4 Attitudes I Wish I Had Earlier as a DBA
August 27, 2014
Outside of Work is Really Important This one is first and longest for a reason. Time – it keeps going. It doesn’t pause while you have a busy month at the office. That means the things that matter the most in life keep happening. Whether you are there or not. Right now. Right this moment – especially … Read more
DBA Tunnel Vision
August 22, 2014
One of the things hammered into you in Firefighting training, Law Enforcement training, defensive gun use training and many other forms of training is “Do not develop tunnel vision.” There is a reason they emphasize this concept so much, too. Lot of folks get killed each year by tunnel vision. Do you think this phenomenon doesn’t … Read more
More Soft Skills From The Ambulance
August 14, 2014
A couple days ago I posted some of the lessons I learned in the back of an ambulance that have translated into my career as a SQL Server Consultant or a DBA. I promised I had a few more. Here they are. “I Don’t Know What You’ve Been Through” Empathy. My friend Tom LaRock wrote an … Read more
Consulting Skills Learned in the Ambulance
August 12, 2014
I used to be a firefighter and EMT in years past. I still fondly remember those days and the 6 or so years I spent helping folks on their worst day and training to be ready to help them have given me some of the soft skills that have helped me through life as a technologist. … Read more
Letter to my Daughter
July 8, 2014
I’ve put this on my personal blog, Open Mike, where I am trying to keep matters of faith and personal life so I can keep the focus here on technology blogging and SQL Server consulting. But this was one I wanted to share in both spots as I sometimes do and will do. Introduction As … Read more
5 Database Lessons From The Bathroom…
December 26, 2013
I’m writing this post from my living room, don’t worry. A recent last-minute trip to replenish the household toilet paper supply had me thinking of this illustration. So… I’m a big fan of finding lessons for the day job from everyday life – call them illustrations, if you want. I’ve found inspiration preparing for planting … Read more
Free DBA Advice eBook
December 10, 2013
John Sansom recently completed a great project of his- an eBook with 20 DBAs offering advice and tips to those starting out as a DBA. There are 19 authors I look up to and myself sharing tips and advice to DBAs looking to make into the DBA world or looking to go further once already … Read more
Check Your SQL Server Configuration
November 27, 2013
I blog a lot about best practices, defaults and paying attention to your installations. It’s a huge pet-peeve of mine to see improperly configured instances. One of the things I always do when doing a health check is review an instances configuration options. On quite a few client environments, just a couple quick knob turns … Read more
If You Like Your Query Plan, You Can Keep Your Query Plan
November 18, 2013
Period(*). I have two motives here. One – I liked the title and I’ve been having fun with titles lately (A couple weeks ago it was the true story of a SAN Failure with “Yes, Virginia, SANs Can Fail“). Two – it’s a good reminder and a couple recent conversations brought it up so I … Read more
How Do You Prevent a SAN Failure?
November 14, 2013
… Well, prevent a SAN failure from ruining your week anyway. Because you can never fully prevent a failure 100% – even in a SAN, even when your SAN vendor says it’ll never happen (hint: anytime a vendor tells you never – be afraid.. Be very afraid). So that’s what this whole post series is … Read more