Rick Heiges

I started out at Dan Winn's session on DMVs.  He was enthusiastic and had some good demos on DMVs.  I then spent some time at the TLC for a while where some really good action took place.  Chuck asked me to interview a few folks for th epodcasts.  That was a lot of fun.  The podcasts will be posted in the SIGs area of www.sqlpass.org.  First, SQL Server Girl form the "Source Force"  came to the SQL TLC.  I interviewed her with Chuck manning the camera and her handler answering the questions.  Be sure to check it out.  I also interviewed Bill Baker and spoke to him about his new role in MSFT (not SQL anymore) as well as the BI Power Hour.  Michelle Crockett from SQL Server Magazine also joined us for some recollection about last year's road shows as well as some discussion about some upcoming road shows this fall.

There were 3 or 4parties happening tonight.  I first started out at the Redmond Magazine party at the Gypsy Bar.  Last year, they had some great food; this year was a little differnet, but still good.  I then made it over to the Influencer's party at Ned Deville's Irish Pub.  Here I saw the INETA girl and also Paul Silva.  Paul was in South Africa with me in March.  I also ran into some other friends at the party.  Last year, I went to another party and paid for it all week long.  This year, I was back in my room before 11pm. 

I am about to fall asleep.......z.z.z.z.zzz..z.z..

I spent quite a bit of time in the TLC today.  Chuck Boyce showed up today and started on his podcasting quest of TechEd SQL folks.  While starting up his first podcast recording, a studio technician from MSFT stopped by and gave Chuck a couple of pointers.  Chuck was very happy to learn some "best practices" for recording.  I also spent some time talking to Richard Campbell from DotNet Rocks.  This is the third month in a row that we have crashed into each other at conferences. I also ran into Allen White today as we spoke quite abit about certifications.  I have a brief 10 minute overview presentation on the new certifications at www.RickSQL.com by the way.  The "Chalk Talks" at the TLC at times have better attendance than the regular break-out sessions.

OK - now for some operational stuff.  Food:  Generally OK.  I love that there is always coffee, tea, soda, water available.  They also have some type of snack ready at almost any time of day.  The Lunches have not been the best in my opinion.  I'm sorry, but signs describing the chicken on the buffet line as "airline" immediately reduces the appeal for me.  Breakfast has been generally the best meal as long as the bacon is actually cooked.

Rooms:  I have attended some fairly full rooms.  I got to a session a little late on Tuesday AM and knew I would have to leave early for a call.  There were no seats even close to an aisle.  I decided to stand.  Not long after that, I was informed that I would have to find a seat because it was against fire code to stand.  I decided to leave.  I noticed in another session that people who wanted to stand were told the same information.  A majority of them made the same decision that I did and left.  It would be great to break up the seats a little more so that more aisle seats could be available, but that would reduce seating capacity.