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Pointless

Pointless Banter.
Why are you still reading this?

Project 52

Before I even started this year I knew that I was going to try and hold myself to putting out at least 52 blogs this year.  Then I noticed that Jeremiah Peschka posted on this thing called “Project 52”.  Since I’m already holding myself to that goal – even though I failed to list it on my Goals for 2010 – I thought I’d mention it here publicly.

Project52 is a personal challenge geared toward getting fresh content on your website. The goal is to write at least 1 new article per week for 1 year. Because we all know what it‘s like to procrastinate on our content. A website is not just a fresh design that can be uploaded to the web and forgotten about!

Hey does this count as one of the 52?

Goals for 2010

It’s that time of year so here’s a quick blog post so that I can track how well I achieve my goals for 2010

My goals for 2010 are pretty simple.

  • Spend more time with my daughter
  • Finish reading my PowerShell In Action book
  • Help run and market a very successful year of the App Dev Virtual Chapter for PASS
  • Not Die
    • (It’s George Carlin’s secret to life after all)
  • Get certified in Hyper-V: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization
  • Do at least 4 different speaking engagements on at least 5 different topics
    • (meaning: User Group, Lunch-N-Learn, SQL Saturday, SQL Lunch, Code Camp??)
  • Use PowerPivot at least once before May
  • Read a second PowerShell book from cover-to-cover
  • Get at least one report to do something/anything with Map Point 2009
  • Show the value of community so that I can get my company to pay to send me to the PASS Summit once again.
  • Write a scathing review on every book that I read
    • Just checking to see if you’re really paying attention
  • Get every db in my current company upgraded to SQL Server 2008 SP2
  • Get my backyard back under control
  • Convince PASS to move the 2011 Summit to somewhere within the Eastern or Central Time Zones.
  • And of course: drop 20 pounds.

And why am I bothering to post this you might ask?  Well I hear the way to make God laugh is to tell him your plan.  :-)

My first BLOG-post EVER

What a BLOG?
Seriously??
Have you met me.
I like to run off at the mouth not at the fingertips.
What do I know about blogging?
Don’t they come from Antwerp?

I’m finally giving in as starting a BLOG.  Who knows how long this will last or how many people will read it, but I’m starting.  How am I going to do this you say!  Well I read some blog-posts by this guy named Brent Ozar “Blogging for a Living”…  ok “read” might be too strong of a word but I skimmed a few of the words in his 5-part series on how to start a BLOG.  (Great stuff btw Brent, really helped!)  So anyways, at somepoint I’m going to go back and actually read those articles, in the meantime though I’ve go an idea for my “Second BLOG-post EVER” so actually learning how to blog is just going to have to wait.  http://www.brentozar.com/twitter/how-to-start-a-blog/

The first couple of weeks, maybe even months of this are going to be a bit rough because, well, I don’t know how to read let alone type.  (For the record, I don’t read, I memorize, takes a really long time.)  If you have ever received an email from me you know just how laconic I can be.  I’ll try to break that habit but not right now.  First I want to get into the habit of having something to say at least once a week, every week.  I’m not going to promise to be useful or entertaining or anything, I’m just going to promise to say something, in text format (of at least 17 words) every week.  And who knows, one day, somewhere out there, this BLOG might just finally your life server/database’s life.

So to start out:
This BLOG is about my undying love for trials and tribulations with SQL Server and all of it’s friends (you know: SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, SQL Agent, Replication, Clustering, Virtualization, stuff like that).  I’m going to blog about a few random things that probably have no connection whatsoever.  I might start something, post it just to get it out there, and then come back and edit once I’ve thought about it some more for a bit.

Why might you care?
Well I’ve been doing this whole database thing for over 10 years and I’m telling you, one of these days, this whole “software” thing is really going to take off.  I hold MCITP: credentials in Business Intelligence Developer, Database Administrator, Database Developer; so i know how to RTFM (usually).  I run into the occasional error that no one has run into yet and tons of errors that plenty of people have run into; and I plan to catalog them here.  This will be my cheat-sheet for fixing problems that I’ve already run into so feel free to use my copy and tell me stuff that you think I should add.  If you have any questions about any of the SQL Server certifications exams (Admin, Dev, or BI.  2005 or 2008) and how you should go about preparing for them feel free to ask.

So here goes.
T Minus X:XX until my Second BLOG-post EVER!

Oh and…  please, comment.
( That’s right, I just said that I want to hear someone’s opinion besides my own :-D )