Continuous Improvement: The Pursuit of Mastery
Windows Admins are not automatically SQL Server 2005 Admins. There’s a provisioning tool that runs at the end of the service pack setup that fixes this. If you skip past it or SQL Server isn’t running then you need to run the tool separately.
You can do this by running the “SQL Server Surface Area Configuration” tool and clicking “Add New Administrator”.
Recently I needed to add a comment in a batch file and I couldn’t remember how to do it. Google proved somewhat elusive in providing adequate results and so the search took longer than it should have done.
For posterity, you can add a comment to a windows batch file by adding “REM” to the start of the line.
REM This is a comment
REM This is also a comment
I was using the batch file to automate the encryption of the system.identity element for multiple sites on a web server. I’ll cover the syntax for that in a separate post.
‘Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention
of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways -
Chardonnay in one hand – chocolate in the other -
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and
screaming ‘WOO HOO, What a Ride’
I was watching John Wooden on Ted Talks when he made the following quote:
At God’s footstool, to confess,
A poor soul knelt and bowed his head.
“I failed,” he cried. The master said,
“Thou didst thy best. That is success.”
And I have to say, I was rather moved.
“Thou didst thy best. That is success.”
All too often, we look around and compare ourselves against what we see. We rate our achievements against those of other people, when the true test of accomplishment is against our personal best, not someone else’s.
In the past, I have not done my best. Worse – I have not even tried to do my best. I have coasted along, doing just enough to get by. Just enough to pay the bills. Just enough to get through school. I feel I have wasted those years. I have whittled away at time, till all that was left is the shavings of my life scattered on the floor.
No more.
It changes. Now. Today. Right this second.
No matter how poor at something I turn out to be, I want to be able to look at my progress and say “I did my best. That is success.” That is the promise to myself.
See you on the far side of better.
A list of resources that I and the people I’m training with have found useful.
General
http://www.codeproject.com/
http://www.csharp-station.com/
http://www.dotnetspider.com/tutorials/
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/
http://www.functionx.com/csharp/index.htm
http://visualstudiomagazine.com
http://en.csharp-online.net/Main()
http://www.searchdotnet.com/
http://www.jpboodhoo.com/blog/
http://code.professor-mustard.org/index.htm
http://www.jaggersoft.com/csharp.html
OO
http://www.dofactory.com/Patterns/Patterns.aspx
http://www.atomicobject.com/pages/OO+Programming
http://xunitpatterns.com/index.html
SQL
http://www.techonthenet.com/
http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2008/03/26/stored-procedure-mapping.aspx
http://www.oracle.com/pls/db102/portal.portal_db?selected=3
Some resources I have found useful while preparing for interviews.
Interview Preparation
10 Do’s of Interviews
Top 25 Interview Questions
Great Answers to Tough Interiew Questions (Preview book on Google Books)
Practice Interview Questions
Personal Branding
Lesley Everett
Drop Dead Brilliant (book)
Branding Yourself: How to Look, Sound and Behave Your Way to Success (book)
