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June 2006 - Posts

Friday, June 30, 2006 3:30 PM

Database Programming: An Incrementally Better Mousetrap For Optional Parameters

enderC points out that the syntax I proposed in last night's post on optional parameters can be made more readable thusly.. SELECT x FROM dbo . foo WHERE COALESCE ( y1 , @constant ) = COALESCE ( @p1 , y1 , @constant ) AND COALESCE ( y2 , @constant ) =
Posted by Ward Pond | 4 Comments
Friday, June 30, 2006 1:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 30

Another beautiful day, and a clean sweep for the week! This morning's insight is that it took me 1,029 steps to get from 51st Street to 40th Street (I've got to find some way to entertain myself on these walks), which suggest to me that it ought to be
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
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Friday, June 30, 2006 1:30 PM

Do I Need To Start A Baseball Feed?

With last night's posts, you might have noticed a couple of loose ends being tied up. I'm trying to get loose ends tied up all over the place, because.. As of this afternoon, I'm on vacation until the morning of July 10th. Other than some "deferred" posts
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:00 PM

Made In Express Contest Finalists Selected

I first blogged on this contest way back in March.. well, the twelve finalists have been selected, and all of the work that's going on is pretty cool. Head on over to the Made In Express Contest website and check out the latest details. You're sure to
Posted by Ward Pond | 1 Comments
Thursday, June 29, 2006 10:45 PM

Database Programming: Optional Parameters Revisited

Frequent visitors might recall a thread earlier in the spring regarding optional parameters to a stored procedure (the earlier posts are here , here , and here ). The question had basically boiled down to whether there was single-statement syntax available
Posted by Ward Pond | 6 Comments
Thursday, June 29, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 29

There's a local saying in the Puget Sound area that the true start of summer is July 5th. For the first five years of my residency here, that old saw largely held true. This year, however, summer actually arrived pretty much on time. Another old saw says
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
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Wednesday, June 28, 2006 7:30 PM

What Do You Get When You Put 600 Database Developers In A Room?

Well, earlier this afternoon at least, you got SQL-Fest, which is believed to be the largest SQL Server training event ever held at Microsoft. It was my honor to act as master of ceremonies for this event. The focus of today's session was the new Database
Posted by Ward Pond | 4 Comments
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 28

Our heat wave has finally broken in the Seattle area. The change actually came on in the early evening last night. When I arrived at Kyle's All-Star practice game at 6, the temperature was about 91 degrees; when we left at 9, it was about 71. According
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 27

The heat wave currently besetting our area is beginning to abate somewhat; highs only in the mid-80s today. Even though it's a bit warm, I self-propelled today (twenty-seven minutes inbound; twenty-five minutes outbound) which makes the score.. Walked:
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006 7:30 AM

Epilogue: Not All Dreams Come True

I just wanted to follow up yesterday's post on the Redmond Red Sox. Last night, the boys played in their district championship game against, of all teams, the North Bend Rainiers. They fought hard, but eight unearned runs in the fourth inning proved too
Posted by Ward Pond | 2 Comments
Monday, June 26, 2006 4:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 26

You folks in the midwest and on the eastern seaboard of the United States are probably used to the weather we're getting in Seattle, but for we denizens of the Pacfic Northwest, what we're dealing with here is a heat wave. When I left the house at 8:25
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
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Monday, June 26, 2006 12:15 AM

Field of Dreams: Better Living through Youth Baseball

Databases are important. Databases pay my bills, and presumably those of many of you reading this blog. But there are more important things in life than databases. I’d like to tell you a short story of how faith and perseverance can move mountains. I’d
Posted by Ward Pond | 5 Comments
Friday, June 23, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 23

Another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest.. temperatures are near 80 degrees today, and expected to be in the 90s by Monday. This would've been a terrific day to self-propel, but as hinted in yesterday's post , I had a couple of meetings at my former
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Thursday, June 22, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 22

Another beautiful day on the east side of Seattle for the first full day of summer.. temperatures in the high 70s, high cumulus clouds.. a perfect day to walk to work. Yep, two in a row, and a "win" for the week! Twenty-six minutes inbound; no outbound
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
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Thursday, June 22, 2006 3:56 PM

This Blog Is One Year Old!

That's right, this humble enterprise, which began its on-line life with a questionable Admiral Stockdale pun, is exactly one year old as of the minute this post was published to the aggregators. This is the 59th post during that period, and 39 of those
Posted by Ward Pond | 2 Comments
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 21

No transition meetings on this, the longest day of the year.. a brilliant, sunny, 70ish degree day.. Who needs internal combustion on a day like this? Yep, another walking day! Walked: 2 Drove: 6 Twenty-eight minutes door-to-door inbound; twenty-six minutes
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 20

The penultimate (scheduled) transistion meeting was held this morning across the hallway from my former office, so I of course needed to drive to that one. The good news is that it was finally nice enough to take the top down on my drive back to Main
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Monday, June 19, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 19

Woot! No transition meetings and no off-site appointments that couldn't be handled via conference call. If you've been following this thread since its inception, your patience is hereby rewarded. Yep, I walked to work today! Thirty minutes door-to-door
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Saturday, June 17, 2006 11:00 PM

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today would've been my mom's 79th birthday. I can't call her today. I wish I could. If you can, please, even though tomorrow is Father's Day, call your mother too. -wp
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
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Friday, June 16, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 16

More transition meetings today, so I struck out the first week: Walked: 0 Drove: 5 Monday should be a different story. Have a great weekend! -wp
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Thursday, June 15, 2006 7:00 PM

DWWTWT?: June 15

More transition meetings, so no walking today.. Walked: 0 Drove: 4 -wp
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006 9:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 14

Today, I not only had meetings in two separate Microsoft campuses (campii?), I also had another appointment and my younger son's sixth grade graduation ceremony. I so needed a car, so.. Walked: 0 Drove: 3 -wp
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Tuesday, June 13, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: June 13

Today, I finished up my office move. Thank goodness the laptop is still working, because my desktop boxes have no connectivity. Other than that minor glitch, the move went swimmingly. I needed to bring in some of my office items that I didn't want to
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
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Monday, June 12, 2006 5:30 PM

New Job, New (non-technical) Blog Feature

A new, non-technically oriented feature of this blog is unveiled.
Posted by Ward Pond | 6 Comments
Sunday, June 11, 2006 8:45 AM

Good Luck, Robert Scoble

Late last night, a certain geek-focused corner of the blogosphere worked itself into something of froth over the pending departure from Microsoft of Robert Scoble , a platform evangelist and noted blogger. Robert has also been a part of the Channel 9
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Friday, June 09, 2006 9:30 PM

Database Programming: Slaying The Time Zone Conversion Beast (or at least rendering it comatose)

Schema and code for performing time zone conversions is discussed.
Posted by Ward Pond | 16 Comments
 
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