#SQLCruise2011

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SQL Sentry Countdown to SQLCruise Contest

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This Sunday, a couple dozen database geeks and their loved ones will board the Norwegian Pearl for a week of SQL Server training, professional development, networking, fun, and relaxation.  It’s a truly unique event where we get to learn AND teach – everyone involved in the cruise shares things they’ve learned in their daily life.  The presenters learn just as much as they share, and that’s what makes SQLCruise my favorite week of the year.  I just can’t wait until it starts.

SQL Sentry has been with us right from the start as a top-tier sponsor.  I know the guys at SQL Sentry, and they share our passion for having fun while you learn and get your work done.  For our very first cruise, they gave away not one, but FOUR cruises to community members! Who could forget Jorge’s hilarious Old Spice video, Erin’s daily job video, or Matt’s heart-string-tugging video?  What a great time.

This year, SQL Sentry is helping us count down to SQL Cruise.  Here’s our schedule:

  • C-4: Wednesday (today)
  • C-3: Thursday
  • C-2: Friday
  • C-1: SQLBBQ in Seattle
  • C-0: Departure Day: Sunday

And we’re going to be giving away something fun here in the blog every day.  Today, we’re giving away three prizes, each a SQL Server book:

Yes, Chinese

Ooo, free learnin!

We’re giving away a copy of Securing SQL Server by Denny Cherry, Performance Tuning with DMVs by Louis Davidson and Tim Ford, and SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting – but not just ANY copy of that last book, the Chinese translation!  Yes, you can wow your friends with your knowledge of Mandarin.  (I’ll autograph it in plain English though.)

To win, enter a comment on this post answering this question: “When looking at a SQL Server execution plan, how do I determine which operations are using the most CPU?”

Not sure what the answer is?  We’ll actually give it to you on our free performance tuning webcast today.

Fine print – the contest is open to US residents only.  (International shipping is painful.)  Comments must be received before 6:00AM Eastern Thursday morning.  Winners will be drawn Thursday morning and announced here on SQLcruise.com.  If you prefer one of the three books, include the book name in your answer, and I’ll give priority to whoever gets drawn first.  Good luck!

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Victory! Provisioning for SQL Cruise With Doug Lane: DBA. Viking.

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Hi, Tim here!  Last month, one of our corporate sponsors hosted their second SQL Cruise contest.  Idera Software asked the SQL Server Community to share their SQL Victory with the world.  Takes of lore poured in from around the world.  Tales of Dragons protecting caches of valuable Bufferinium,  foul code slain by fair maiden and stunning Valkerie alike, and a hammer… 

Editor – NO!

TF – A Hammer? 

Editor –NO!  

TF – A tale of a HAMMER!

Editor –That’s more like it.

TF – Thank you very much, glad you liked it.  Tho WordPress sorely lacks the ability to type in Epic Sans so I …

Editor –GET ON WITH IT!

TF – Sorry,

… that had the power to pound away bad code and replace it with what can only be described by those who see it as the finest spun code the world had ever known. 

Code of the Gods!

 This tale of such a hammer, re-enacted by a mortal duo of one was so elegantly filmed and staged that we had no choice but to crown the creator, Douglas Lane of the far northern Nordic land of Aurora, Colorado …

 

Editor –Aurora, Colorado?  Are you kidding me?  There is narry an umlaut nor glyph anywhere in the name of that villiage!  He may as well hail from Burbank, CA or <gasp> Columbus, OH!

TF – At any rate, Douglas of Aurora fared well in the SQL Victory challenge of Idera and will be joining us on board SQL Cruise Alaska.  One must wonder what a Viking provisions for such a journey.  Luckily for us Douglas of Aurora gave us a glimpse into this chore of the Gods.

Editor –Can you stop tossing around “of the Gods” like a period on the end of every sentence?  He’s a bleedin’ geek ‘ho won a contests on the Internet.

TF – It makes him sound more fierce!

Editor –Makes you sound like a looney s’wat it does!

TF – Fine.  Here’s Doug the DBA.  He packed stuff.  Better?

Editor –No Boy! You gotta SELL IT!

TF – You’re insufferable, you know that?

Editor –Sure do!  How do you think I made it into Management?

 

 

<  As everyone knows, any Viking worth his muster isn’t allowed to travel from his villiage without their autographed photo of Brian Blessed.  Brian, of fame as Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon.  Technically a Hawkman and not a Viking no one dares to say that to Brian’s face to this very day.  Any Viking warrior worth his weight in Ikea Lingonberry preserves would break your bones down into dust if you even insinuated he was nothing more than a hairy fairy with a hammer.

 

 

< How is one supposed to keep his deities straight when he might encounter one in the Norther Realms?  Why with his trusty +5 Classical Mythology Handbook of Coping!  It allows a journeying Norseman to tell his Fjörgyn from his Fjörgynn.  Granted you could just lift their kilts to tell ’em apart, but that’s crass and it’s also likely to get a +3 Boot of <REDACTED> Kicking up your <REDACTED>.  How does one expect to deal properly with Light Elves without being able to tell them from Dark Elves?  Heck, keep in mind there are a great number of trees in Alaska and Canada.  What happens if, after quaffing many a mead, said journeying Viking needs to <ahem> Jager the Meister and chooses Yggdrasill rather than just a standard Douglas Fir?  Hellfire rain down upon thee!

Plus there are a lot of pretty drawings.

 

< “Ah, trusty Mjolnir!  I find myself strangely attracted to you.” Says our warrior.  Just what I need to open cold bottles of $10 Miller Lite and pound on the wall of the neighboring stateroom when those inhabitants decide to get a little randy at 2am.  I knew rooming next to those SQL Cruisers was a bad idea!  It will also become quite handy when I go on that bear wrestling excursion booked in Ketchikan.  “Sure, any pasty cubicle dweller from Des Moines can take a photograph of a grizzly bear from the window of a fetid school bus.  I am the only one that can wrestle it to submission and brain it with my powerful +1 Hammer of Refactoring!”

“I must remember to place it in my checked luggage though.  After that incident in DTW back in 2008 I’ve learned my lesson!  Fighting werejackals on the frozen plains outside of of Trondheim is nothing compared to the TSA at Detroit Metro!”

< Lastly, one can’t head to the northern lands of Alaska and Canada without a parka!  Ever since this warrior has been on his picked herring and blodpalt diet he can’t seem to retain his body heat.  Plus it’s blue and it will match his <REDACTED> he developed from wearing a kilt year ’round in his youth.

Douglas of Aurora.  Congratulations on your SQL Victory!  We will see you next weekend when we depart from Seattle.  Land of Emeralds for the Great White North of Alaska and Canada!  Thank you Idera, company of SQL products and orange things for sending him on this quest!

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SQL Sentry Ships Aaron Bertrand Off on SQL Cruise

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In our continuing series of interviews with guest speakers on our Alaskan SQL Cruise I sat down recently with Aaron Bertrand (twitter|blog) of SQL Sentry to discuss everything from Canada to Foo, to Foo.  Amazinging the phrases “Rush Rules”, “How’s it Goin’, Eh?”, and “Touque” were never raised during the conversation.

TF – Aaron, thank you for joining us on what I’m sure will be memorable event on SQL Cruise Alaska.  Can you tell us a little about what you’re looking forward to on the cruise?
 

AB – It’s a part of the country I’ve always wanted to see, and I’ll be able to enjoy that with both my wife and a bunch of fellow SQL nerds that I adore and respect. I think it’s a win-win opportunity and I’m really looking forward to it, especially after hearing all the great things that previous cruisers have had to say.

 

TF – What do you plan on presenting while on the cruise?

AB – My cruise presentation is a run-through of the new engine and tools features in SQL Server “Denali.” The content will be based mainly on CTP1, and while I won’t be able to demo everything or answer questions about certain features or release dates, I still think it will be enough to get people excited about the upcoming release. I’m as excited about Denali as I was about SQL Server 2005, because of the value of new features.

 

TF – Can you give us some insight on what you’ve been up to since joining SQL Sentry last year?  When that was announced it was one of those “that should be a great fit” moments.

AB – I’ve been all over the map, both literally and figuratively. I’ve seen you at several SQL Saturdays, went over to England for SQL Bits last month, and have just returned from SQLRally in Orlando. Clearly I’ve been able to elevate my community presence significantly in this new role, and I think that benefits myself, the company, and the community as a whole. When I’m not traveling, speaking and manning our booth, I’m working on several exciting projects for the company, including a benchmarking study that should be released soon. I’ve also been involved in customer engagements and helping drive new features in our products.

 

TF – Are you going on any excursions while on SQL Cruise Alaska?

AB – We’d definitely like to go on a few excursions, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that we haven’t booked any yet. While I’m a little concerned about the cold, I’m really thinking about the snorkeling you guys have planned, and I suspect we’ll need to act quickly. So I know what’s next on my to-do list.

 

TF – Thank you for SQL Sentry’s continued commitment to SQL Cruise.  What drew SQL Sentry to partner with SQL Cruise?

AB – SQL Sentry has a long-standing commitment to the SQL Server community, and continuing our involvement in SQL Cruise just seemed like a no-brainer. It’s beneficial exposure for us, obviously, and it’s supporting an innovative method of training that benefits all attendees in multiple ways. As an added bonus, I was able to weasel my own way on board.

 

TF – Let’s geek out for a moment if you don’t mind.  I remember seeing you present in early 2010 on SQL Server Management Studio and you’re always the first source for information on new things in SQL Server.  If you could go to the product team for SQL Server and make one suggestion for Management Studio enhancements what would that be?

 AB – That’s a tough one, as I have no shortage of ideas. Last week alone, I had 44 SSMS-related bugs and suggestions closed as “won’t fix” on Connect. I guess in lieu of improving the toolset, I would ask them to expose the code better so we can extend it ourselves. In previous versions add-ins have been, let’s say, an interesting challenge. Denali’s merge into the VS shell *should* make this easier, but time will tell.

Aaron Betrands & Co. While Still Living In Canada

 

TF – You recently became a citizen of the United States, congratulations!  What is the thing you miss most from your native Canada?

AB – That’s an easy one: my family. Close seconds, in no particular order: poutine, Hockey Night in Canada, butter tarts, and ketchup potato chips.

TF – OK, I’ve heard of and seen of ketchup potato chips, and if you’re in Detroit you get Hockey Night in Canada.  But remind me on the cruise to have you explain to me what a poutine is because I’m at a loss.

 

TF – Our last stop on SQL Cruise Alaska before returning to Seattle is Victoria, British Columbia.  Have you ever been to that area of Canada?  I know it’s like saying “Oh, your from America.  Have you ever been to Kalamazoo?”  Please forgive me for asking.

AB – I’ve been to Victoria once as a Sea Cadet in my early teens, but more recently I’ve spent a lot of time in other areas of BC. One of my closest friends lives in Maple Ridge, just outside of Vancouver. I was there for SQL Saturday 26, spent two weeks at the Olympics last year, and was his best man way out in Tofino (look it up, it’s a cool but remote spot). Whenever I’m in Seattle for PASS or the MVP Summit I make it a point to spend a couple of days in Vancouver.

 

TF – Speaking of Kalamazoo, I’m quite excited to be hosting SQL Saturday in September in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Thank you and thank SQL Sentry for their involvement.  Therefore a little word association question:  When I say “Kalamazoo” what comes to mind?

AB – When I hear “Kalamazoo” I always think of a Kazoo, and often wonder if you lead an annoying marching band comprised solely of that instrument.

TF – That reminds me.  I need to order kazoos for SQL Saturday #84 in Kalamazoo!  If anybody complains I’m blaming Canada.  Thanks Aaron!  See you in around a week.

Aaron Bertrand is a Senior Consultant for SQL Sentry, Inc., makers of performance monitoring and event management software for SQL Server, Analysis Services, and Windows. He has been blogging at sqlblog.com since 2006, focusing on manageability, performance, and new features; has been a Microsoft MVP since 1997; tweets as @AaronBertrand; and speaks frequently at user group meetings and SQL Saturday events.
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GRANT INSERT ON SQL_Cruise TO Scary_DBA

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Not THAT Submariner!

Grant Fritchey (blog|twitter) Red Gate SQL Server Product Evangelist and long-time friend will be joining us on the next SQL Cruise scheduled for less than two weeks away.  We both took a few moments from our hectic schedules to do a little Q & A session… 

TF –  Grant, thank you for joining us on SQL Cruise Alaska.  Can you tell us a little about what you’re looking forward to on the cruise?

GF – The most exciting thing for me is that I’ll be on a boat and not stuck down in the engine room. After that, I’m really looking forward to the people that are going to be on the cruise. I already know a few of them and they’re great people, the kind you really want to spend time with and learn from. 

Editor’s Note:  Grant spent years in the miliary on board submarines.  Rumor has it that he booked his cabin right next to the engine room because he can’t sleep at night unless someone stands outside his room and hits steel plates with a sledgehammer. 

  

TF –  What do you plan on presenting while on the cruise?

GF –I’m going to give you basically a 90 minute brain dump on execution plans. I’ve got some stuff that I think people routinely miss that we we’re going to go over, plus a bunch on how exec plans work, how to read them, where to get info, all kinds of fun stuff.
 

TF –  Can you give us some insight on what you’ve been up to since joining Red Gate last year?  What have you found most surprising about leaving behind the day-to-day production DBA duties?

GF – I’ve only been with Red Gate about four months at this point. It’s still very much a learning experience for me. These guys move so fast that it’s hard to keep up with them, but I’m loving it. The biggest change, I haven’t had a server wake me up at 3AM in four months and I’m loving that too. Other than that, surprisingly, except for the amount of writing that I’m doing, this has been very much a job about databases so I’ve been running all kinds of backups and restores, tuning queries, monitoring systems, all the stuff you’d expect, I just do 99.99% of it with Red Gate tools. I’m really pleasantly surprised that I’m not only not going to degrade my skill sets in and around SQL Server, but I’ve got the opportunity to improve them.
 

TF – I know you’re planning on joining me on a snorkeling trip in Ketchikan.  Are you going on any other excursions while on SQL Cruise Alaska?

GF – Mrs. Scary and I really, really want to set foot on a glacier. We’re going to do that for sure. Other than that, no plans as of yet.

 

TF –Thank you for Red Gate’s continued commitment to SQL Cruise.  Does Red Gate have any suggestions for how we can  make SQL Cruise even better as we look towards our fourth cruise later this year?

GF – You’re welcome. You know Red Gate takes its commitments to the community very seriously. Never having been on a cruise, it’s hard to say what you can do to make them better.

TF – I’ll make it a point to follow up with you after the cruise then.  Just as Red Gate takes their commitments to the community seriously, we greatly value the partnerships we form with our sponsors.  We never purport to know it all and in my opinion this is a collaborative effort.
TF – You’ve written a great book on Execution Plans for SQL Server for Red Gate.  I keep finding myself going to that book.  What one suggestion would you offer to any SQL Professional facing the task of just learning how to work with execution plans?

GF – Look at the TSQL operator at the start of the execution plan first. There’s great information in there that is frequently missed.

 

TF –You and I are both involved to some degrees with The Boy Scouts of America.  While not roughing it at all on the SQL Cruise, we will be up in the Wilds of Alaska.  What are you looking forward to seeing in on this adventure?

GF –I’m really excited about seeing a glacier.  Those things fascinate me since I live in Massachusetts, which has a glacier carved landscape. I also wouldn’t mind spotting, from a considerable distance, a grizzly bear. A whale spotting or two would be good as well.

TF –I know this little place in Skagway where you can pet grizzly bears.  No I don’t. Conveniently there is a shack right next door where the owner of the grizzly petting zoo sells hooks and artificial limbs he makes in his own foundry.  No there isn’t.

  

TF – Back to the move from production DBA to SQL Server Evangelist; is there anything you miss from your old DBA life?

GF –Nope!  Except for the people. I worked with a great team and I’m sorry I had to leave them.
 

TF –You’ve been doing a great deal of travelling now that you’re with Red Gate.  What are some of your travel tips you’d recommend to those joining you on the Cruise?

GF –Pack as light as you can, and think about layers. Don’t bring a big coat, but do bring a long-sleeved shirt, a fleece and a wind-breaker or shell. I think it’ll be almost like packing for backpacking trip, but one where you also swim and go to nice restaurants occasionally.

TF – Well, Cruisers are all getting a SQL Cruise hat, fleece jacket, and t-shirt among other swag.  Hopefully we’ve helped with the “layers” bit.

 

TF – Grant, I’d like to thank you for sitting down (virtually) with me here and I really am looking forward to seeing you and Mrs. Scary again in just about ten days.

Grant Fritchey has twenty+ years experience in IT.  That time was spent in technical support, development and database administration. He works for Red Gate Software as a Product Evangelist and writes articles for publication at SQL Server Central, Simple-Talk, PASS Book Reviews and SQL Server Standard. He have published two books, ”Understanding SQL Server Execution Plans” and “SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled.”  Grant is one of the founding officers of the Southern New England SQL Server Users Group and it’s current president.  He also work on part-time, short-term, off-site consulting contracts.

In 2009 and 2010 Grant was awarded as a Microsoft SQL Server MVP.

In the past he has been called rough, intimidating and scary. To which he usually replies, “Good.”

My First Alaskan Cruise

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A while back, I hit a point in my life where I wanted to start taking my family on vacations.  I’d experienced enough success that I wanted to share my good fortune with the people I loved.  As part of that, I started taking each member of my family on a cruise.

Zzzzz

Erika napping on the balcony as Alaska passes by

Dad’s chosen destination really surprised me – Alaska.  I’d heard wonderful stories from my friends who took Alaskan cruises, but it never really called to me.  My idea of vacation is being somewhere warm, drinking something cold.  The cruise wasn’t about me, though, so I eagerly booked an Alaskan cruise for me, Erika, Dad, and Caryl (my wonderful stepmom.)  The Alaskan cruising season is fairly short – summers only – but we had to sail in September 2010 due to our schedules.  Being right at the tail end of the season, lots of things could have gone wrong: bad weather, no wildlife, no waterfalls, etc.  As it turned out, we struck gold.

We sailed out of Seattle on a bright but chilly day.  The ship’s crew kept us warm by plying us with boozy hot chocolate, and the next day as we sailed North, they made sure we stayed happy as we watched the scenery unfold.

In Ketchikan we boarded a float plane for an incredible ride over the forests, mountains, and water.  I felt a spiritual connection with an island called New Eddystone Rock – the moment I saw it, I was completely mesmerized, and I’m sure I had something to do with that island in a previous life.  My amateurish photos can’t convey its beauty, sitting alone in the middle of fast-moving water, but in the high-resolution version of this photo you can see seals basking on the shore’s edge.  Amazing.  After we flew back to the ship, my first mission was to hit the web to learn more about that island.  Even just watching grainy videos of the island gives me the willies, and now I’ve got something new for my bucket list: setting foot on that rock.

Tracy Arm Fjord

As the ship sailed on through Tracy Arm Fjord, passengers lined the decks, braving the frigid air to snap photos of glaciers, mountains, icebergs, and each other.  We heard the bangs as the ship nudged icebergs aside, and we oohed and aahed as small icebergs calved.  The ship’s naturalist explained it all over the loudspeakers, aiming our gaze at wildlife far up on the cliffs.

In Juneau, we boarded a whale watching trip with Orca Enterprises, who absolutely positively guarantees every trip will see whales.  No refunds were necessary that day – we watched humpback whales and orcas surface satisfyingly close to the boat.

We continued our wildlife sightseeing on the short bus in Haines to drive up and down the scenic Chilkoot River.  At first, I thought we’d finally gotten shafted by a crappy excursion – there was no way we were going to see bears by simply driving up and down a road next to a river.  I mean, there were humans all over the place – why would a bear just show up out of nowhere?

Then we saw her.

Grrrrr

Mama Bear and her cub

All the tourists ran straight for the short bus, but after the shock wore off, we mustered up enough courage to head back out.  For the rest of the long afternoon, we shot picture after picture after picture of bears.  We got within thirty feet, perhaps closer, of animals large enough to upend my Honda Fit.  We paid no mind to the Bear Zone.  By the end of the day, we couldn’t believe our amazing fortune – bears, whales, eagles, we’d seen it all in just a few days.  You can check out the highlights from my Alaska photo album, or watch the 10-minute video reel below.  Click on the HD link on the video for better photos:

We had a wonderful time on our first Alaskan cruise.  To my surprise, Dad (who hates crowds) said he’d even like to do it again, but during a different time of the season so he could see how the wildlife, waterfalls, and scenery were different.  I feel like the luckiest guy in the world because I was able to share that experience with my family, and now, I even get to go again.  In just two weeks, I get to repeat the trip, but this time share the experience with my friends.

SQLCruise Alaska, here I come!

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