I've given this presentation a couple of times at user-groups now - last week in Adelaide, and this week in Melbourne. I posted the scripts to my blog recently, making them available to people who heard this talk at TechEd Australia at the start of the month, so now I've got around to uploading the slide deck as well. I actually plan to ...

I admit it. I love all Canada: maple sugar candy, loonies and toonies, Mounties, old town Montreal with its French history, the CN tower in Toronto, Stanley Park in Vancouver, and high tea at the Fairmont Empress Victoria.   Canada is pure Jazz. Is there a more talented voice in Jazz today than Diana Krall? (I have every CD, DVD-Audio, ...

Geoff Orr spoke at the Adelaide SQL Server User Group yesterday, and according to the feedback (and attendance), it was a very popular session. He discussed various options around SSIS configuration, and threw in some jokes as usual. Of course, he may need to update the talk soon, as it seems the next CTP of SQL 2008 will have many new SSIS ...

For a limited time only, Microsoft are giving you the chance to have a second shot at any IT professional, developer or Microsoft Dynamics exam. Brilliant! The way this works (and the way I encourage all my students to do this) is that if you register for this offer and then take an exam, you can take it again some time later for free. Yes, ...

...and I'm not even referring to the User Groups which run regularly. The ones I'm referring to are SQLBits and the SQL Down Under Code Camp. SQLBits was in the UK last weekend, and was a massive success. I would've loved to have been able to attend, but it's a bit far to travel (I guess about 12000 miles). They had over three ...

We all know that Adelaide hosted Code Camp SA recently - it was a great success, and some people even wished I was there! TechEd is coming up of course, but now there are two code camps scheduled for October, on the same weekend (13-14) and at the same venue! Yes, that place is Wagga Wagga - one Wagga for each event. Firstly, and most ...

You can only book to do Microsoft certification exams through Pearson Vue until the end of August. From then on, you have to choose Prometric. More information can be read at Vue's website: http://vue.com/ms/testtakerfaq.pdf Personally, I find this a real shame. It's good for us candidates to have a choice. I've preferred Vue over ...

If you're in Melbourne during the last week of March and want to learn about how to effectively write queries for SQL Server, then this course is for you. The course was written by Itzik Ben-Gan, who is one of the legends in the SQL Server world (and now my colleague!), so it's a very high quality course. And of course, it's not as if I'm new to ...