Month: September 2015

So How Did It Go?

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My first time speaking at a SQL Saturday is now behind me.  I cannot wait to do it again. The support from the SQL Family leading up to and after the event was nothing I expected, it was beyond AMAZING. From high fives in the halls to virtual hugs. I had my own cheering section. I was a little nervous and talked probably too fast at times, I am sure, but I hear everyone does on their first time out, right? (Evidently, I say that a lot) The good part was that the audience looked to be truly engaged and… Continue Reading

Admit You Can’t Do Everything

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As most of you know, I have been a Lone DBA for 15+ years and during that time I have learned a thing or two about how to survive on my own in relatively large environments.  One of those things is knowing when to admit you cannot do it all.  Working alone on 56 servers you can imagine how the workload can seem insurmountable.  There are times when in one week I will do 70+ tasks, not including project work and daily monitoring.  To manage and get this type of workload accomplish you have to learn to work smarter not… Continue Reading

My First Speaking SQL Saturday

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I will be speaking at my first SQL Saturday on September 26th in Spartanburg SC.  I am so excited to have been selected to give my session on Survival Techniques for the Lone DBA.  After a year of, not so subtle hints from the SQL Family (John Morehouse (b|t), Rie Irish (t), Melody Zacharias (b|t), Mike Fal (b|t), Argenis Fernandez (b|t) , Kirsten Benzel (b|t), Andy Yun (b|t), Lindsay Clark (t)), I submitted my first session and got selected.   I will be finally standing up before a room of colleagues and talking about my experience as a lone DBA for… Continue Reading

So let’s talk naming conventions

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How many of you have come across a database that had stored procedures, views or functions and you had no clue, by name, what they were for? Having standard naming conventions helps to prevent that. Everyone has their own preferences and opinions on what they should be, so I thought I’d share mine. My opinion In a nutshell, the name of any object should be informative; specifically what the object is used for and where it is used. This is accomplished by utilizing prefixes in conjunction with specific naming conventions.  I apply these standards to all of my stored procedures,… Continue Reading

The Outpouring

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I’ve wanted to write about this for months, now that I have a blog I can finally do it. Earlier this year, I found out, thru Twitter that fellow SQL Family member Larry Toothman (@IowaTechBear), had suffered a stroke. Having never met Larry in person, but having spoken to him on occasion via Twitter I wanted to let him know that people in his SQL community wished him well. That morning I tweeted that I was going to collect money for flowers to send him on behalf of the SQL Family. Unfortunately, we soon got word that Larry was on life… Continue Reading

How I joined the SQL Family

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For my first blog I want to talk about my experience as a member of SQL Family. My Start I started my career as a lone DBA, 15 years ago, with zero knowledge of what SQL Server actually was. I was promoted into a sole DBA job with expectations I would get certified and take the bull by the horns to manage the 50+ SQL Servers .  The company, The Port of Virginia, took a big risk with me, but within 6 months’ time the gamble had paid off. In the beginning, most of what I learned to do the… Continue Reading