Since I had some work to do, I had to delay my journey over to TechEd on Thursday until 11:30. I decided to go over to some other areas of the that I had not visited earlier in the week. I found the certification area tucked away in its own corner. If you are an MCP and had your card, you got a baseball hat. Last year's hats were better in my opinion. I spent some time with exhibitors on their last day looking for solutions that I may need some day. Kimberly Tripp had a session in the TLC Theater on SQLCMD. It was very well attended. I heard several people comment on how much they like the intimacy of the TLC Theaters compared to the regular break-out rooms. There is no way to evaluate these sessions. If you attended TechEd this year, please put somewhere in the comments that it would be nice to evaluate the speakers in the TLCs as well. I was excited about going to Fenway Park. The busses were quickly loaded and were escorted by police to Fenway. There was yor regular ballpark food everywhere! I just wish there could have been a game instead of a concert. The band, Train, performed. Since I am not a huge fan, I left with the first busses at 8:30. I was asleep by 10pm.
Friday - I went over early because I had some logistics to take care of with the PASS Table. Joe Yong delivered a TLC presentation on Consolidation and the other TLC Theater had a session on SQL Server Everywhere. I did learn that SQL Server Everywhere is an even lighter-weight version. It does not run as a service, but more like Access using DLLs. It is not part of the same code-base as the rest of the "2005" editions. I will be learning more about this edition and blogging more about it in the future. I had to leave early because of some calls I needed to make. Friday was definitely "lighter" than the other days, but I still felt that a good number of people were there. At the end of the week, I decided that it was a week well spent. I got to attend a few sessions and catch-up with some old friends. I had a great time podcasting with Chuck. Check out the interview with SQL Server Gal at http://sigs.sqlpass.org/Resources/Downloads/tabid/99/Default.aspx.
Also, my interview with Bill Baker form Wednesday is available at http://sigs.sqlpass.org/Resources/Podcasts/tabid/94/Default.aspx.