Where’s Drew, April 2018 Edition

I’m pretty lucky to escape March with my sanity, job, and marriage, intact. If you go back and peep the projects I blogged about, March was a pretty busy month in it’s own right but that’s to say nothing of what I’ve been working on implementing at work on top of my normal day job stuff. Plus what I have going on in my personal life, including coming off a nasty bout of the flu. It all adds up pretty quick. I pulled it all off, but only just. It also means that I’m starting April with not much in the tank, and April also happens to be the month I start hitting the road for spring speaking engagements. You can imagine my concern.

At any rate, should you want to come out and hear me talk about different topics, here’s what I got this month:

  • SQL Saturday Madison is this coming weekend (2018-04-07), and I’ll be talking about HASSP. This will be the first time I’ve presented about the project publicly, so aside from “first content jitters” it’s also a different type of presentation for me. There won’t be much technical content; it’ll be more of a story about why we did what we did, how we did it, how we failed, how we bounced back, and how we plan to keep going. It’s true that it revolves around SQL Server, but it’s more than that. I’m excited to present it and if you want to come hear about a pretty, uh, unique application of SQL Server, I encourage you to attend. If it goes well, I’ll see about adding it to my list of presentations I enjoy giving and maybe we’ll take it out for a walk more.
  • The following week, on 2018-04-14, I’ll be driving down to North Carolina for SQL Saturday Raleigh. I attended this last year, and this time I’ll be talking about PowerShell. I’ve got some family down there so it’s a dual-purpose visit but I’m glad that I get to come back. If you’re near the area, why not come out for a great day?
  • Then, after a week off, I’ll be heading home(ish) to SQL Saturday Wheeling on 2018-04-28. Since I’m a southwestern PA boy, this is a cool event to attend and I’ll couple that with a visit to mom and dad, too. I’ll be talking about SQL Server automation with PowerShell again.
  • Also, worth noting, is that I’ll be speaking at Stir Trek on May 4th. I know, that’s not in April, but May is going to be here before we know it and with as much as I have going on, I’d rather get that announced now. This is more of a developer conference, so I’ll be talking about understanding SQL Server execution plans. I’ve given this talk to this conference before and people seem to like it? Anyhow, Stir Trek is a fantastic conference. I’m so glad I get the chance to go back. I’d tell you to come, but I think it’s already sold out. It’s a great event and you also get to see a cool movie, too. I’m really looking forward to it.

As far as other projects and blog posts go, I have a list of things I want to tackle this month too:

  • The last couple times I’ve been out and about, and people have been bending my ear about SQL Server Replication, a topic keeps coming up: bi-directional transactional replication. After hearing people talk about it and playing with it, I’ve decided that it’s bad. I’m going to write some blog posts about why, and how you can re-engineer the process differently to achieve what you want (and with better results). I’ve started work on it, and I hope to have something published soon.
  • Speaking of HASSP, we’re almost due for a 3rd flight. Details are sketchy (mostly due to scheduling conflicts with the players involved) but I hope to get something more concrete soon. I have ideas about how we can improve it again and have more success. Watch the blog and twitter for updates.

And finally, one other note before I close this post out: I won’t be attending PASS Summit this year. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but some people asked, so I figured I’d just put it out there. I didn’t even submit to speak. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to; with the way my job duties continue to shift and the nature of the projects I’ve been working on, I’ve had to find other training and conferences to attend. I still think Summit is a great event, and there are lots of reasons to go. In fact, I think a few of my coworkers going. And yes, before you reply with “You could always pay your own way!” yes, I could. I’m fortunate enough that could be an expense I swallow. However, I have my personal expenses tied up in more exotic locales later this year. So I can’t justify both. If you are going to Summit though (and you totally should!) I know you’ll still have a great time. I could even make the case it’s because I’m not there, that holds extra true.