VS-DB is coming

The press-release is here, and the excitement is building. A new version of Visual Studio, designed for DB Professionals. It lets you have a proper Database Development Life Cycle, and all kinds of funky stuff. Finally! Now I want to include a bunch of stuff about it in my presentation next week, but the CTP only comes out on June 11th.

I had a few people point me to Greg Low's post this morning. Thanks guys. :)

Batfink shirt / cap

I was thinking... Quite a few people only know me through MSN Msgr. And I don't have my own face as my Display Picture, I have Batfink - obviously. So I was thinking that before TechEd (or any other event where people might not know me), I should get myself a shirt with Batfink on it. Or a cap if I can't do that. Good idea? Perhaps my Arsenal shirt will do.

Paul's now MCPD!

I got a text message from Paul this morning. It was about 10am in Sydney. He'd just earned himself MCPD-Windows. Yesterday morning he had never sat a Microsoft exam in his life. Today he's just passed his third and has earned himself MCP, MCTS, MCPD. What a legend!

MCDBA

Today I sat 70-290. It's a sysadmin exam, but I needed it to complete my MCDBA, and perhaps it's fair enough that there's some . Anyway, today I got my 8th Microsoft certification. Yay for me.

I'm actually more proud of Paul Stovell. He sat his first two ever MS exams today, and is now MCTS-Windows. Tomorrow he's sitting another one, and more next week. Well done Paul.

Cavemen and interfaces

The other day I downloaded the Cavemen beta (thanks Frank & Andrew) for my PocketPC. The game's really good. The interface suits a tablet-interface really well. Got me thinking a bit about how many applicatons would really be much more suited to using a pen than a mouse. I know that I keep wanting to get a decent image editor for my PocketPC. I like playing around with images, and it would be so much easier to do it with a pen than a mouse, even though the screen-size is obviously so much smaller. When I get a tablet pc, it'll be so much easier. Fathers' Day is coming up soon, right?

Guts ripped out

Today my team lost. We had come so far. Led the game. 15 minutes from the end, we conceded two goals, and that was the end of a dream. Well done guys. We'll be there again, and will win next time.

World Cup tipping - please join!

I'd like to invite all the readers of my blog to join the mini-leagues I have set up at a couple of World Cup tipping places. One is tipping, the other is fantasy league. Both free to enter, and both are just for bragging rights (although if you win the whole site, you can get some cash).

The tipping is at http://fantasyfacup.com/worldcup/leagues/492 and the fantasy league is http://fpli.premierleague.com - the code to join my league is 31847-7496.

I know the guy who runs FPLI - he's the guy who gave me his seat at Highbury for the Villa game recently. Great guy.

Not 'free retake', but 'free practice exam'

...with the bonus that if you pass the practice exam, you don't have to do the real thing.

I was talking to a guy at work this morning about the free retake offer from Pearson Vue. I think the best way to think of it is that it gives you a free practice exam. This guy is a sysadmin here day in, day out. So he should know his stuff already. A few skims through the summary pages of a study guide book, and that should be enough preparation for a practice exam. And if he passes it, then great - he doesn't need to do the real one. And if he fails, then he's had the perfect preparation for the real thing.

'Expert' interviewed by BBC

I normally wouldn't post something like this, but it's just a classic piece of journalism.

MCTS for Al - he just did it

A while back I had a chat with Alastair Waddell. I told him he should take advantage of Pearson Vue's free retake offer to do some of the new certifications. Because he's been using SQL2005 for about a year (and he's a smart guy), he ought to know enough to pass without studying, and if he does somehow fail something, he can retake it for free.

So he took the plunge, and is now MCTS:SQL2005. Well done Al!

I'm telling everyone I think of to take advantage of the retake offer. I figure that if you are already working in the space, you should be able to pass these exams already. So book in and try. And if you fail, use the free retake offer to try again. But here's my tip: While you're in there, make yourself lists of the stuff you feel you need to study. You can't take those lists with you, but after you've left, write those things down and use them to bump your score up a few marks for the second time. But hopefully you won't need the second time, and you can use your list to just brush up your skills.