SqlDiva : General

November 21st NJ SQL Server User Group meeting is available on the Web...

Melissa — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 20:20:00 GMT

If you missed the November 21st NJ SQL Server User Group meeting featuring DonXml's presentation on LINQ, you can view it via Paul Mooney's Blog(Thanks Paul!!!)

Click Here (:-)

SQLDiva

NJSQL Call for 2007 Presenters

Melissa — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:40:00 GMT

The NJSQL User Group is looking for presenters for 2007 User Group Meetings. We welcome presenters with varying experience levels (First Time to Expert).

The User Group focuses on SQL Server Data Tier Development Topics, which includes: Analysis Services (aka Olap), Reporting Services, Integration Services(aka DTS), Database Development and anything else in SQL Server.

We are averaging 30 people for each meeting, with a mix of .Net developers and SQL Server Developers.

The group meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at the SetFocus offices in Parsippany, NJ.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in speaking at the user group, please contact me.

SQLDiva

SQL PASS 2006: Day 2 Volunteer Training & SQL Server Gal

Melissa — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 02:49:00 GMT

Today, I attended the PASS Volunteer Training from 8am-5pm. It was a long day, but it was very informative. I was very impressed by the strong commitment and passion that all of the PASS Board of Directors and other committee chairs have. They all want to contribute to the Organization in a positive manner and create a culture of collaboration.

I was very fortune to hear many of the folks below speak on their various responsibilities at PASS in the earlier sessions. In the afternoon, we were divided into different groups focusing on different aspects of PASS. I attended the PASS Chapter breakout session and had the great fortune of hearing how many group leaders operate their chapters. It was amazing to see how many different ways that a PASS Chapter can market itself. I need to reflect on this as I develop my strategy for the NJSQL Chapter in 2007.

Speakers at the PASS Volunteer training:
Kevin Kline(President), Joe Webb(Executive VP), Wayne Snyder(VP, Marketing, aka Wayne the SQL Guy, pseudo cousin to Larry the Cable Guy), Lynda Rab(SIG Chair), Rushabh Mehta/Joe Lax(Chapter Committee), Christoph Stotz(Director of EMEA and International Regions), Randy Dyess(Director of Membership Development and Volunteers), Bill Graziano(Director of Program Development), Paul Nielsen(Director of Online Content), Rick Heiges(Director of Event Operations) and John Stoiber (SmithBucklin Relationship)

In the evening, I attended the Welcome Reception/SIG Quiz Bowl. As usual, these types of events are very good. A little food… A little beer/wine… And a bunch of great conversations… The highlight of my evening was seeing SQL Server GAL and meeting her creator. Definitely a moment when you need a camera... Hopefully, I’ll be able to get my hands on one of the SQL Server Gals figures by the end of the conference(see previous blog post).

I would like to thank everyone who went out of their way to speak to me during the volunteer training. It’s somewhat un-nerving to be attending my first PASS Summit as a volunteer without already having many SQL PASS buddies.

SQLDiva

SQL PASS 2006: Day 1 in Seattle

Melissa — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:31:00 GMT

My flight into Seattle yesterday was pretty uneventful, but I have to say that it was pretty interesting to see a raging blizzard at higher altitudes just before landing. I was actually glad to see that it was raining in Seattle. Imagine that!!! From the Airport, I took "Seattle Downtown Airport" bus to my hotel(a deal at $10.25). The shuttle service was fairly easy to find. Just go past Baggage Claim 1, bear to the right, review the monitors to the right of the glass doors to find departure time and go out the glass doors to the bus. You can pay on the bus if no one if at the desk.

This is my first time in Seattle, so I decided to take a 3-Hour Tour (Seattle City Tours). This was a great way to get to know the city and the miscellaneous transportation options. My favorite parts of the tour were Pike Place Market, Waterfall Garden Park (Historic Pioneer Square), Puget Sound views, Fremont neighborhood, Fishermen’s Terminal, Scenic Magnolia bluff & the Space Needle. I sampled some awesome white chowder at Little Chinook's which is located at Fisherman's Terminal. While eating my chowder, I observed a tribute to fallen fisherman and realized that this was the place were some of the boat's from TLC's Deadliest Catch television series were docked. I believe I saw the ship named the Time Bandit.

After departing the tour, I walked around the area where the Space Needle is located. The tour guide kept on mentioning the "Experience Music Project" and I had a few hours to kill, so I decided to walk through the museum. The cost was $19.95, but it was worth every penny. The best part of the museum was the Jimi Hendrix exhibit. The exhibit displayed letters from Jimi as a child, the Hendrix family stereo, examples of Jimi's childhood and teenage drawings and paintings, as well as documentation of his early high school garage bands. I'm not a real Jimi Hendrix fan, but I really enjoyed this exhibit. From the Space Needle area, I took the monorail to Nordstrom’s which is only a block or two from my hotel. Not bad for $2.

Later on in the day, I journeyed down to the Pike Place Market. I can't believe how many shops this city has. I'm getting a little overwhelmed as my suitcase is within 4lbs of the 50lb limit. Yikes!!! Shops in the market were starting to close down by about 4:45pm and I started to see a lot of street folk, so I decided to start back to my hotel. I stumbled across Beecher's Handmade Cheese Shop and bought a hunk of Beecher's Flagship cheese to bring back to my room. Yummy and well worth the calories!!!

It's already been a busy day for me and I still have dinner and the evening to go. I'm hoping to catch up with some of my friends, but if I don't you'll probably find me parked on a sofa in the lobby of my hotel reading PASS Community Summit literature.

SQLDiva

I’m off to the PASS Community Summit….

Melissa — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:43:00 GMT

It’s Friday morning and I kind of feel like a kid 2 days before Christmas. Do you remember that feeling? I can’t think about anything other than the conference and I have this squishy feeling in my stomach. I am so incredibly excited about attending the PASS Community Summit. In the past, I attending 2 TechEd Conferences (2000/2005) and 2 SQL DevConnections Conferences (2001/2004) and those conferences were great. But, I’m expecting this one to be AWESOME.

I’m flying to Seattle from NJ on Sunday evening and will be staying at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel right next to the Seattle Conference Center. It should be great to be right next to the conference center. If you want to read about the horrible tale of someone staying 40 minutes via metro from the TechEd Europe conference center, see my hubby’s blog. Since this is my first trip to Seattle, I’m hoping to see a few of the sites on Monday before my sessions start. On Tuesday, I will be attending PASS Volunteer training and then starting on Wednesday the ‘Hardcore’ presentations start. I’m also looking forward to the Women in Technology luncheon on Thursday. As the years have passed by, I’ve made a lot of techie guy friends, but I don’t have a lot of techie girlfriends. So, it would be great to meet a few more. I also have been invited to a few dinners/parties on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, but I will be winging it on Monday and Tuesday night. If you want to meet up with me during the conference, please feel free to contact me.

I will be attending most of the sessions in the “Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence” and “Database & Application Development” track.
But, I will definitely be attending the sessions listed below.

Wednesday
Part 1: Enabling BI Analytics with Excel 2007, SharePoint 2007 and SQL Server 2005 (Thierry D'Hers)
Part 2: Enabling BI Analytics with BSM, Proclarity, Sharepoint 2007 and SQL Server 2005 (Sanjay Soni)

Thursday
Handling Dimensions ETL with SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (Erik Veerman)
Testing and Refactoring Your Database with Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals (Gert Drapers)

Friday
Message in a Bottle: SQL Service Broker from 1 to 100 in 75 Minutes (Klaus Aschenbrenner)
Design Reports in MS Office & Deliver with SQL Reporting Services (Jeff Gutridge)

Hope to see you there!!!

SQLDiva

October NJ SQL Server User Group Meeting on 10/17

Melissa — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:56:00 GMT

David McIntyre of Symphic Technology will be joining the NJ SQL Server User Group(www.njsql.org) on Tuesday, October 17th.

David is a data warehousing veteran and principal trainer at Symphic Technology, a leading SSIS training provider.

This is a great opportunity to learn SSIS from a skilled trainer.

Date: Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

Topic: Data Warehousing with SSIS

Food: Pizza/Soda(Sponsored by Symphic Technology)

Location:
SetFocus
4 Century Drive
Parsippany, NJ
Directions to: SetFocus

Meeting Format:
6:00PM: Networking
6:30PM-8:30PM: Presentation and Q&A

SQLDiva

A “Once in a Lifetime” Experience...

Melissa — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:22:00 GMT

So, What are the odds of getting stuck on an elevator at the exact second that the power goes out? According to the FireChief.Com Website, "The odds of someone in the general public getting stuck in a stalled elevator are about once in a lifetime".

Well, I would like to thank the local electrical utility company for providing me with a "once in a lifetime" experience yesterday afternoon.

As I was returning to my place of employment from lunch, I hopped onto the elevator to take the l-o-n-g trip to the 3^rd floor

(yes, I am lazy) and just before reaching the 3^rd floor, the elevator came to a rolling halt (the power went out). Just Great.... Luckily, someone inquired to see if someone was on the elevator and I signaled that I was in the elevator. I thought... Cool, I'll be out of here in 5 minutes. This was not the case. I was asked to use the phone in the elevator (thanks to help of the light from my cell phone) which patched me directly into the local police dispatcher.

Once my place of employment was notified, many of my co-workers gathered in the hallway and some tried to talk to me through the elevator doors. During times like this, you really find out who your friends are...

About 5 to 10 minutes later, the Fire Chief and the Search and Rescue Squad arrived on the scene and started asking me lots of questions. I usually have no problem holding a conversation (if you know me, you'll understand...), but I just kept on getting annoyed and all I could think about was... Can all these people please shut-up and get me the heck out of here!!!! At one point, I heard someone ask if the building electricity had been turned off (just in case the power comes on) and in the same sentence he continued to ask if the ambulance had been called. I think this was the only moment when I was a little panicked.

As I stood in the dark elevator, I started thinking about how I should position my body in case the elevator drops. I suddenly realizes that I should have done some pre-research (where is Google when you need it!!!). I couldn't decide, so I braced my back against the side of the elevator and bent my knees and waited. This way, I would be able to quickly regain a lady-like stance once the elevator was opened. Like I should be worrying about this...

Finally, after 22 minutes, I was freed from the elevator!!! I was greeted by 3 Fire personnel who helped me step out of the elevator that had stopped 3 feet below the 3^rd floor. Yippee!!! I can go back to work!!! I was ready to go back to my desk, but I was retained by the Fire Chief so we could wait for the Paramedics. It turns out that it was required for the Paramedic to take my blood pressure reading and for me to sign-off from being sent to the local hospital.

You can imagine the Welcoming (teasing...) that I received from my co-workers and management. How embarrassing!!!!

Lessons Learned:

If you get stuck in an elevator, immediately pick up the emergency phone. This is the quickest way to get assistance.
If no one is aware that you are trapped in the elevator, use the alarm button to signal that you are trapped.
The light on a cell phone is a huge help during a power outage.
Emergency Personnel (Many) will be sent to assist with the incident. This is normal.
Of Course, Stay Calm!!!

I think I might refrain from using elevators for a while,

SQLDiva

Wanted SQL Server Gal!!!

Melissa — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:23:00 GMT

Recently, I came across the Source Forge Heros on MSDN. I have to say that I really like my Channel9 Guy FoamHead (not better than DonXML), but I am very interested in aquiring a SQL Server Gal FoamHead. Although... I do wish they would make a SQLDiva FoamHead(not really, they would need a lot of foam, Ha Ha).

But, seriously if you want to have one of your own SQL Server Gals, just watch two live webcasts or virtual labs during the month of August to qualify. See the link below for details.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/hero/sfdetails/

Good Luck!!
SQLDiva

Free MeasureUp Certification Practice Tests until 8/31

Melissa — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:21:00 GMT

MeasureUp is offering free practice tests until 8/31.

If you would like to take advantage of MeasureUp's offer,
follow the steps below:

1. Select your Practice Test
2. Use COUPON CODE MUP81506 at checkout by August 31, 2006
3. Start practicing.

SQLDiva

Great NJ SQL Server Positions listed on NJSQL!!!

Melissa — Tue, 09 May 2006 03:38:00 GMT

Recently, I have been asked to post many NJ based SQL Server positions on the NJ SQL Server User Group Website.

If you are looking for a NJ SQL Server position, check out the NJ SQL Jobs blog on www.njsql.org.

SQLDiva

NUMA NUMA Dance.....

Melissa — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 20:53:00 GMT

My 11 year-old daughter had a sleepover last night and as a result, a new website was discovered called DumbVideos.com that will probably be a standard in our household. The girls watched many videos about cats and other stuff. But one video caught my eye. It’s called the NUMA NUMA Dance. The video is of Gary Brolsma lip-synching energetically to a Romanian pop song. It turns out that Gary is from Saddle Brook, New Jersey and was recently featured in the New York Times.

This video really reminds me of my many COOL computer friends who celebrated the release of

Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 last fall !!! Take a look…

NUMA NUMA Dance Video

SQLDiva

February 21st NJSQL User Group Meeting

Melissa — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 23:55:00 GMT

Lisa McCrary from Proclarity spoke at the NJ SQL Server Meeting on the February 21st.

Lisa flew in from Atlanta, Georgia just for our User Group meeting(WOW!!!)

She did a great job of providing our user group folks with an overview on OLAP and Microsoft

Analysis Services 2005. It was amazing to me that so many folks(5-6) had worked with Analysis Services.

A large number of questions were posed and it appeared that many people were really engaged in

the presentation/discussions. Lisa also demo'd the Proclarity 6.1. It's awesome. This product

has a lot of power right out of the box.

The Presentation Slides will be posted on www.njsql.org when they become available.

Below are some links that were provided in the presentation:

Project Real

On-Demand Webcasts

Reminder.... The Next NJ SQL Server User Group meeting is on Tuesday, February 21st

Melissa — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:59:00 GMT

NJ SQL Server User Group

Next Meeting: Tuesday, February 21st, 2006

Presentation: An overview of Analysis Services 2005 and Proclarity 6.1

Food: PIZZA will be provided(Thanks, Proclarity!!!)

Give Away:

A set of Launch Event CDs which includes SQL Server 2005 and

Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition compliments of PASS

Location:
SetFocus
4 Century Drive
Parsippany, NJ
Directions to: SetFocus

Meeting Format:
6:00PM: Networking
6:30PM-8:00PM: Presentation and Q&A

For NJ SQL Server User Group information, please see www.njsql.org

SQL Server 2005 Downloads for updated BOL, Samples & Features

Melissa — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 21:40:00 GMT

I recently uninstalled the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager Client on my laptop and started using the SQL Server 2005 Management Studio Client to manage my existing SQL Server 2000 Databases. I'm hoping this helps me aquaint myself with SQL Server 2005 faster. After doing so, I noticed that I couldn't open existing SQL 2000 DTS Packages. The solution to this issue was to download/install the “Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DTS Designer Components” from the Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - November 2005. I also found that Microsoft recently released some additional SQL Server 2005 Downloads. See Below.

Enjoy!!!

SQLDiva

Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - November 2005 ===>

Includes:

Microsoft ADOMD.NET

Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0

Microsoft OLEDB Provider for DB2

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Management Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 PivotTable Services

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DTS Designer Components

Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services 9.0 OLE DB Provider

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Command Line Query Utility

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Datamining Viewer Controls

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Objects Collection

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Notification Services Client Components

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor

Microsoft .NET Data Provider for mySAP Business Suite, Preview Version

Reporting Add-In for Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express

SQL Server 2005 Books Online (April 2006) ===>

SQL Server 2005 Samples and Sample Databases (April 2006) ===>

SQLDiva’s Job Hunting Hints

Melissa — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 17:42:00 GMT

References: Before you leave a job or shortly after, ask associates at the job you are leaving to be your job references. You will need a variety of references (ie. Peer, old boss, management from another area that you worked really well with…). Reference contact info should contain: Name, email address, work/cell phone numbers, company, and position.
References on Reumes: Do not include references on your resume. If an employer is interested in you, they will ask. As soon as you are asked for references, call all references that you have provided and fill them in on the job information. This way, they will be prepared for the call.
Keywords: Include a “Keywords” section on your resume. This should include alternative spellings to technical terms and other qualifications(ie. MBA can be M.B.A. or Masters of Business Administration). Many of the initial people looking at your resume with be dumb, real dumb, you need to provide them with alternate terms, spellings so that don’t throw your resume away.
Resume Customization: Customize your resume to the job that you are applying to (whenever possible). This mostly applies to the objective section of your resume.
Popular Job Posting websites: www.monster.com, www.carreerbuilder.com, www.hotjobs.com, www.flipdog.com, www.craigslist.com, www.dice.com
Recruiters: When you find good recruiters, save their contact info and call them every 2 weeks or so.
Online Resume Posting: Use online job posting websites to search for jobs and post your resume. Follow the below guidelines:
- Keep a Word and Text version of your resume at all times. The websites will ask for a text version, but as soon as a job placement rep contacts you, he/she will want a word version of your resume.
- Create a free email account for your job search. The resume that you post online should contain this email address and no other contact information. This way, recruits can’t steal your resume off the web and distribute it.
- Update you resume on all job posting websites on a frequent basis (you can just add a few spaces to the end of the text). On many sites, your name with come to the top of the list because you have a more recent updated date on your resume.
Variety of Job Search Websites: Seek out Un-Popular or local Job Posting Websites (i.e. Local paper website, town websites, etc).
Manage your Network: Touch base with old friends that you used to work with. Let them know you are looking for a job and see if they have any leads. If someone asked you for help, would you turn them away? Don’t worry, they’ll call you when the need a favor…
Managing Recruiters: Make sure that recruiters know that they must get your permission before sending a resume to a prospective employer. If an employer receives your resume from more than 1 firm, your resume may be thrown out. The employer doesn’t want to fight with multiple firms over who provided them with your name.
Interviews: If you haven’t been on an interview in a long time, try this. Apply for jobs that are outside the desired area where you would like to work. If you are offered any interview, take it!! You need the practice. This way when you go on an interview for a job in your area, you’ll be ready.
Remember… Finding a job is a full-time job when you want to find a job.