It is nearing the end of March. It has been a long month for me as I have been a lot of places. I started off with a trip to South Africa for some work related activities. I would love to tell you all about the sights that I saw in South Africa, but you would think I was describing any major city as I was there for only 3 days in Jo'burg. The people there were very friendly and helpful. I would like to go back at some point and spend more than 3 days there.
I also went to Dallas/Houston for some Lunch and Learns on Reporting Services 2005. I was also able to work in the Houston User Group on March 14th where I discussed Database Snapshots. The people in the user group were good enough to move their meeting time back by 30 minutes to insure that I could get there on time. - Thanks! Nancy Hidy-Wilson leads this group.
I also was in LA to deliver a 1-day course on Upgrading to 2005. I caught the red-eye back east and headed to Columbus, OH. I was fortunate enouch to spend a few hours with my sister before speaking at the User Group event in Columbus. The Columbus group moved their meeeting night to work me into their schedule. Thanks! Jon Baker (he also blogs on sqljunkies) leads the group. As my company (Scalability Experts) is based in Texas, he thought I was from Texas too. There was a very big game last fall between Ohio State and Texas (Texas won). He was going to have a little joke and present me with an OSU mug, but when he found out that I live in NC, he had to change his plans a little (at least with the joke portion). After discussing a few things, I revealed that I have been an OSU fan since I was a kid (family ties). This eliminated the "Joke", but turned into a very well-appreciated gift. Thanks Jon! I drove to Cleveland to deliver another L&L for the following day.
This week, I will only be making a short trip to Atlanta for a L&L on Tuesday. It will be good to be spending at least most of the week with the family!
The first week of April brings on the SQL Connections conference. Check out www.sqlconnections.com for more info. I will be doing three sessions. My first session is on Table/Index Partitioning. My second is on Database Snapshots, and my last session is on Database Mirroring. I am looking forward to it. If you attend this event, please stop me and say "hello".
May brings with it another conference. This one is in Montreal. Dev Teach is a more focused on Developers, but is growing in its SQL Track. Check out the details at www.devteach.com. The event runs the week of May 8th.
I know this is old news, but the CTP of SP1 for 2005 is out and available for download. I just downloaded it and installed it. So far, things appear to be working fine. Also, the CTP for SQL Server Express is out too. The Advanced Features edition is what I am interested in as it includes some new tools/features that include Reporting Services! The more I look at Express, the more I like it.