blogs I love, bloggers I admire, but every time I see that "sponsored" note it just annoys me and so I am probably going to be unsusbscribing from those blogs. :-(

 

http://www.AcehAid.org

(If you are a vermont.net member, you are not allowed to apply for this job and move away. )

SQL Server 2000 Expert

** Full-time position, Location is Connecticut, Salary is negotiable and highly competitive **
Responsibilities:
• Maintain production SQL server environment which supports a substantial base of mostly custom applications
• Serve as subject matter expert in working with Database/Software Developers and Data Analysts to define data models, schemas and database application architectures
• Implement and Manage best practice based security model and auditing including delegation, Kerberos and encryption
• Gain intimate familiarity with normal usage and operations of database applications in order to troubleshoot real-time issues and optimize databases, indexing and data allocations for efficiency and issue avoidance
• Design, development and installation of SQL monitoring systems and solutions
• Responsible for the implementation and operation of disaster recovery strategy, architecture, and detailed plan for all database applications
• Design and implement high availability, clustered, and replicated SQL environments where desirable and feasible
• Establish and document coding standards and best practices for schema design and T-SQL queries
• Establish and monitor procedures and technologies for creating and maintaining data dictionaries
• Establish and monitor procedures and technologies for change management within SQL Server
• Research and advance new technologies affecting SQL Server development that may provide value to enterprise applications
• Lead SQL Server in-house training efforts through the development of syllabi, course materials, and core knowledge requirements
Experience:
• Expert level experience with Microsoft SQL 2000 – including usage, administration, monitoring, optimization, architecture, etc
• Substantial experience with large data sets – over 100GB in size
• Expert in profiler, real-time analysis, monitoring solutions
• Expert in Performance Optimization of queries and SQL code
• Significant experience in resolving complex, multi-component failures
• Must be able to create all aspects of documentation that follows traditional systems design methodologies
• Must have excellent organization, communication, teamwork and leadership skills.
• Must have demonstrated, strong attention to detail and quality.
• Must provide examples of analyzing and optimizing business processes in past roles
• Experience with OLAP services is desired
Near-term Projects in Addition to Ongoing Responsibilities:
• Baseline and gap analysis of current SQL environment vs. ideals and best practices
• Develop short and long term strategy for SQL environment monitoring and alerting
• Design and implement a SQL basic training course for in house developers to ensure a minimum threshold of consistent and appropriate SQL knowledge
• Create and begin the preparation process for an eventual migration to the SQL 2005 platform

For immediate consideration, please contact:
Anne Keehan
Partner
Brandywine Technology Partners
Phone: 302.656.6100 x225
Email: akeehan@btpartners.net

http://www.AcehAid.org

For Christmas, I got my hubby a 4-month membership in this great beer of the month club. I have given him this in the past. Who knows, it might have helped provoke him to propose to me! They send awesome beer from microbrews all over the u.s. that you might never have heard of. The first one arrived today. I laughed my ass off when I opened it up. It contained 6 bottles of  Wolavers beer which is made by Otter Creek brewery in Middlebury - 25 miles from our house. Wolavers is also currently Rich's favorite - he just loves their Wit Beer which was a special release. The other beer selection  was from Michigan's Arcadia Brewing Company. Of course it's all a big lead up to the Vermont Brewer's Fest this summer. I drive. Rich drinks. You can get pretty goofy on ten 3-oz samples!

http://www.AcehAid.org

Not so fast there buddy. Do you know that you cannot boot from the USB DVD drive? (the one I just got yesterday....). I had a chat with Markus Egger last night who discovered this in the middle of his repave. Oops. A little googling found a workaround  in the www.tabletpcbuzz.com forums that was so good (and needed) that it generated this comment in the thread:

WOW!

Those of you that haven’t followed the above thread closely may have missed the great significance of this discovery.

OSU-JCM has discovered a way that you can restore your M200 using the Factory restore DVD without the need for an attached DVD drive. People no longer need to buy a bootable DVD if all they want it for is to run the restore DVD! All they need is a networked Windows machine with a DVD drive. It could even be another M200 with a non-bootable DVD drive!

http://www.AcehAid.org

Almost every year, someone gives me a wall calendar of newfies. This is a calendar you can buy at any of those calendar kiosks in the malls around the country. They are made from stock photos. What is funny about the calendars though is that every year there is at least one a dog that was bred by my parents in there.

This year it is Sequoia. If you look at the last picture on this calendar's back cover, you can see it was from the same series of shutter clicks as this picture on my parent's website.

http://www.AcehAid.org

Michele posted something funny on her blog. An image of VS2005's "New Project" dialog suggesting that C# is THE language of choice and VB.NET is just one of those "other" languages.

This is just really based on some settings in VS because mine looks quite different!

http://www.AcehAid.org

I love the concept of Nullable<T> being able to deal with null data coming out of the database - especially ints and datetimes. The only problem is that I cannot figure out how to leverage Nullable<T> with data coming from a database. I still have to test for null. I have also talked with Sahil Malik at length about this. He is just as confused. I have tried it in a number of different spots -- from the data layer to the business layer --  with no luck.

Let's say I'm working with a Nullable<Int32>. I have created a SqlDataReader from some SQL Server data.

Nullable<Int32> does not seem to grok System.dbNull. (Invalid Cast). That means I cannot assign mySqlDataReader.item("myintfield") directly to my Nullable<Int32> when it is null.

Though you *can* cast an Int to a Nullable<Int>, you cannot use DataReader's GetInt32 method on a null database value. (SqlNullValueException). Therefore I can't get at the null value this way either (without explicitly testing for Null myself).

So, let's say I load the data into a DataTable.

I happen to know that my null integer is in the "someintdata" column of my 2nd row - so I am just coding specifically to test that data. This column is an Integer.

.NET will not implicitly  cast myTable.Rows(1).Item("someintdata") into my Nullable<Int>. It won't even compile and helpfully suggests that I explicitly cast it.

Nor can I explicitly cast it. That attempt throws an InvalidCastException. It doesn't like the null.

So it seems that no matter what,  I still have to test for Null before I can extract the data. And if I have to do that, what is the Nullable<T> buying me in this case?

(This is one of those posts that I worry I have *really* missed something obvious and am going to look like a total fool, but I am just going to go for it anyway...)

http://www.AcehAid.org

In preparation for ASPConnections, I am revising my What's New in the Whidbey Base Class Libraries talk for the 3rd time. I first wrote it against the PDC bits and presented it last February. Then I revised it with the May 2004 bits to present at DevTeach in June. For ASPConnections in November, I used the October CTP (which I put on my demo box just days before the conference). Now I am updating it again using the November CTP. I am also trimming it down and shifting some of the focus. Most importantly for this version of the talk (as for what I did in November) is to focus on what is of use and of interest to developers writing ASP.NET Applications. I think these bits are really close to what we will see in Beta 2. If it is out before this conference, I will definitely update the demo box before the show.

http://www.AcehAid.org

That Casey is too much!

And you've gotta love this response.

http://www.AcehAid.org

You would think that by now I would be used to the amazing places that there are .NET user groups. But I think I will never be jaded. I loved reading this post about some Microsoft folks presenting at the Romania .NET Users Association (yes of course, an INETA member!)

http://www.AcehAid.org

Starting with a keynote by Bill Gates and filled with .NET stars from the Middle East (including INETA MEA Region Head, Goksin Bakir) and also some from the states (Kimberly Tripp, Patrick Hynds and Stephen Forte), this years MDC starts in a few days. Over on geekswithblogs, Mohamed Ahmed Meligy writes about how excited he is to attend this event.

http://www.AcehAid.org

The Vermont.NET January meeting's presentation by Mario Cardinal was about Enterprise Library. All of Mario's work was based on the specifications because the product had not yet been released.

The Microsoft Patterns and Practices team has just announced that the Enterprise Library has indeed been released. Check it out!

http://www.AcehAid.org

In addition to my In Depth Tablet Web Applications presentation at Windows Anywhere in (2/6-10 in San Francisco) I just found out that I get to be on a panel with a bunch of Tablet developers and vendors (who are also developers).

Influencing Tablet PC Solutions–Tablet PC ISV, Wednesday, February 9, 2:00 pm to 3:00pm

Here are the other members of the panel session, all of whom have done some major tablet pc development and have real products on the market. I'll be the dabbler (or is that doodler) on the panel, that is for sure!

Joerg Lenz, SOFTPRO
Sean Campbell, 3Leaf 
Steve Hoffman, ActiveInk Software 
Josh Einstein, Einstein Technologies 
Teresa Shu, xThink 
Brad Baldwin, Agilix

http://www.AcehAid.org

Loren Heiny pointed this out. For $25 you can get into the exhibit hall at this 6 conference show in San Francisco (feb 6-10). I'll be there to speak at the Windows Anywhere conference  - In Depth: Tablet PC Web Development.

Here is the list of exhibitors

If you are in the northeast - you can get into the expo hall at the Sys-Con Web Services Edge East conference (Feb 15-17) along with  the keynotes and workshops for free.

 

http://www.AcehAid.org

multi-item auctions are REALLY wierd on ebay.

According to EBay's algorithm (designed for the thrifty, not for the charitable) nobody is supposed to have to pay more than the lowest winning bid. So, though many have already bid more than $100, there are still not enough bids to push away the last of the $100 winning bids. Therefore all of the "winning bids" still are sitting at $100. I don't know what it will take to get these things moving. Lots of bids. Lots and lots of bids. EBay doesn't really like charity auctions, I think.

Here's from the eBay site about multi-item auctions:

Bids are displayed when you click on the "Bidders list" link. Bids that are not currently winning show their bid prices, but bids that are winning show the price that they would pay if the auction ended immediately. This means that, in the Bid History, all winning bids show the same price per unit – the lowest winning bid. To place a winning bid (a bid that wins at least some units), you need to exceed this price.

http://www.AcehAid.org

Don Kiely says he just can't get good Indian food where he lives in Alaska. When he came to Vermont in July we took him out for Indian one night. It was his only requirement during the whole visit. Now he is in Alberta and I see that he went out again with John Bristowe for Indian last night.

Don who is a new addition to the INETA Speaker Bureau is speaking at the Alberta.NET user group today as an INETA speaker. Yippee.

http://www.AcehAid.org

Poor Dave. Already a "grumpy old git" at such a young age.

It seems that students are not only not being taught math properly, but they are being given high marks for very poor achievement. I really thought this was going to be something about the "no child left behind" plan and elevating grades to keep funding coming (yes, sadly, I can envision that it has come to this) but this is about the U.K. education system. Dave's depressed about this. Rightly so.

http://www.AcehAid.org

People keep emailing me to say how great the latest INETA newsletter looks (Jan '05 went out a few days ago but is here online). I have nothing to do with it's wonderful good looks.

Sheri Nawrocki is the graphic designer extraoadinaire. Though she is a professional graphic designer, she also knows a lot more about .NET than most designers (and has access to whatever she needs to know). So she is a great graphics person to partner with on .NET projects, don't you think?

Sheri is working on her own design website, SheriBDesigns, (you know, the old shoemaker's kids syndrome), but watch this space. Sheri tells me that my pointing to her website will light a fire under her to finish it up. Hey, what's a friend for?

http://www.AcehAid.org

I finally finished outfitting my Toshiba M200 tablet. I bought memory in November so it has 1GB and just bought an extra battery (on ebay, no less!), a USB CD/DVD drive and the cool little portfolio that was designed for it so I can use the tablet without even taking it out!

http://www.AcehAid.org

Mark Fussell writes that the Hands on Labs for WSE2 have been updated for the SP2 version, added to and released. Mark refers to the first rev of these HOLs  written by Aaron Skonnard, as "without doubt the best resource for getting up to speed with understanding WSE 2.0 quickly." I couldn't agree more. I have mentioned these HOLs in many posts and both my WSE2 presentation and an upcoming article make many references to them i.e. "please refer to the HOLs for more details on ______" just about everything.

So the one I worked with Security & Policy C# version now has a VB partner! Hooray. Though I loved the opportunity to keep working on my C# skills, it's really hard to deal with two learning curves at once.There is also one for Messaging in both C# and VB.

See Marks' post for more details. If you want to learn WSE2.0, you must must must do these HOLs.

The security one also is the best resource I have seen for installing certs into your windows box, by the way!

http://www.AcehAid.org