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.

MCPD now

I got my results for the exams 547-9 today. I passed all 3. That makes me a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer - Windows Developer. It should be a few times over (Web Developer and Enterprise Applications Developer too), but I didn't sit 528 in beta. So I'll either sit that this week and get it out of the way, or I'll wait for the results in my upgrade exams, which will mean I won't need it. MCDBA next I think.

Returning the wrong type on purpose

There is a 3rd party application we put scripts into from time to time - it's a pretty good app on the whole, but these scripts have to be VBScript.

Anyway - I pull data out of a database to use in these scripts, and have recently found that I have had to tell my query to return numbers as varchar. The reason? Because when I try to use CLng on the data (which I like to do in non typed languages), it complains that my numbers are bigger than 2 billion. So instead I'm putting more functionality into my query, and doing my subsequent maths there, returning the data as a pre-formatted varchar ready to just get printed out. I feel dirty and have to go home to wash.

New stylus from Kyle Grovers

I dropped into the Battery Bar (no proper website???) this evening in the Adelaide Arcade (that's the one where the fountain is in Rundle Mall). I got a new stylus for my XDA IIs. I'd lost the others.

The guy who served me was Kyle Grovers. We got talking. (I know, you're all thinking "Really Rob? You're normally so shy and retiring...") So anyway - I thought I'd blog about him. Now if he googles himself (is that allowed?), he might find a mention. He was really helpful. Suggested that a piece of sticky tape around a stylus can help stop you losing them... so long as you can do this before you actually lose them of course.

My new stylus has a pen inside it, which makes it even more useful. I would've rather had a multi-pack, but this will do.

Arsenal in Paris, Rob at the Rosemont

I don't get to go to Paris. But I do get to go to the Rosemont Hotel (on Hindley St) to watch them. Kick-off is at 4:15am, so I'm going to be a little bleary next Thursday. If you're not in Adelaide, then find out where your local Arsenal supporters are going to be. http://www.ozarsenal.com/CLFMeets.htm

SQL Group and Architecture Group

Yesterday was a big day for user-groups in Adelaide.

At lunchtime, our SQL Server group met - Nick Ward (SQL Product Specialist with Microsoft) spoke on Service Broker. Over 40 people again. Fantastic food, fantastic talk, lots of great feedback in the eval forms. Personally, I love the idea of using Service Broker to create asynchronous triggers. That's nice. :) You can get Nick's notes from http://www.sqlserver.org.au/resources/ViewResource.aspx?resourceId=56.

In the evening, a new Architecture group formed. I couldn't go, because Roslyn's not 100% well this week (nothing serious thank goodness). But Derek Munneke went, and tells me they had 15 people rock up. It's going to be a regular thing, and it's now part of IASA. Was talking to Clarke Scott today, and he's really excited about the whole thing too. Perhaps we can show Melbourne up a bit! (Which is exactly what Adelaide should be doing...)