Necromancing the Chicken

First off, I’m sorry this space has been dead for so long. I’m sure I’ve dropped off many an RSS reader (as well as SQLRockstar’s Rankings) due to inactivity. Well, it’s high time I get back on the blogging wagon! So what’s happened since the last post (YIKES!) in September? Read on after the break to find out…

I Wrote A Book!

Well not by myself, but I was a primary author on very major title in Microsoft SQL Server Bible 2012. This was crazy since it was such a massive title and effort from all authors involved. Huge thanks to my fellow author team of

• Adam Jorgensen (Blog | Twitter)
• Patrick LeBlanc (Blog | Twitter)
• Jose Chinchilla (Blog | Twitter)
• Aaron Nelson (Blog | Twitter)

and contributing authors including:

• Audrey Hammonds (Blog | Twitter)
• Julie Smith (Blog | Twitter)
• Tim Chapman (Blog | Twitter)
• Scott Klein (Blog | Twitter)
• David Liebman (Blog | Twitter)

I’d also like to give a special thanks to our technical editors on this project:

• Kathi Kellenberger (Blog | Twitter)
• Wendy Pastrick (Blog | Twitter)
• Mark Stacey (Blog | Twitter)
• Bradley Schacht (Blog | Twitter)

After the book writing, I decided to take a break from writing/presenting for a bit. I needed a mental break to regroup and refocus. I have a tendency to overload myself with commitments and after doing that for a couple of years straight it starts to wear on you as well as your family.

PASS Summit 2012

In November was the annual PASS Summit conference in Seattle. Unfortunately I wasn’t chosen to speak at last year’s event (fingers crossed for 2013 in Charlotte!) but I was fortunate enough to attend. Exciting news was announced about SQL Server 2012, PDW and vNext information around Project Hekaton. As always, this conference was great not just for the vast amounts of technical knowledge shared and acquired, but seeing all my friends and extended SQLFamily! This year Pragmatic Works also debuted our sponsored Rock Karaoke party which absolutely ROCKED! For those wondering, yes, we will be doing this event again so make sure if you’re in Charlotte this year to stop by Pragmatic Works’ booth and pick up your wristband before they’re all gone!

Happy New Year!

New year rang in, the Mayans were wrong and we’re all still kicking. Not much more to say than that I suppose. In the resolutions department, I never really set any but my current short terms goals include:

• Getting back into blogging (regularly)
• Losing weight – I’m back up to my heaviest weight again 🙁
  • In the interest of actually having a concrete goal, let’s say initial goal is to lose 10 lbs
• Attain some 2012 certifications
  • MCSA SQL Server 2012
  • Perhaps the Private Cloud certification?

SQL University is Dead, Long Live SQL University!

This will be explained more in a separate blog post but yes, SQL University is undergoing a major change and for the better (I believe). Don’t worry, all the content you’ve come to know and love will still be available but the project/site as a whole is going to have a massive facelift. Stay tuned for more information in an upcoming post!

New Roost for the Chicken

There’s been a whole lot of moving on my part in the last month. The first move happened with this blog. For the last few years, Brent Ozar (Blog | Twitter) has been gracious enough to host, without charging mind you, the blogs of many of your favorite neighborhood SQL Server bloggers on his server. Unfortunately the free ride couldn’t last forever and we bloggers had to find a new hosting home.

I’d like to take a moment to give HUGE thank you to Brent. A huge part of my career advancement has been in large part due to to his mentorship, friendship and support. His blog on starting a technical blog was one of the large catalysts that helped me get into the SQL Server Community and going down that path was one of the best choices I’ve ever made. So THANK YOU Brent!

The second move was actually a physical one. For the last two years my wife Jessica (Blog | Twitter) and I have been living in Jacksonville, Florida. In February we made the move back to Tampa, Florida. For those wondering, yes, I’m still with Pragmatic Works. No, you don’t need to live in Jacksonville to work for them so if you’re thinking of applying to work with us (and yes, we’re always looking for great SQL Server talent, both BI and DBA) then shoot your resume over to jobs@pragmaticworks.com and tell them I sent you. 😉

New Presentations

On the professional side of things I’ve been working on a few new presentations this year including:

• What Is a BI DBA? – Overview of administering the Microsoft BI stack (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS)
• Creating a Personal VM Lab – General walkthrough of how to create/setup VMs on your laptop for creating a personal test lab
• Do More With Less: Consolidation and Virtualization – Overview of consolidation strategies

I’m hoping to present at least one of these at PASS Summit this year, fingers crossed! I’ve been on a bit of a presentation tear the last few months. If you’d like me to present (remote is great too if your group supports it), please drop me a line at jorge@sqlchicken.com or shoot me a tweet. I love me some presenting!