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August 2006 - Posts

Thursday, August 31, 2006 8:30 PM

Data Warehousing: A Open Note To Cousin Tom

Cousin Tom asks, what makes a good data warehouse?
Posted by Ward Pond | 1 Comments
Thursday, August 31, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: August 31

The month ends with the automobiles left in the driveway: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 36 Drove: 12 Did Not Compete: 8 Here are the totals for the month of August: Telecommuted: 1 Walked: 19 Drove: 3 Did Not Compete: 0 If success is defined as "not driving
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Thursday, August 31, 2006 5:15 PM

Non-Technical News: Those Who Forget History..

A decidedly non-technical discussion.. what makes a good citizen?
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 30

Well, it was a bit of a perfect storm this morning. No, I'm not referring to the light drizzle that was falling. I'm referring to the fact that Zach needed a ride home from football practice just as Gale's doctor's appointment was starting. The only way
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 29

Despite a light mist falling this morning (I believe this was our first precipitation on a work day since my first day on the new job), I left the automobiles in their parking spots: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 35 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 A "walking to
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006 5:00 PM

Approaching A New Vista

It's a red letter day for me.. After more than seven years with Microsoft, the company has at long last purchased a laptop for my business use. Not only does this mean that my "personal" laptop will now be passed to my exceptionally patient spouse, it
Posted by Ward Pond | 1 Comments
Monday, August 28, 2006 5:00 PM

DWWTWT?: August 28

My week got off on the "right foot" (and the left, I suppose) for fans of self-propulsion: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 34 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 In these parts, this is the last full week of summer vacation before our children start school next week,
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Friday, August 25, 2006 4:30 PM

DWWTWT?: August 25

The sun sets tonight on another week of petroleum-free commuting: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 33 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 After 11 weeks of this experiment, I've walked to work 60% of the time. If we ignore my first week on the new job, which was an all-driving
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Thursday, August 24, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 24

Another brisk morning, another day for the MG to stay in the garage: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 32 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 If I can keep this up, we'll have another internal-combustion-free week. Tune in tomorrow. . -wp
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Wednesday, August 23, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 23

Internal combustion was indeed avoided this morning: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 31 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 We're looking good for the rest of the week. Stay tuned. . -wp
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006 5:30 PM

Database Programming: Mixing TOP With UNION

I'd like to share yet another interesting conversation from an internal discussion list. Michael sent a query that was producing inconsistent results: select TOP 35 1 AS [PRECEDANCE] , W03a . CRDATTIM , W03a . RECORDCD , W03a . CRNODE , W03a . PRTY +
Posted by Ward Pond | 7 Comments
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 22

It was a little brisk this morning (fall is definitely in the air), but not nearly bad enough to discourage a morning strole: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 30 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 I've got an all-day training session tomorrow followed by a doctor's
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Monday, August 21, 2006 5:00 PM

DWWTWT?: August 21

Another beautiful day in Western Washington: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 29 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 The gig and the ballgame were both fantastic. . -wp
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Monday, August 21, 2006 4:45 PM

Baseball Challenge Update

The 3rd Annual Baseball Challenge, for the benefit Cocoon House and the Ronald McDonald House of Western Washington , took place yesterday at Everett Memorial Stadium. The Cocoon House team won again this year, 11-5, despite my contribution of an 0-for-3
Posted by Ward Pond | 2 Comments
Friday, August 18, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 18

As our remarkable string of beautiful summer weather continues, the walking shoes were out in force: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 28 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 The weekend's plans include a solo acoustic music gig for benefit of the United Way tomorrow night
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Thursday, August 17, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 17

Since tonight's after-work commitment doesn't kick in until 8:30 and the weather continues to be warm and dry, the MG went back in the garage and my walking shoes came back out: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 27 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 I'm planning to walk
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Thursday, August 17, 2006 5:00 PM

Database Programming: One More Point On Recompilations and Temp Tables

Scott Whigham left a very generous comment on my last post on recompilations and temp tables. Within that comment he made an excellent observation that I don't want you to miss: One thing you might mention with respect to using temp tables and/or permanent
Posted by Ward Pond | 2 Comments
Thursday, August 17, 2006 4:30 PM

"Sharing Customer Pain" At Microsoft

On the heels of yesterday's Ed Helms link , here 's another humorous Microsoft video (low bandwidth here ; high bandwidth here ) outlining the implementation of our new "We Share Your Pain" program. If anybody tries to bring me a new office chair, I'm
Posted by Ward Pond | 1 Comments
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Thursday, August 17, 2006 1:30 PM

Database Programming: A Brief Note On The Second OPENROWSET Trick

Back in March, I presented the " second OPENROWSET trick ", a technique for loading a flat file into a single column of a single row of a table. In researching a question posed by Rob Jarratt of Microsoft Consulting Services in the UK, I discovered that
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
Thursday, August 17, 2006 12:15 PM

Community Voting Is Open In The Made In Express Contest

I've previously blogged on this contest in March and in June .. and now the finalists are ready for your consideration. Twelve projects -- including a personalized print newspaper/magazine, an all-terrain self-maneuverable robot, and an X-10 smart house
Posted by Ward Pond | 1 Comments
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 16

Yesterday's late-breaking after-work commitment is today's after-work commitment; since we will be with out-of-town colleagues, I'll need to give someone a ride to dinner in the MG : Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 26 Drove: 11 Did Not Compete: 8 I'm hoping to
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006 5:00 PM

"Investigative Journalism" At Microsoft

This is pretty funny.. A friend alerted me to the fact that Microsoft Recruiting recently teamed with The Daily Show 's Ed Helms to produce an "expos é" of Microsoft. Check it out via Windows Media Player here . -wp
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006 3:00 PM

SQL Server 2005 Cumulative Hotfix Download Available

I'm not sure how I missed this one.. A cumulative hotfix package (build 9.0.2153) has been released for SQL Server 2005 SP1. A full description of the fixes as well as instructions for downloading and applying them may be found here . The SQL development
Posted by Ward Pond | 0 Comments
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 2:30 PM

Baseball Challenge 2006: Another Chance To Give Back

If this post looks familiar to long-time denizens of this space, it's most likely because you read this one last year. What follows is a shameless solicitation, directed towards my friends and colleagues in the Puget Sound region and throughout the country,
Posted by Ward Pond | 2 Comments
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 1:00 PM

Scott's Answer, Completed: Temp Tables and Recompiles In SQL Server 2005

When I posted yesterday on this topic (first broached here ), I'd found some good information pertinent to SQL Server 2000 in Tom Davidson's MSDN article . However, at that point I hadn't had much luck finding the equivalent information for SQL Server
Posted by Ward Pond | 4 Comments
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 6:45 PM

The Start of An Answer For Scott: Temp Tables and Recompiles

Kimberly Tripp, one of the most incredibly astute SQL poeple on the planet, calls her blog , "Improving *my* SQL skills through your questions". I would never steal her line, but after a bit of research on MSDN this afternoon, I can certainly relate to
Posted by Ward Pond | 3 Comments
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 6:00 PM

DWWTWT?: August 15

Another day, another walk on a beautiful morning: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 26 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 A late-breaking after-work commitment may well force me to start an automobile tomorrow. Stay tuned .. -wp
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Monday, August 14, 2006 5:30 PM

DWWTWT?: August 14

Another in a series of incredibly self-propulsion-compatible mornings led me to put on my walking sandles: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 25 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Hopefully, this will be another internal combustion-free week. Stay tuned .. -wp
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Friday, August 11, 2006 8:00 PM

DWWTWT?: August 11

The week ended on a self-propelled note: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 24 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Looks as though this walking to work thing is going pretty well, especially since 5 of the "Drove"s are from week 1, when I was still deep in job transition
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Thursday, August 10, 2006 6:00 PM

Better Living Through Technology

My friend John Huschka has jumped into blogging with both feet, and it's a wonderful thing to see. He even got a shout-out from Bob Beauchemin during his first week.. pretty darn cool! What's almost as cool for me is that in John's latest post lies the
Posted by Ward Pond | 2 Comments
Thursday, August 10, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 10

As postulated yesterday, today was a (very productive) telecommuting day: Telecommuted: 3 Walked: 23 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 As an aside, please ping me if you've tried to get this feed via RSS or Atom. I'd like to know whether you're seeing the
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 9

Despite a light drizzle this morning (the first measurable rainfall in Redmond in 27 days), I still ventured out onto the sidewalk: Telecommuted: 2 Walked: 23 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Tomorrow is slated to be a telecommuting day, so it will take until
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Tuesday, August 08, 2006 8:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 8

Another day, another stroll down 156th Ave. NE: Telecommuted: 2 Walked: 22 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Hopefully I'll be able to keep this going tomorrow.. -wp
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Monday, August 07, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 7

There's no better way to begin the day after your birthday than by walking to work on a beautiful summer morning: Telecommuted: 2 Walked: 21 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Happy fifth birthday to my nephew, Simon! -wp
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Friday, August 04, 2006 7:45 PM

Business Intelligence Is *Not* An Oxymoron

One of the wonderful things about my new position is that it provides a far different perspective on SQL Server than my old gig did. There's certainly great honor in building OLTP systems, but there's also a lot more going on in the world! Apropos of
Posted by Ward Pond | 1 Comments
Friday, August 04, 2006 7:30 PM

DWWTWT?: August 4

There's nothing quite as beautiful as summer in the Pacific Northwest. Another crisp morning followed by an 80 degree afternoon: Telecommuted: 2 Walked: 20 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Today was a wonderful day; Gale, Kyle, and Alex joined me for the
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Thursday, August 03, 2006 7:30 PM

DWWTWT?: August 3

Another beautiful morning; another fine day for the car to stay at home: Telecommuted: 2 Walked: 19 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Tomorrow will hopefully come out the same way! -wp
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006 9:30 PM

A Shiny New Corner of The Blogosphere

All I did was ask a question, honest.. When I was vetting my recent post regarding database design issues, I innocently asked my friend John Huschka if he had a URL he'd like me to link to his name when I cited it. Somewhat sheepishly, he replied he did
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 2

Another in a string of crisp mornings here in Redmond. We are very fortunate to have good walking weather while the rest of the country is sweltering: Telecommuted: 2 Walked: 18 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 -wp
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006 5:15 PM

DWWTWT?: August 1

The new month begins with a plethora of after-work commitments. While the weather is ideal for self-propulson, my schedule dictates the employment of internal combustion: Telecommuted: 2 Walked: 17 Drove: 10 Did Not Compete: 8 Hopefully, this will be
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