SQLPam's Blog

December 16, 2010

SQL Saturday #62 Tampa – progress report

Filed under: SQL Saturday — sqlpam @ 8:33 pm

Yesterday was a busy day for Jose Chinchilla and I.  We did a tour de force of Ybor City – all the points of interest for Day of Data and SQL Saturday #62

Jose has never been to our venue at KForce national headquarters – so we started there.  We toured the facilities, got room capacities and worked out some details with KForce partners.  We have 4 great rooms on site at KForce.  Knowing that is not enough, KForce secures 2 additional rooms from the Centro Asturiano next door. 

So our next stop was next door at the Centro Asturiano to tour these rooms.  Wendy showed us around.  One of our rooms is fantastic – the other meets our need – which is the point.  The building is GREAT!  Older architecture that is full of details from the tiles on the floor to the moldings at the ceiling.  They have a small cafe upstairs where club members come to play dominoes.  Our guys love the Cuban coffee they serve.  I saw for the first time that they have a theater that seats 1000 – phenomenal details – absolutely beautiful.  Downstairs, they have a cantina that got rave reviews last year – so of course – they will cater for us again this year.  There is nothing like local flavor to make for a great event.  So Jose got to meet Denise of Latam at the Centro Asturiano Cantina.  She is taking care of our catering.  She is a joy to work with.  Last year at the last moment she gave us a great deal and made the top of the list for favorite things about SQL Saturday. 

Our next visit was the Italian Club.  Another taste of Ybor City history.  The building was raised in 1819 and it is beautiful.  Catie showed us the Ball room and the theater which is where we will be hosting the Day of Data on 1/14/2011.  We have not yet determined who will be where.  Both rooms are great.  Downstairs is a cafeteria where we will have lunch and have a space to hang out for breaks to allow both groups of attendees to network.

Our next stop was the Rock N Sports where we will have our after event again.  We had lunch after discussing arrangements.  Like I said it was a busy day.  But it was not over yet.

We headed back to the KForce area and visited the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County.  We were attempting to secure additional rooms – hoping to expand the number of slots we are able to offer.  We met with the Latino Coalition of Tampa Bay.  Alas, they were not able to assist immediately since the building is shut down during our event for Martin Luther King weekend – but they are still pushing to assist us with rooms.  We are hoping to hear soon.  We did have a wonderful meeting that brought a new addition to our SQL Saturday – we will be having a canned food drive for the needy in the area.  They assisted us in determining a partner in the food drive.  They are also interested in working with us on a program to get under privileged kids introduced to programming.  I am excited to see where that can lead to in the next year.  I will probably write up more on this group at a future date.  They were so eager to assist.  You could tell they are all about making life better for as many people as possible.  They are even going to promote Day of Data and SQL Saturday to their members.

All in all it was a productive day.  We got a lot of plans finalized for January and met new friends.  Now to get on with the rest of the planning.

OPASS Holiday Social

Filed under: Uncategorized — sqlpam @ 6:54 pm

I made the trip over to Orlando for the OPASS Holiday Social.  It was going to be some time to see Karla and make a push for Tampa’s upcoming Day of Data and SQL Saturday in January.  I was able to meet Karla’s beautiful daughter and help get the gifts to the meeting.  It was great to see everyone – many with spouses – at the meeting.  I had not realized it was the reorganization meeting of the group – where the details of the new organization process were being unveiled.  I was intrigued by the way they have organized sponsors.  I like the idea – not sure if it is an option for us.  With us not paying for our room – I am not sure we need it to the level they have it.  It is bold and looks sustainable.  They are having national sponsors set up on a quarterly basis.  It looks like they handle the major expenses like the room.  Then they set up local sponsors on a meeting basis.  It definitely adds some longer term stability to the process.  It gave me something to think about.

They are also splitting off a west branch of the meeting – MagicPASS.  I love the name!  Kendal Van Dyke will be leading that group.  Having lived in Orlando for 2 years – I understand the reasoning.  There are now a couple of options – but they are still limited and usually painful for getting from one of town to the other.  With it being a tourist town – it get ugly fast.  By setting up meetings on both sides of town – people are more likely to be able to attend one or the other – if not both.  I think it is great idea and wish both groups great success.

I got an opportunity to pass out some flyers for my events in January and to talk them into signing up.  I even had someone volunteer to assist with my registration process – BIG WIN!!  Thanks Brooke.

The Dirty Santa /  White Elephant portion fo the meeting was a blast!  Karla had placed gifts – mostly swag with a mix of Christmassy treats – in bags.  It was funny to watch as techies asking spouses to “steal” things they had no clue about.  Techies stealing from techies and watching as people debated about which book or shirt they wanted with their gift slips.  It was a good time by all – thanks Karla for pulling it all together.  The big prize of the night was an Xbox with Kinect.  Jack Corbett relayed how his kids were like my Ryan – “how could you have that in the house and not let us have it”.  Everyone should have gone home with something and all had a great time.

It was a long a drive going and coming – but well worth the time.  It was a real boost to my Christmas spirits.  Thanks to all who helped put it in place – especially Karla.

December 8, 2010

Belated birthday ramble

Filed under: Uncategorized — sqlpam @ 5:45 pm

I turned 50 on Monday, 11/29/2010.  A half century is a lot of life.  I think this one hit harder, not only because of the number but because I realized I was not where I thought I would be at this point in my life.  Here I am between jobs at a point when I thought I would be more stable.  I find myself saying more often than ever before “It is what it is.”  It is more than a phrase these days.  It is evidence that I am accepting that it is OK to not fit in a box and not fit even my expectations.  I am seeing this as an opportunity to redefine myself.

Being out of work does not mean I am idle.  It just means that I am not being paid for work I am doing these days.

My main task has been the organization of SQL Saturday #62 – Tampa.  This year I have more help than in the previous 3 years.  Jose Chinchilla (@SQLJoe) has been working with me.  We got a later than usual start this year due to nailing down dates and the venue.  Plus we have added a Day of Data.  So we are planning – not one – but two events.  Things are coming together.  We have selected our speakers and are now narrowing down the sessions before attempting to set a schedule.

My other task is cleaning out stuff that has been accumulating around the house.  Some of that is trip down memory lane, but for the most part it is painstaking.  I sort the stuff by which room it belongs to – I swear the stuff travels around the house.  Then, it is a matter of sorting what to keep, what to donate and what to trash.  Finally, if something makes it to the “what to keep” list – we need to find where it will live.  It seems so trivial – but the 50 year mark put some of this into perspective and started the process.

I had someone joke that turning 50 was better than the alternative – meaning dying before I turned 50.  I have to agree with that observation.  But I also see it as a kick in the butt.  There are things I had hoped to do by this stage in my life.  It is time to get them done.

November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving musings

Filed under: Community — sqlpam @ 2:34 pm

It’s that time of year when we are more aware of what we are thankful to have in our lives.  Family, health, a roof over our heads and food on the table are the basics.  I am grateful for each of these and as the years go by – I am even more aware of how precious each can be.  I have a loving husband.  After watching Mom loose Dad, I cherish him more.  I have a 14 year son that is turning me grayer on a daily basis – but as I think of him leaving home – I almost (note almost) look forward to seeing what bucket of trouble he falls into next.  As I get older, my health is less of a given and more of a gift to protect.

As I think of the roof over my head, I think of the skills that allowed me to earn the money to put that roof there.  I am grateful that I happened into the programming trade and eventually into SQL.  The skills have allowed me to expand my mind and meet challenges that many could not overcome.  This makes most days on the job, at least as I go home, satisfying.  I slayed the dragon for the day and I usually learned something new in the process. 

But more importantly of late is the community I was introduced to by being part of the trade.  The people in this community really amaze me.  These are techie people – where growing up I was told techie people are cold and insensitive, they work with machines – not people.  And yet I have watched this community open their hearts and wallets to assist fellow developers that have been ill and unable to care for their families.  I have watched as they celebrate the joys of fellow developers, snickering and a little jealous at new love or commiserate with sleepless nights of a new mom.  I have watched as they lose all fear of embarrassment and get up and belt out a tune – having the time of their lives.  SQL community has become family of sorts.  I am grateful.

I recall when I was much younger my grandmother asking me if I considered why Thanksgiving was when at this time of the year.  I was stymied.  I grasped at an answer with “the harvest had just come in and food was plentiful” – something I had heard in a description at school.  She smiled and said that had something to do with it.  This was the time of the year when most of the chores were indoors because of the weather.  People had a chance to sit down and think.  They were thankful thoughts that heavy muscles were not as required.  They still had work – but it was not the back breaking, harvest related labor required in the heat of the summer. 

We no longer have that down time.  Our toils are less strenuous, but usually more stressful.  I still think we need to take the time to think thankful thoughts and show our appreciation to those we are thankful to have in our lives.  This is not for them – but for us.  It is a means of fighting self-pity and depression.  It is hard to be either if you are busy being grateful.

So thank you to all who touch my life.  You give me a reason to get outside myself and enjoy what is around me.

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!!

November 11, 2010

PASS Summit 2010 – near end of day 2

Filed under: PASS Summit,SQL Saturday — sqlpam @ 3:19 am

Another day od PASS Summit close to being complete.  All that is left is the fun stuff – Gameworks and SQL Karaoke. 

I actually made it to the key-note this morning.  Lots of interesting stuff coming down the pipe.  The BIG surprise was the actual release of the CTP1 disk that were waiting for us as we left.  We need to make sure we get involved to help avoid any issues going in the final version.

I then attended the PASS Chapter leader meeting.  I was disappointed that there was any time for us to share lessons learned with our peers.  It is the one time a year that we actually get to be in the same room together.  It looks like PASS is trying hard to do the right things.  It would have been nice to have a little more interaction.

I then attended the Women In Technology lunch.  As usual, I was not disappointed by the level of women presenting.  The Q&A portion of the session was great.  I was particularly impressed with the lady that discussed doing her “Boyfriend” project with a group of girls to teach them SQL.  I am strongly considering a half track for teenagers at our upcoming SQL Saturday.  It would fit nicely as we are working with the Hillsborough Children’s Board for session rooms.  I will follow-up with more info as it is available.

I then was able to snag swag for the User Group back home.  With help from Mike Wells and Patrick LeBlanc, I was able to get most of it shipped home from the Fed Ex downstairs.

We (Jose Chinchilla and I) were able to decide on doing a pre-SQL Saturday day of training.  We were even able to get people lined up.  Drum roll please…. On the DBA side we will have Denny Cherry doing his Storage and Virtualization for the DBA pre-con session for us.  On the BI side we will have Stacia Misner doing a full day of BI for us.  Now to make sure we have somewhere to hold the sessions.  That will be next week.

Now off to the fun stuff – as if this hasn’t been enough fun.  Gameworks and SQL Karaoke but best of all – time with some really great people.  Did I mention kilt day?  The guys look great!

November 10, 2010

PASS Summit 2010 end of day 1

Filed under: PASS Summit,SQL Saturday — sqlpam @ 6:00 am

I am at PASS Summit this week.  As always the experience is rich in networking and the joy of reacquainting with people I’ve met here in the past.  It is amazing how smoothly we pick up where we left off a year ago.  It also brings to mind how much has changed in the last year.

Yesterday was the SQL Saturday round table.  It is wonderful to see how well the brand is being embraced.  Andy Warren told us of his goal to have a SQL Saturday in every state / province.  He admits it is very ambitious – but without goals that stretch us, we seldom reach as high as we can. 

Today was my day to reach out for sponsors for SQL Saturday #62 in Tampa on 1/15/2011.  I was excited to see so many vendors that were already planning to participate.  Life is good.

I look forward to 2 more full days of content and networking.

October 23, 2010

Finally….

Filed under: SQL Saturday — sqlpam @ 4:22 pm

I have been getting grief for a long time to start a blog.  I figured since I am at the start of SQL Saturday 62 – Tampa, now would be a good time.  Between the new event, job hunting and exploring SQL 2008 R2 – I should have plenty of material to discuss.  Part of my reluctance about blogging was that I was not sure I had anything to say that others wanted to read.  Hopefully, someone will find something helpful from time to time.

My first topic will be about our upcoming SQL Saturday.  We are official.  Our site is up on SQLSaturday.com.  Our date is January 15th, 2011.  Our call for speakers has gone out.  Our numbers are slowly climbing which feels good.  It is gratifying to see how the SQL community has embraced SQL Saturday.  We have gotten session submissions from as far away as CA. 

This will be my fifth event to assist in organizing, my third where I take the lead.  This time I have Jose Chinchilla (SQLJoe) working with me.  He has recently taken the helm of the Tampa Bay SQL BI User Group.  His enthusiasm is the prefect shot in the arm for the group which has hung in there thru a lot of changes.  Jose is bringing a lot of ideas to the table which is nice to have.

The venue was confirmed prior to launching the site.  We will be at K-Force again.  We still have arrangements to make, but we are planning the same lunch as we had last time.  After rave reviews, I can do no less.  We are working to overcome the few issues we had with a couple of the rooms last year.  Once we get the arrangements finalized, we will publish.  That is our goal for this week.

Also on the agenda is to get the sponsorship package finalized so we can start getting commitments from our sponsors.  The sooner we start talking to our sponsors the more time they have to plan.  I have found that by having our event in January, we usually hit the obstacle of sponsors hedging about next year’s budget.  In the end, our sponsors have been good to us.  I am looking forward to meeting with many of them at the upcoming PASS Summit.

So spread the news.  Tampa is planning on having a strong event.  I hope to see you there.

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