• My Top Ten SQL Server Bloggers of 2009

    I think I may have set myself an all-but-impossible task: to choose ten bloggers who write about SQL Server, and who have been outstanding in the last year. Nearly impossible, not because I can't find ten, but because there are so many more worthy of...
  • Active Thankfulness and SQL Server Professionals

    A few countries around the world have a day set aside for giving thanks - and some do it all year long. We stop to give thanks to those who have made us what we are, and those in the past and present who have given us the benefits that we enjoy. From...
  • Three suggestions for SQL Server DBAs in 2010

    One of these days I really should blog about "dumb questions I have been asked at customer briefings." There's a danger in that, of course: namely, that a customer could equitably blog about "dumb answers I received from Donald Farmer." Nevertheless,...
  • T-SQL Words You Need to Stop Misspelling

    For the last few days my inbox, Twitter and Facebook feeds have been full of advice about which words I should stop misspelling. To be fair, in English, I have relatively little problem, and any misspellings I do make may be sloppy, but rarely result...
  • The Best Tool for the Job

    One evening last week I was hanging out with a friend who is a professional photographer. As so often happens on such occasions, we whiled away some time comparing new toys, for we both had new cameras. Mine is small and perfectly formed (an Olympus,...