Just saw a post by Jason here about http://www.sqlservervideos.com/.  I immediately went to check it out and wasn't disappointed.  I especially liked the fact that they had 400 level videos.  So what are you waiting for?  Go check it out!

I'm speaking at the Wisconsin SQL Server User Group in Waukesha, WI this Tuesday (8/12).  If you are interested, RSVP to SQLDBA@new.rr.com 

Presentation: SQL Server 2008 – What do you want to know about it?

SQL Server 2008 introduces a framework for collecting, storing and reporting on server, database, and query performance data.  In order to store and persist performance information, SQL Server 2008 includes a Management Data Warehouse designed to house performance metrics from multiple instances of SQL Server.  In addition, SQL Server 2008 provides Data Collectors to facilitate scheduled capture of common system and database performance measures including DMVs, Windows Performance Counters, T-SQL queries, and SQL Trace.  Microsoft completes the picture with a series of reports and views into the system and database performance.

In this session, we will take a closer look at the SQL Server 2008 Management Data Warehouse capabilities including:

· Setup and structure of the Management Data Warehouse database

· approaches Review the standard data collection types included with SQL Server 2008

· Demonstrate the reporting and analysis capabilities

· Discuss to defining and creating custom data collectors

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Transparent data encryption (TDE) performs real-time I/O encryption and decryption of the data and log files.

Encryption of the database file is performed at the page level. The pages in an encrypted database are encrypted before they are written to disk and decrypted when read into memory.

TDE provides the ability to comply with many laws, regulations, and guidelines established in various industries. This enables software developers to encrypt data by using AES and 3DES encryption algorithms without changing existing applications.

Check out a screencast about the new Transparent Data Encryption feature in SQL Server 2008 via MSN Video below, or if you prefer YouTube or download.

Well it looks like SQL 2008 RTM'd at TechEd in South Africa.  Take a look at Aaron Bertrand's post or sqlmag

A couple weeks ago ESPN has their yearly fundraiser for the V Foundation.  During which they replay Jimmy Valvano's acceptance speech from March 4, 1993 ESPY's (transcript and video) where he accepted the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage Award and announce the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research (he passed April 28, 1993 from cancer).

In his speech he said "To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

We certainly know the saying "Laughter is the Best Medicine" and it has even been researched.  However I was thinking about that and I was trying to remember the last time I really, truly laughed, or even heard another adult really laugh?  You know what I mean...lost it with tears or milk through the nose or something like that.  Certainly I type and see others type LOL in twitter, IM, email, etc. but to be honest we don't really Laugh Out Loud, it might be a smile or chuckle or a smirk or even an occasional "Ha" (like when I saw Joker's disappearing pencil trick :)).  I'm not saying we're depressed or aren't enjoying our lives, jobs, families, but there's a different between a smirk and an all out guffaw.  Perhaps it's just that the humor today is either sexual, predictable or so dry it borders on sarcasm.  Or perhaps we're just becoming too serious/jaded.  Or maybe it's just me.

So when was the last time you really, truly laughed?  Heck when was the last time you even saw someone smiling in their car?

Magenic in conjunction with the Chicago .NET User Group is sponsoring a free day of technical sessions called CODEapalooza, so mark your calendars for Saturday September 6th 8:30 to 5:00 pm CST.  The site just went live, but you can view info and register to attend, or if you're interested in speaking let us know! http://www.codeapalooza.com/

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Resource Governor enables you to manage SQL Server workload and resources by specifying limits on resource consumption by incoming requests.

In an environment where multiple distinct workloads are present on the same server, Resource Governor enables you to differentiate these workloads and allocate CPU and/or memory as they are requested, based on the limits that you specify. Resource Governor is designed to address the following types of resource issues which are commonly found in a database environment:

· Run-away queries on the server

· Unpredictable workload execution

· Setting workload priority

Check out a screencast about the new Resource Governor feature in SQL Server 2008 via MSN Video below, or if you prefer Youtube or download.

Well the Magenic Technology Summit is officially over.  We actually maxed out our registration for the event and had some great sessions on Friday.  On Thursday all the members (30 or so) sat in a room to discuss the current and future state of technology.  It was a really great time hanging out with what we started to affectionately (or not so much) call the "Magenic Nerd Herd" and there was a lot of good discussion.

Also Dan English and I presented our webinar entitled "Make Better Decisions with Your Data".  If you missed it and would like to see it, you can take a look here.

Well it's been about 6 weeks since the last Cumulative Update so it must be time for a new one.  So as of today (6/16/08) we now have 8 Cumulative Updates for SQL 2005 SP2 which you can get here.  I haven't downloaded it yet, but I can tell you that I can't wait until SP3 comes out.  I've installed all of them from CU1 through CU7 so far and actually found something interesting with CU6 and CU7.  CU1 through CU5 got progressively larger to the point that CU5 was around 200 MB if I remember correctly, however when I downloaded CU6 and then CU7 it was significantly smaller (under 20 MB) each, so not sure what happened there.

Anyway, as always the best place I have found to look for SQL version information is SQLSecurity.com.  Although Microsoft also keeps one for 2005 here and SQL Server Central also keeps a list here.

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The Transact-SQL debugger in SQL Server Management Studio enables you to find errors in Transact-SQL scripts, stored procedures, triggers, and functions by observing their run-time behavior. You can start the debugger when you are using the Database Engine Query Editor window.

By using the Transact-SQL debugger, you can do the following:

• Step through the Transact-SQL statements in the editor line by line, or set breakpoints to stop at specific lines.
• Step into or over Transact-SQL stored procedures, functions, or triggers that are run by the code in the editor window.
• Watch the values that are assigned to variables, and observe system objects such as the call stack and threads. 

Check out a screencast about the new T-SQL Debugger in SQL Server 2008 via MSN Video below, or if you prefer Youtube or download.

You will soon be able to utilize Visual Studio Team System for Database Professionals for DB2.  See Gert's blog here.  I really like DataDude and hope this gives it some more exposure.  However the biggest hurdle seems to be it's distribution.  It's only available through Team System Suite, this is a huge frustration in trying to get people to even try it, let alone adopt it.

In other DataDude news you can get the VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR June CTP here also Andy Leonard published "Mastering VS2008 Team System Database Edition, Vol 1: Creating and Deploying Database Projects" today, which you can get here.

Also just found this, it's a Visio for SQL Server Add-In that was updated in March.  Haven't tried it yet, but interested in anyone else's experience.

SQL Server 2008 RC0 has been released to the public here.  It was released to MSDN and TechNet subscribers late last week, but now everyone can enjoy it.

Also looks like a new Certification has come out as well called the Microsoft Certified Master.  This actually looks like a step in between the regular certs and the SQL Certified Architect (SQL Ranger).  It requires that you have both the MCITP: DBA and MCITP: Developer and then attend 3 weeks of training, more info here.

I apologize to all those registered for the Magenic webinar last week.  Due to unforeseen events it was rescheduled.  The new date is Tuesday, June 24 at 1 pm CST.  You can view more information as well as register for the event here and keep up to date with all Magenic events here.

I just got back in the office today.  I was expecting to have a really great time last week, I was scheduled to be in Minnesota (Magenic's home office) and I was supposed to be presenting a webinar entitled "Make Better Decisions With Your Data".  Instead I ended up spending most of the week in Springfield, IL. 

Friday night I finally got the call I had been half expecting for years, however that did little to blunt the shock of it.  My wife and 3 of our kids had just gone to Target and were actually standing in the Dairy Queen line to get some ice cream.  My eldest was with our church's youth group.  My mom called and said that my father had passed.  He was 56.  Saturday (May 31) I wrote my father's obituary:

------------------

Zeke "Timothy" Lowe, 56 of Springfield, IL passed away the evening of Friday, May 30, 2008 at St. John's Hospital.

He was born October 4, 1951 in Lincoln, NE, the son of Cecil and Arva Lowe. He married Linda Schackmann on June 5, 1971.

He was preceded in death by his father, Cecil Lowe and is survived by his mother, Arva Lowe; brothers, Mike (wife: Jan) Lowe, Clinton (wife: Linda) Lowe; sister, Marsha Robinson, all of Lincoln, NE; wife, Linda; daughter, Kari (husband: Ted) Oliver both of Springfield, IL; son, Aaron (wife: Kim) Lowe of Bartlett, IL; and seven grandchildren.

Zeke was living retired after 23 years of ministry dedicated to rescue missions in Lincoln, NE and Youngstown, OH. No services will be held. Staab Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

------------------

My father had Type I diabetes (for a great explanation of Type I and Type II see Scott's analogy) since age 10 and had been on the insulin pump for years.  In 1991 my father had 7 heart bypasses and in 2000 4 of those were redone.  Early in May the doctor had explained to my dad that there was nothing else that they could do, they understood that there were blockages, but they couldn't do another bypass, stints and angioplasty were out of the question at this point as well (he had multiple of both). 

My mom said Friday (May 30) he was complaining of a headache and sat on the edge of the bed, he laid over and then instantly started convulsing.   She immediately assumed it was diabetic and went to grab his glucagon shot (basically injectable sugar), when she got back she realized it wasn't diabetic and started performing CPR while calling the ambulance.  She got no response and neither did anyone else.  He was gone.  It was a tough week, the toughest being Tuesday night when my mom finally broke down and I just held her as she cried.  Thursday (June 5) would have been their 37th anniversary.  My father didn't want a service or wake and his desire was to be cremated (a fact he kept teasing my wife with as we're the only ones in the family with a fireplace mantle :)). 

We had a celebration on Monday (June 2) of his life and had a decent turn out, many of whom I didn't know as they were my parents friends.  However the one request my dad did have was that if we did anything he wanted to make sure that everyone present knew that Jesus "is the way, the truth and the life".  The long and the short of it is that while we mourn our loss, and he wasn't perfect, he's in a better place without pain and our lives are richer for knowing him.

I usually try not to have blog posts that just link to other blog posts, however this one was so great I just had to. :)  Andy Leonard posted this almost two years ago, but he just tweeted about it today.  I'm actually having this discussion right now with some people on the development side of things.  Definitely worth a look - http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/cs/blogs/applied_team_system/archive/2006/07/30/114.aspx.  Thanks Andy.

Dan English and I will be presenting a Magenic webinar on Tuesday, June 3, 11:00 AM Pacific, 1:00 PM Central, 2:00 PM Eastern

Empowering decision makers and end-users across the organization with the right data is critical to overcoming business challenges. Join Magenic, an award-winning Microsoft National Systems Integrator, for this intense, fast-paced one-hour webinar about how to leverage the data you now have for making more informed decisions. 

Learn techniques on how to:
•    Use existing data to make better, more informed decisions
•    Overcome business challenges with BI
•    How to empower decision makers and end-users 

Aaron Lowe and Dan English will present and discuss:
•    The Business Intelligence (BI) maturity model and how to gauge your data warehouse maturity
•    How Microsoft BI tools provide a complete solution that transcends all phases of BI
•    Different approaches to BI—spreadmart and datamart—and the pros and cons of each

You can register for the event here.

For those that haven't heard yet.  Magenic is presenting 1 full-day of conference sessions.  The event will be held in Downers Grove, IL on Friday, June 20th from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm and will include 2 keynotes and 8 sessions.  There will be some great technical content presented (as well as having a lot of fun :)).  It is by invitation only, so if you already work with Magenic, contact your AE.  If you don't work with us email info@magenic.com and let us know you'd like to come.  You can find out more information here: http://www.magenic.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1225  Look forward to seeing you there. 

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In SQL Server 2008, Microsoft has included an entire infrastructure devoted to collecting and reporting on data to improve decision making capabilities.

The Data Collector is a system that can collect data from any TSQL query like DMVs, Windows Performance Counters, and the SQL Trace. It bundles any selection of these items into a Collection Set. This data is then stored in a relational database known as the management data warehouse.

Microsoft provides three bundled collectors, however you can create custom data collectors via T-SQL and there is an API available.

Check out a screencast about the new data collector in SQL Server 2008 via MSN Video below, or if you prefer YouTube or download.

Alright I finally broke down and signed up for twitter.  You can see me here - http://twitter.com/Vendoran.  I'm syncing facebook and found an app that will also synch my IM status called Twessenger.  I don't know if I really want to update my IM status with it, but I'll try it it.  I'm also using a vista sidebar gadget called Twadget.

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<rant>

I cannot stress how much of a pet peeve this is of mine.  The number of times I'm told in a single week, "I'm sorry but I was just too busy...", "I'm too busy", "I'm very busy", "I'm really busy" etc, etc is just ludicrous.  And of course this reason (excuse) always comes right after or right before, that person saying they can't or didn't do something.

Now, I'm not saying people aren't busy, in fact I'm saying the opposite.  I'm busy too, here's my schedule/responsibilities:

• Husband to my wonderful wife
• Father to my 4 wonderful kids (ages 2, 4, 10, 15) and one wonderful dog (age 4)
• My wife and I home-school our kids (SharedView and IM works wonders)
• I have a full time job as a DBPro consultant in Chicagoland at Magenic
• Recently was appointed to the Magenic Technology Council
• Co-ordinate Magenic's Internal DBPro meetings
• Attend church 3 times a week (Sun morn, Sun night and Wed night)
• Help with upkeep/repairs at church (Sat morn and throughout week if necessary)
• Ensure my eldest daughter can get to and from youth group and church (Fri night)
• Attend school (Mon night)
• Play basketball (Thurs night)
• SQLPASS Member, involved in the DBA SIG

So I'm pretty active, I'm not the busiest person in the world, but I'm not a slacker either.  Yet I still find the time to do things that I feel are worthy of my time (like UserGroup meetings, special events, etc).  Sure I get backed up sometimes, and sometimes I make decisions that say I can't do something because something else is more important right now.

But what the "I'm too busy" is really saying is it's not a priority right now.  And I don't have a problem with that.  But stop saying that such and such is a priority and you want to do it, you're just too busy (especially if this has been the mantra for over a month).  Because that simply doesn't work, you can't have it both ways.  If something is important, get it done, if not, stop saying it is.

We all make time for those things that are important to us.

</rant>