Just a little under 18 and one half years ago, William came into my life. There are a lot of words to describe a new baby, but the one surround Will's birth is hard to quantify. Don't get me wrong. Joy, happiness, elation, wonder, awe, all-encompassing-love, all of those words were there.
Holding Will's hand on day 3
Eventually.
Will's birth was the most intense 24 hours, and then week, of my life.
William was my third child, so having one was not new to me, but this experience was. Whereas his brother and sister had cried loudly, been weighed, and handed over in warming blankets to be cuddled with; William was rushed away. He was born into this world with a collapsed lung.
While I've spoken about this, I've never written about it before. There is a lot flooding back to me just looking at the picture on the screen. He was born just before Christmas and I've always been thankful to the nurses, the doctors, and other stall at the Sentra Hampton Roads Hospital until we moved we used to bring them cookies every Christmas Eve, remembering those wonderful people there over night with us.
The Graduate & Family
Let me skip forward in time. William's lung miraculously reinflated. After 5 days the oxygen hood came off, we were able to hold him, and feed him. He came home a bright beautiful bouncing baby boy, and grew so very fast. We have had lots of adventures.
My Bug, my nickname for Will, loves roller coasters and amusement parks. I think he is the only person in the family that loves theme parks as much as I do. For the last 15 years he has been my roller coaster riding buddy.
Last Thursday he graduated from High School. Roller coaster riding buddy indeed. That first hill was a big one. He is off to college this Fall, but it feels like only yesterday I was holding that little hand. One of my favorite quotes comes from the Little Buddhist Handbook, "The trouble IS you BELIEVE you have time". Yes. That is the trouble.
Next up, we will head to college orentationnext month. Before then we will move, because we bought a house. We've all been doing a lot of work on it getting it ready to move in. William is leading the way on the painting front, having painted his room and helping is younger sister with hers. The move is officially underway, not just because of the hours of work, or mounds of things we've already moved. No, the way I know this is I am sore in places I forgot I could get sore.
THE BIG WEEK
We talked about it last week Dear Reader, but a very big week is upon us. Microsoft Build starts today. On Wednesday 5/24 & Thursday 5/25 there will be a massive Digital Event that will be simulcast across the Guy in a Cube, Power BI, and Azure Synapse YouTube channels starting at 9 am PST.
One hour before we will be live on the Tales from the Field YouTube channel. Adam Saxton (Twitter | @awsaxton) of Guy in a Cube (Twitter | @GuyinaCube), Kal Yella & Bradley Schacht (Twitter | @BradleySchacht) from the Azure Synapse PG, and of course Josh Luedeman (Twitter | @JoshLuedeman), Neeraj Jhaveri (Twitter | @Neeraj_Jhaveri), Daniel Taylor (Twitter | @DBABulldog), Andres Padilla (@Nodestreamio), and myself will be live.
On Monday my friend Daniel Taylor released an AMAZING video. He walked through the process of taking Ola Hallengren's SQL Server Mainteance Solutions and using them with Azure SQL Database using Azure Data Factory.
I don't feel like enough people are aware of the service and what it can do. If there is an item on the list you want to see a longer video on, let me know we always love the feedback!
TUESDAY 5-16-2023
On Tuesday we had our Azure Data Community Round Table featuring content from the creators in the Community for the Community! We had a great conversation opening the show about Mother's Day weekend and the activities surrounding it for each of us, plus a Happy belated Mother's Day to all the MOM's out there!!!
As always the star of the show is the content, so here is the content by the WONDERFUL creators by order of appearence on the show:
Ok Dear Reader remember today is the kick off of MS Build. If you haven't registered go do it, it takes a few minutes and it get's you free access to the big show.
Hello Dear Reader! I've realized something writting this blog. I don't like to sit still. It is very rare that I have a down weekend, and this weekend was no different. My amazing wife did something really cool for me for Christmas.
You see I'm hard to shop for, or at least that's what I've been told. I don't mean to be, but I am. My birthday is in January. When I was a kid you got presents on your bithrday and on Christmas. Even though they are in different years, mine are so close together that for 10 months of the year there is nadda, then 2 months PRESENTS!
So with that in mind, if I want something I tend to buy it. At this point in my adult life I'm just used to that. So Sue came up with something cool. I love giving people experiences be it with food, giving advice or tips on Orlando, Disney, or Universal Studios or even when peoplke come over playing bartender, setting up events with friends (see last week).
Sue got me experiences, and what a time we've had. That included this Saturday seeing Steve Martin & Martin Short live. I was laughing so hard throughout the event, but it wasn't just comedy. They are story tellers, showmen, and presetors. I couldn't help of people I know like Buck Woody (@Twitter | @BuckWoodyMSFT ), Patrick LeBlanc (Twitter | @PatrickDBA), or so many other amazing people in our community.
The timing and the comfort of doing a show with someone you know well. That made me think of Josh Ludeman (Twitter | @JoshLuedeman). There is no one in this world that I've presented with as much as Josh. As I enjoyed the banter back and forth you could see the comfort that comes from time and practice.
It was a great time and a great day. On Sunday we had that unusual down day. I did some work in the office, getting ready for our soon to be move, and when it came to dinner I wanted out of the house. I snapped a picture while we were out at bartaco. It has be come more and more rare to have all five of us at dinner together. Looking at the picture afterwards I realized something importiant. Serenity is now at the teenage point of making goofy faces in every family photo.
....it'll be a long two years, but I have plenty of her brother's from that period in time. As the youngest this is the last time I'll have to go through this. That acknowledgement came with a bittersweet feeling.
All right enough about the weekend, let's get to the round up!
MONDAY 4-24-2023
On Monday Daniel Taylor (Twitter | @DBABulldog) dropped his first video on the channel. Congratulations Dan! He had a really great point of view, working with a customer he needed to solve the problem of teaching them how to backup SQL Server via URL. The twist is the DBA's do not have rights to get SAS tokens, and so he had to teach the Azure Admins how to do that portion.
On Friday Neeraj Jhaveri, Daniel Taylor, and myself will be teaching our DBA 101: A Full Day of Fundamentals, but Andres Padilla & Josh Luedeman will be presenting at the event as well. The whole Tales from the Field crew is together live for the first time at a conference.
This is going to be a lot of fun. We have 8 sessions on the agenda so come and attend, have a conversation with us, or grab a sticker while we have them!
We hope to see you in Jacksonville, but more than anything Dear Reader thank you for stopping by!
Hello Dear Reader! This past week is a blur. It was a tough week at work. That sentence is an understatement, but its really all I can say at this point. Monday sent me for a tail spin. I was fresh off a weekend relaxing with my wife, planning events with my friends, and thinking things were pretty well set. Life has a way of suprising you.
We powered through last week, had our Community Round Table, and dropped our new content. Internally at Tales from the Field we did some Camtasia training, explored some new technology, and started some planning for the next 3 months. I'm excited about those things. Before I knew it the weekend was upon us.
12 Years Later MegaCon 2023
I'm really tough to shop for, I hear that a lot around Christmas time. I don't mean to be difficult, but if I want something I tend to buy it. Books, collectibles, comics, whiskey, gin, ....I digress. This year my wife did something exceptionally cool for me. She bought me things to give me experiences, one of those was ticket's to MegaCON in Orlando. She bought me floor passes & and extra pass to share.
I shared mine with my oldest son Zachary. My first MegaCon ever was with Zachary when he was 7 years old. When it comes to comic book conventions I've only ever been to two and he was with me at both of them. He enjoyed this so much, I think this is a must do again next year!
One of the things I've always loved it the effort people put into their costumes, how generous they are with their time, and a willingness to celebrate with others. That was as true when he was a little kiddo dressed in a Superman t-shirt as it was this year when he was dressed as Eren Yeager this year.
I hope you had a good weekend out there Dear Reader! On to the wrap up.
WEDNESDAY 03-29-2023
On Wednesday we dropped our MS Tech Bits, Turn SQL to KQL IN SECONDS with Azure Data Explorer. This video is based off the demo I did with Patrick LeBlanc (Twitter | @PatrickDBA) in our Session at SQLBits (Twitter | @SQLBits).
I love Azure Data Explorer, it is an incredibly powerful service for digesting log data and querying massive data sets and returning results in seconds. It has so many capabilities and possibilities. BUT... I don't know KQL and I don't know if I want to learn another language. Fear not as I show in this video you can use the EXPLAIN statement to translate SQL to KQL that you can then run against your data sets.
I'm hoping this leads to peopel realizing that the bar for entry to this service is low, if you know SQL then you know KQL!
TUESDAY 03-28-2023
On Tuesday I once again teamed up with Josh Luedeman (Twitter | @JoshLuedeman), Andres Padilla (Twitter | @nodestreamio), & Neeraj Jhaveri (Twitter | @neeraj_jhaveri) to review the AMAZING community content that you all produced! If you missed that make sure to check it out.
The true star of the show is the content produced by the Community. Here is the content in order that it was covered on the show:
This week we have our Community Round Table on Tuesday where we will once again feature content from you the Azure Data Community! We will be live at 1 pm EST, but you can always catch us after the broadcast on our YouTube Channel.
Wednesday we will have a video discussing the internals of Heaps, Clustererd Indexes, & Non-Clustered Indexes!
Time to say goodbye until next week. Hope you have a great week and as always Dear Reader, Thank you for stopping by.
William, right, 11 years ago the morning of our college tour
Hello Dear Reader! When I got off the plane from SQLBits I wasn't feeling great. To be honest, I was a little concerned. I'm a diabetic asthmatic. Some people are generally unconcerned when they get a cold, some even feel that way about Covid. Not I.
For years when I get a cold they would linger, antibiotics would need to be perscribed, consumed, and then about a month later my voice would return to normal. I've been very fortunate that my immue system seems to have recieved a kick start in the last few years. No longer is the need for antibiotics absolute.
No longer is a cold a one month sentence of exercise purgatory. Really, I feel lucky. Despite feeling awful on Monday & Tuesday, by Friday morning I felt great and sounded like Barry White. So with me feeling better, my wife very happy with my deep sexy voice, we packed up the car and drove my youngest son William to a campus tour of the University of North Florida.
It was a really beautiful campus and the tour was fantastic. William is going to be very happy up there. I'm familar with UNF thanks to SQL Saturday Jacksonville. It has been held on their campus since my first trip to the event all the way back in 2011 and SQL Saturday #74.
Seeing the campus from the eyes of a perspective student was amazing. I'm used to the excitement of Friday morning pre-con's and the buzz in the air as you follow the SQL Saturday signs to the parking garage.
This time it was following the signs to the Campus Tour, taking in the campus, food venues, gym, and different class rooms. What an exciting time he is about to embark on! As if it wasn't enough, father time gave me a solid kick to the feels. The picture posted above of William and his younger sister finger painting was my Facebook memory. My phone alerted me that I had a memory, and I clicked on it. All I could think of was how time flies. There's no way, when I snapped that picture 11 years ago, that I imagined him getting ready for college.
Alright Dear Reader, let's get to the re-cap.
MS TECH BITS - WEDNESDAY 3-22-2023
My deep voice was in full effect as we took a jump into the Transaction Log. The Transaction Log is an essential part of SQL Server. That's an understatement. That's like saying your lungs are essential. The Transaction Log is fundemental. We look at what it stores, how it holds data, how Virtual Log Files work, and a little bit about recovery models.
The Community Round Table featured my sultry deep voice as well as Josh Luedeman (Twitter | @JoshLuedeman), Neeraj Jhaveri (Twitter | @Neeraj_Jhaveri), and Daniel Taylor (Twitter | @DBABulldog).
We did a quick recap of SQLBits talking about the wonderful event, and then we covered the content. No more delays, let's get to it. Content in order of appearence on the show:
We did some experiements earlier this month and loved the reception we recieved. We are working hard over here at Tales From The Field, TFTF, HQ to come up with some additional content for next month.
This week we have our Community Round Table on Tuesday & our MS Tech Bits on Wednesday. We hope you will join us for them, and if there's anything you would like to see sound off in the comments! We always love to hear from you Dear Reader.
