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Did you mean to come here? My blog is now at http://msmvps.com/blogs/robfarley
I've found this seems to be a common issue...
When someone's on Windows Mobile (either 2003 or 5.0), they're happily disconnected, but then they open something that wants an internet connection. Suddenly they see a "connecting to GPRS" box, and they freak out because they don't want to pay the GPRS prices for downloads.
Here's how to avoid it.
Go into Settings. Connections tab, Connections icon (use the links for images - apologies to the people who are hosting them!). Then go to the Advanced tab, where there are three buttons. Pick "Select Networks". Then change the "Programs that automatically connect..." boxes to something other than GPRS.
You can still connect to GPRS by going into the Wireless Manager and turning it on. But now your phone won't use GPRS unless you specifically tell it to. Which should keep your mind at ease.
Today we had a user group meeting which consisted of six speakers, all giving 5-10 minutes on some SQL-related topic. Plus I gave a few small tips while people were swapping video cables and things like that.
It worked really well! Numbers were down, but I think everyone that came had a really fun time. The speakers were... Keith Zerna, Alex Sims, Roger Noble, Peter Kennedy, Dave Gardiner and Martin Cairney. Roger took the giveaway for his demonstration of SQL Prompt.
Some of the talks could easily have become full-length talks (some nearly did!), which gives me a lot of hope for 1/ using this format again, and 2/ finding speakers when I'm short of ideas.
Mitch has persuaded me to use feedburner for my RSS feed. So feel free to change your subscription to http://feeds.feedburner.com/robfarley if you want. The old one will keep working of course.
October 7 and 8 this year places me in Wagga Wagga for the SQL Code Camp. You'll notice my name in the speaker list. I'm going to talk about row_number(), and other uses of the windowing features. It's called windowing and ranking functions, but I've had a couple of people ask me what a windowing function is. No... there's windowing, and there's ranking functions. row_number() is a ranking function, which uses the windowing feature of the OVER clause.
So anyway, here's my abstract:
SQL2005 introduces the OVER clause to T-SQL, and with it, ranking functions and windowing. Ranking functions, particularly the row_number() function, give database developers a lot more flexibility to solve many problems. And the windowing features of the OVER clause not only allow new solutions to old problems, but can allow a much higher level of query-optimisation than before. In this session, some of the uses of this new functionality will be explored - demonstrating some of the ways in which problems can be solved more easily and efficiently.
If you're interested in this type of thing, grab me on MSN Msgr and ask me some more... or else come to Wagga!
Reflecting on the reading and listening rant of my last post, I've decided that I need to frequent my local library more often. And I also need to work at getting a library system worked out for the user-group I run.
The thing with libraries is that you can't borrow books forever. So you tend to make the time to read them before you have to take them back. Let's say you borrow a book for a month. The first three weeks, it's sitting somewhere in the house, waiting for you to read it. After about three weeks, you notice the book, and you think "Ooh, that book hasn't moved. I should check when it's due back." Turns out it's due in a week's time, and you think "Hmm... that's about 150 pages a day I have to get through if I'm going to read it. I should make a start..." So you read a few pages, and you realise the book is definitely worth reading, and you somehow find an hour or two a day to get it done.
It's a deadline thing. Without deadlines, procrastination can win out. Actually, procrastination isn't the right word. It's more than without deadlines, things can get deprioritised - even if they're quite important. Covey would argue that this is because people live in the "Urgent" quadrants rather than the "Important but not urgent" quadrant. I'm not so big on Covey, but I understand the principle. As I run out of time to read a book, I will probably get to it.
Somehow, the important things get done when urgency increases. If you were told you had three weeks to live, you'd suddenly get around to a heap of things you considered important.
Well, not so much about not reading or listening, but not doing enough of either. I do read, and I do listen. But I want to do so much more than the day allows.
During my commute, I listen to podcasts. But my commute is really short, and there is so much stuff to listen to. Over a year ago I got Egress for my XDA IIs. So whenever I'm connected, it's downloading podcasts from the various things I'm subscribed to. I can't listen to podcasts while I'm working - that has to be music, or perhaps the radio (London's Capital breakfast show is great - I'm even coming around to the fact that the host isn't Chris Tarrant any more, like it was when I was a kid). But I can't listen to ARCast or the ASP.Net Podcast (not to mention SQLDownUnder, DNR, Hanselminutes, etc) while I'm working. Or non-technical ones like the BBC's Rumour Mill, The Premiership Podcast or Max Lucado's Upwords. Already I've run out of dead time. And I've just noticed that the Edinburgh Fringe podcast is out again.
The best time to listen to podcasts has to be when driving alone. You know, those times when you'd otherwise be listening to the radio. But if you're driving with the family - they don't want to listen to Ron Jacobs, no matter how interesting the topic (no offence, Ron - my wife just isn't into Software Architecture). And she's not interested in football enough to listen to the Rumour Mill.
And reading... I'm jealous of Mitch Wheat, who tells me he reads 2 large books a week. They must both be good books! ;) Yeah, ok... they're not the same 2 books each week, but even so. I don't know when I'd find 2-3 extra hours a day for reading. Time reading is time away from the family, and my computer takes enough of that time as it is.
Don't get me wrong - I do read books... both technical and non-technical. But I find myself constantly lamenting the lack of time for both reading and listening.
Mind you, I've only got to the stage where I'm blogging about it because this morning I noticed the Fringe podcast and a post by Mitch about reading. So I guess it's on my mind. And getting a job that's further away isn't the answer. The answer is to warp space and time, to insert a few extra hours into each day.
I'm helping out with the Hands On Labs at TechEd this year. Should be fun. It makes TechEd cheaper for my employer (not that they particularly care), but that's not really important to me. What is important to me is that it's a chance to be able to help people learn stuff that will be important. It's why I'm an MCT, and it's why I'm involved in the user-groups.
Speaking of user-groups, if you're in my SQL User Group, and you haven't volunteered to do a 5-minute slot next Thursday yet, then drop me a line.
PS: If you're going to TechEd, drop by the Hands On Labs on Wed 1-4, Thu 8:30-11:30 or Friday 12-3 to say hi.
My time away was good. I had lots of fun at Redmond. It was really great to work with such talents as Tobias, Brian and Bill. The weather was great too, and having my family there made everything good. We sat by the pool in the evenings, or went out somewhere.
So after 2 weeks there, we went to London to see my family. My grandmother has heart surgery this week, so it was very good timing. The weather was hot, and things were good...
...except that on Monday morning, I had a phone-call from Australia to tell me that my friend Kelvin Wilson had died. I would talk to Kelvin almost on a daily basis. We would talk about SQL, about theology, sci-fi, comedy, rugby. It's very sad that he has died. There is a blog that can take comments about him - http://kelvinwilson.blogspot.com - you will be missed. His funeral is tomorrow, and I will be there. It will be the first funeral I have been at since Roslyn's dad died, which in turn was the first funeral I was at since my own dad died over 20 years ago. I don't do funerals in general. For Kelvin, I will make an exception.
I haven't blogged for weeks. I haven't recorded a podcast for Aussenal 2 months. The World Cup distracted me on the football side, and this trip to Seattle has kept me really busy too. I'm in Seattle at the moment. It's Sunday evening (nearly 7:30pm), but back in Australia it's Monday lunchtime. I know I'd rather have Sunday than Monday... ;)
So I'm in Seattle, helping put simluation content together for 70-431. It's a way that Microsoft can test people's knowledge without using multiple-choice questions. It's really good too. Met some more great guys, and enjoying the summer weather. I've brought the family with me, so when I get back to the apartment in the evenings I can spend time with them. Today we had a relaxed morning, swum, and then went to Downtown Redmond and found a Fred Meyer store - Roslyn liked that. On the way back, the clear day (over 30C, and not a cloud anywhere) meant that Mt Ranier was clearly visible as we came down the 520.
Yesterday (Saturday) was my first full day off. We went to the Boeing factory near Everett, and then came back, and headed into the Cascades. We saw the Snoqualmie Falls, which were really impressive. I've been to Niagara, and of course it's nothing like that - but these are still really cool. From there, we drove down to North Bend and met the I-90 Freeway. Just before the turnoff, Roslyn saw a Nike Factory Outlet store, which turned out to be part of a much larger factory outlet complex. These are great - you're in the middle of a mountain range - huge great slab of rock in front of you as you walk out of the Nike or Adidas shops, and they're proper factory outlet stores, much better than the ones near us in Adelaide.
So then we continued down the I-90 to a town called Roslyn, which is actually Cicely, Alaska (from Northern Exposure). My Roslyn liked the show, and got a kick out of the fact that the town shared the name with her. The town seems really quaint, but it looks like everyone's leaving it. Lots of businesses for sale, although The Brick pub seemed to have a remarkably good trade going on.
Definitely worth the drive - and it's definitely nice to be in summertime for a few weeks.
Last year, I put the Hoff into a TechEd Flair. This year, focussing on the Deep Dive workshops seems appropriate.
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