Happy Holidays!

How have I missed this?

How have I missed this until now?

http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/Standards/Rules/RulesToBetterSQLReportingServices.aspx

Free edocs

I like to read on my Kindle. I'm always in search of new documents to read.

Microsoft has published a significant amount of content, centralized into one place, found here:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11608.e-book-gallery-for-microsoft-technologies.aspx

This is a stunning collection of free learning, when you think about what it takes to create things like these.

Notepad++

Also on the list of "...things I should remember to reinstall, the next time I reinstall my O/S..."

Notepad++

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

Time

I recently shared this meditation on Facebook:

There is never enough time in life - therefore, we must always prioritize how we spend this most precious of gifts.

Go Go Gadget Greenshot?

So I found this open source screen scraping tool online as an alternative to other, commercially available software that I have used in the past (but am unwilling to pay for now).

It's called Greenshot. You might give it a try.

I love me some food trucks

In Washington, DC, food trucks have become an art form.

No, seriously.

There's tons of love, time, and energy put into the very design, layout, and operation of these rolling purveyors of deliciousness.

If you're in DC, or even just visiting, you need to use Food Truck Fiesta to figure out where to go to eat during a weekday lunch. Your mouth will thank you for it!

Anger...

Anger is easier and earlier than indifference; Indifference is more effective.

Just sayin.

I like the ka-boom.

Stay safe.

Happy Holiday!

Image: David Monro

Unfriend

Unfriend - the newest curse word.

tiobe

Have you seen this?

It's an online index useful for gauging where a certain programming language is in its life cycle.

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

faker.net

https://github.com/slashdotdash/faker-cs

This is a free library that can be used to connect to a C# infrastructure to generate fake but presentable data.

The thing I currently like about this is that, in my current environment, I need source code only. Already compiled programs are frowned upon, and so, source code based utilities that can be compiled on-site, so to speak, are the thing to have and to get.

One of my most favorite utilities of all time is decidedly NOT open source, but free, and so, again, in the current environment, I can't use it.

New Engagement

I recently started a new engagement with PotomacWave Consulting, and couldn't be happier!

I'll be doing SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, and SQL Server 2005 developer / DBA stuff.

Really excited about this change!

Things I wish I'd known

In hindsight, I think it would have been good to know:

• Take hand sanitizer, and use it religiously
• If you have no signal in the building across the street, chances are, you're not going to have any better signal in the office when you get there
• This can pretty quickly become a ROI decision point - how much do I value being connected fulltime while I'm on the customer's site?
• (Historical note - I wound up switching my provider because it had neither coverage at work OR at home, but only after we moved)
• It was a good idea to pack my snacks every day
• That trying to un-focus onto / into new technologies right before a new fulltime client is a mistake. Instead, I would have been better served to try and cramstudylearn (that's a verb, by the way) for a relevant certification