I Touched a Screen (and I Liked it)

This is a picture of my son, Stevie Ray, learning SQL on my Surface Pro 2. I bought the Surface Pro 2 the day it was released. I didn’t pre-order it because I wanted to read what others had to say about it first. I’m an early-adopter, but not the earliest of adopters. I did …
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Ctrl-R Not Working in SSMS After a Patch?

I whined about this recently on Facebook. After that, I did something practical: I searched for a solution. I found a workaround at Connect: Open SSMS Select "Tools", "Customize…" – Click "Keyboard…" – In the list window, scroll down and select "Window.ShowResultsPane" – Under "Use new shortcut in:", select "SQL Query Editor" – Place your …
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“Can You See Me Think?”

Introduction This post is the fifty-seventh part of a ramble-rant about the software business. The current posts in this series can be found on the series landing page. A Story… Once upon a time I was a manufacturing systems integrator. That’s a fancy description of a person who designs and builds machine control systems. I …
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The PASS Board of Directors Q&A Session

Friday afternoon (18 Oct 2013), the PASS Board of Directors met with interested members of the SQL Server Community to answer questions. Paraphrases of some questions and notes I collected during the session follow (Please note: this is not a transcript): Elections Kendall Van Dyke asked about duplicate voting. The Board responded that they had …
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PASS Summit 2013, a Hit in Charlotte! (and an apology)

I had a great time at the PASS Summit 2013 this past week in Charlotte! I spoke to several people who told me they were pleasantly surprised by the venue and the event. Charlotte rocks! As a NASCAR fan, I particularly enjoyed the Community Event held at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It is always …
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Presenting Designing an SSIS Framework at the PASS Summit 2013

I am honored to deliver a presentation entitled Designing an SSIS Framework at the PASS Summit 213 in Charlotte Thursday 17 Oct 2013 at 3:00 PM EDT. A couple years ago I released a public SSIS Framework. You can read about the release here and download the bits here. :{>

Getting Started

Every once in a while someone asks me, “How does one go from being just-a-developer to presenting at conferences?” When I hear this question, a little voice inside my head asks, “Why are they asking you?” And then another voice says, “You idiot, it’s because you made that trip from just-a-developer to conference speaker.” So …
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PASS Board Elections 2013

It’s election time again for the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS). We have a week to discover what we can about the candidates and vote. I do not believe one week is enough time for this. That’s one reason why I’m sharing who I will be voting for and why. I encourage everyone to …
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