I’m presenting in Madison!

March 8, 2012 / posted in Goals / Comments Off

One of my goals for the year was to present at least twice. I’m happy to say that I’m making progress on that goal – my first presentation was selected for SQL Saturday #118 in Madison, WI!

I’ll be presenting “Practically Normal”, a practical introduction to normalization. Normalization is a key concept in a relational database. It’s not difficult in practice, but too often, it’s explained in very technical terms, which makes it sound extremely difficult. My goal is to explain the first few normal forms in layman’s terms and using plenty of examples so that those in attendance can walk away with an idea of how they can apply it in their environments.

I hope you can join me on April 21! It promises to be a great day!

The Year That Was, The Year That Will Be

January 9, 2012 / posted in Goals / Comments Off

“If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” – William H. Johnsen

“No! Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Les Brown

2011 was a successful year, but not what I would consider to be “wildly” successful. Don’t get me wrong – I did do some good things. But a lot of what I did was to lay the foundation for great things to come. A few examples:

  • At work, I moved a number of databases from SQL 2000 to SQL 2008 R2. Our data warehouse was among those. I also rebuilt our data warehouse’s nightly load routines in SSIS, learning a lot about that tool in the process.
  • I began a short “Tool Time” segment in our monthly PASS meetings, mostly to expose our members to some great tools that are out there, but also partly to give myself experience in presenting short topics.
  • I made great progress in clearing a rather large backlog of tasks, both at work and at home, to allow more time for more productive endeavors.
  • I began running, finally achieving a 5K in September.

I have no doubts that 2012 can be an even better year if I set some goals for myself. This is something I’ve never really been good at, and I always seem to come up with excuses why I shouldn’t take the time. As I get older, though, I realize more and more that it is an important exercise. After all, if I don’t know where I’m going, how can I possibly expect to get anywhere I want to go?

With that in mind, I’m going to follow the lead of some others in the SQL community and use a few “watchwords” to organize my thoughts:

Watchword: Focus

  • Go on an information diet. This is a recent buzzword, but the concept behind it (as I understand it) seems to make sense. It’s all about reducing the flow of the proverbial firehose to separate the signal from the noise. I’ve always had a lot of clutter in my digital life. If I’m going to be able to attack some of my other goals, I first have to get this under control.
  • Strive for Inbox Zero… and keep it there. The latter has always been a much bigger problem for me. I tend to use my inbox as a to-do list since it’s right in front of me. The problem then becomes identifying what needs to be done when, which wastes time and energy. I can definitely find a better way to keep track of tasks.
  • Reduce my backlog. I tend to hang onto tasks, sometimes much longer than they’re useful, in an effort not to let people down. That’s pointless, though; after a certain amount of time, I’ve already let that person down if what I said I’d do isn’t done. Getting rid of what’s no longer useful will allow me to focus on what’s still relevant.

Watchword: Learn

  • Attend SQL Skills IE1 in April. No brainer – I’m already registered for the class, and I’m really looking forward to it!
  • Read at least one career-related book per quarter. Even though this sounds easy, it could be one of my more challenging goals.  I haven’t had a lot of time for reading recently.
  • Upgrade my MCITP to SQL Server 2008.

Watchword: Create

  • Begin posting regularly. I’m making the blogging too difficult.  I need to get in the habit of posting something on a regular basis, even if it just a list of links.  From what I’m told, the more I write, the easier it gets.
  • Create at least one presentation this year; deliver it at least twice.

And finally, even though it’s not one of my watchwords, I might as well lay out my goals for running. I’m really enjoying that – amazing, considering my history with exercise – so I want to make sure I keep it going. These aren’t overly demanding goals, but they are manageable for me.

  • Run at least three times per week.
  • Increase to at least 20 miles per week this year.
  • Run at least three races this year, at least one of which is a 10K.

Meme Monday: What can I do for my #sqlfamily?

January 9, 2012 / posted in Community, Memes / Comments Off

In the spirit of starting to write more on this blog (good or not), I’m answering Tom LaRock’s call for Meme Monday this month. His question: What do you want to do for your #sqlfamily in 2012?

I’m going to start by doing what I’ve been doing.  For the last couple of years, I’ve been the leader of the local PASS chapter, I-380 PASS. I love that position, and I plan to continue as long as they’ll have me. I’ve also taken an active role in organizing our three SQL Saturdays; assuming we host a SQL Saturday again in 2012, I plan to do that as well.

This is also the year I start to “pay it forward” for all the help the SQL community has given me over the last few years.  First of all, I’ve been given the opportunity at work to mentor some new database professionals. This blog is another piece of that – I intend to actively post here this year. Finally, I want to try my hand at presenting. Getting up in front of the PASS chapter has gotten me over some of my fear of public speaking; it’s time to see if I can take it to the next level. 

The #sqlfamily has given me so much, and I’m forever grateful for that help. Extending my hand to the next generation is the least I can do.

Is anyone here?

November 15, 2011 / posted in Off-Topic / Comments Off

So it turns out that this summer and fall have been very, very busy – too busy to start a blog.  A short synopsis:

  • I completed my 5K!  As I posted earlier, I ran a 5K on September 17.  I finished in 31:00.08 – by far, a personal best.  I’m still running, too, and I hope to run more in the spring.
  • My user group, I-380 PASS, hosted a SQL Saturday on October 1.  Attendance wasn’t what we hoped for, but it was a great event nonetheless.  Thanks to all our speakers and sponsors for helping us put on the event!
  • Just over a week later, I flew to Seattle for the annual PASS Summit.  This was my fourth Summit, and I have to say that it was my favorite one so far.  I met a lot of new people, caught up with a number of people I’ve met at previous Summit, and learned an amazing amount.
  • The next weekend, my wife and I traveled to southwest Wisconsin for a wedding (and a weekend away from it all).
  • And somewhere in there, I did actually spend time at work and with my family. :)

Getting back to topic, though, I am going to start blogging now that other commitments have settled down for a while.  Watch this space for some SQL goodness in the coming weeks.

Ed vs. the 5K

August 17, 2011 / posted in Off-Topic / 1 Comment

I’ve always hated exercise.  For as long as anyone can remember, I’ve complained about doing it.  So it came as a surprise to many – including my wife – when I started running this spring.  As soon as it started getting warmer (defined as “anything above freezing”), I started getting up early in the morning (another surprise to many – I’m not a morning person) to go for runs using the Couch-to-5K method.  C25K, as it is known, claims to be able to get a couch potato ready to run a 5K in just nine weeks.  Sounds great, but I must not have been the couch potato they were thinking of, because it has taken me a lot longer than nine weeks.  The first few weeks were really difficult after being so out of shape, and I had to repeat the runs in the first couple of weeks frequently until I felt comfortable with them, and I even had to start over once after developing bursitis in one knee from trying to push myself too hard initially.  But I knew I needed to keep going – I have two little girls that need me to be around for a long time time to come, and the only way I can make that happen is by getting off my duff and getting in shape.  So I persisted.  I found ways to work around a crazy work schedule this summer and the exhaustion that resulted, and I kept going through the heat waves in July.  I haven’t given up, even though it would have been so easy to do at times, even though I’m months behind where I theoretically should have been by now.  And my persistence is finally paying off.  On Saturday, over five months after I started this “nine week” program, I ran the third day of “week five”, a twenty minute run with no breaks – about 2-1/2 miles.  I’ve never done anything close to that before.  It feels great!

But I’m not done yet.  I still have more than three weeks of the training to go, and frankly, I’m just getting comfortable with the running (and I’m actually starting to like it!).  I needed to give myself an incentive to see this through, so that’s exactly what I did.

On September 17, one month from today, I’m going to run a 5K.  I’m running in the Hope and Hearts Run in Minneapolis, in memory of my nephew Elias, who was stillborn on March 7, 2008, and in honor of my two daughters, Eva and Hannah, who I couldn’t imagine life without.

I have no illusions that I’ll finish first.  I may not even finish in the top half of the runners.  But I’m going to start the race, and I will finish it.  And to me, that is really something.

[Shameless plug: The Hope and Hearts Run is a fundraiser for the Missing GRACE Foundation, which provides support and resources for families who have lost a child in infancy.  My brother and his family have been participating in the event since 2008, and I'm honored to be able to lend my support this year.  If you can, please help me support this very worthwhile charity.]

GO

July 27, 2011 / posted in Introductions / Comments Off

Starting a blog is an intimidating venture, and frankly, I’ve been talking about it – and putting it off – for some time.  I’ve had good reasons for putting it off… really…

  • I’m a decent DBA, but there are so many others in the community that know so much more than I do.
  • There are a ton of great blogs in the SQL community already; no one’s going to be interested in reading one more.
  • I’m sure I won’t say anything that hasn’t already been said a thousand times before on other blogs.
  • I don’t really have time.
  • I have a young family that needs my attention. (OK, this is the one item on the list that really is a good reason.)

I’ve come to realize that nearly all of these “reasons” are nothing more than excuses.  Working with PASS for the last couple of years has taught me a few things about community: anyone can participate, everyone has something to contribute, and the conversation always has room for more voices.  Communicating with others, sharing your thoughts, is a big part of how we learn.  Sure, you’ll pick up some things by listening, but you can learn so much more by actually doing.

Besides, who am I doing this for, anyway?  Several people have pointed out in their blogs recently that a great reason, if not the best reason, to write a blog is for yourself – to organize your thoughts, to remind yourself of what you’ve accomplished, to give yourself a reference of thing you’ve learned.  When I made the decision that I was going to do this for myself, it became a lot easier to justify the time in my already busy schedule.  I would be ecstatic if someone else learns from something I write, but that shouldn’t be my only reason for doing it, because there’s no guarantee that will happen.

Brent Ozar (b|t) and Buck Woody (b|t) gave an excellent session at the PASS Summit last fall on presenting, which is something else I want to start doing.  (One thing at a time, Ed…)  One exchange in particular stuck with me, and I think it applies to blogging, as well.  I don’t remember their exact words, but it went something like this:

  1. Not everyone is going to like what you say.
  2. Most people who don’t like what you say aren’t going to show up.  Ignore them.
  3. The rest of the people who don’t like what you say will show up just to criticize you.  Ignore them, too.
  4. That just leaves the people who want to listen and learn, so shut up and do it.

Duly noted, sirs.  This is me, shutting up and doing it.