed to Jan 2002  ...

Just a reminder that I will be speaking at the SF UG SQL Server User Group on Sep 12.  Here is a link with all of the details.  If you are in the area, It would be great to see you!

I have a business trip scheduled out far enough in advance for a change.  I was able to schedule a presentation at the San Francisco SQL Server User Group on Sep 12 about SQL Server Consolidation Strategies.  If you will be in the SF area on Sep 12, I invite you to attend ar just drop by to say hello.  You can find out more about ...

Well, it is official...  there is a race for the community seats on the PASS NomCom.  I am very pleased to see that we have 12 people who decided to put their names forward for this task.  This is largely a thankless job that takes a great deal of time, judgement, and consideration. I have put my name forward as one of those people ...

I am fortunate enough to be speaking to a user group with a really cool name - Atlanta.MDF (Microsoft Database Forum).  Although I visit Atlanta often, it usually involves running from one councourse to another and rarely do I get the chance to visit the user group.  I have made it to the user group on several occassions in the past, but ...

I ran across this recording about 3 months ago.  It is a recording that is open to everyone.  It was recorded at SQLBits 7 with Christian Bolton as the speaker for a session entitled: ''Consolidating data collection with SQLDIAG and analysing it all with SQLNexus''.  I found it very informative and hope that you will ...

I recently got my DVD set from the PASS 2011 Summit and started to look through all of the sessions that I missed.  Wow!  I can't wait to go through all of these!  It will take me a while. Since this is a new year and many people are often greeted with new challenges (like a new server to manage), I decided that this session would ...

One of my goals in 2012 is to blog on a more consistent basis.  One idea that I have for keep this goal is to blog about a webcast or session recording that I listened to.  I often listen to webcasts / session recordings while working.  It helps to keep me ''current''. So I will be starting a series called ''Rick Reviews'' which ...