It’s been a busy couple of weeks for SQL Server community and PASS related news. First and probably most importantly is that the location for SQL Rally 2012 has been chosen, and we are happy to announce that it’ll be right here in Dallas! After several months of research and evaluation, PASS awarded next year’s event to this area based…
As I write this, I’m somewhere in the air over Florida, headed back home to Dallas from participating in the first-ever SQL Rally event. The past few days have been an adventure in many ways, and I’m happy to report that the entire experience was both positive and memorable. Wednesday The trip started out in chaos: an immense line of…
During my visit to Denver last September for SQL Saturday 52, I spent a while talking with Marc Beacom, who mentioned that the 3 PASS chapters in and around Denver hold their monthly meetings on consecutive nights. When I brought up my love for snowskiing, he suggested that we combine a ski trip with a speaking trip. Thus began the…
I just received notification from the Microsoft MVP Award Program that I’ve received the MVP award for SQL Server for 2011. This is my second year to be awarded, and I’m very honored to be a part of this group. As always, I offer a big thank you to the SQL Server community for allowing me to share my humble…
Like clockwork, another year has come and (almost) gone. It’s been a wild year on many fronts: major happenings included the devastating Haiti earthquakes, the signing into law of a landmark healthcare reform bill, a major debacle over the use of body scanners and intimate pat-downs at TSA airport security stations, the personal crash and burn of golf star Tiger…
The sessions are over, and the post-cons are done; the vendor parties are but a memory, and the #sqlkaraoke music has died. Another PASS summit is in the books, one billed to be the “best PASS summit ever”, and I’d have to concur. The Best PASS Ever Perhaps it started with the entertaining (albeit ill-advised) Tina Turner impersonator during the…
Today is the last official day of the SQL PASS 2010 summit, which also means the last day for live blogging during the keynote. This has been a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year. Today’s ceremonies will include a keynote by Dr. David Dewitt. Before that, PASS board member Rick Heigis gives the…
The second day of the SQL PASS summit has already started in unique fashion. Today is #sqlkilt day, and there are a dozen or more guys and gals dressed in fine Scottish attire. Bill Graziano, executive VP of finance for PASS, was playfully booed when he took the stage for having worn pants on kilt day. Bill took the time…
The day 1 keynote was kicked off by a Tina Turner impersonator doing a rendition of “Simply the Best”. Rushabh Mehta followed up with a Tina wig of his own, though he fortunately had a much less revealing outfit. Rushabh starts off with an overview of the PASS activities for the year. PASS has touched over 65,000 individuals this year…
Though things have died down a bit since the initial #passvotes backlash, the recent development in the PASS board election process is still the talk of the town. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a number of folks about this, and have read some excellent blogs and other opinion pieces from those on both sides of the debate. I…