2009 February | SQLRockstar

Bandwidth

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Apparently, my domain has bumped up against a bandwidth issue with the web host. While we can easily correct the issue by setting a new default, it made me realize just how bad it is for me to maintain this blog. In fact, I think I can hear the sounds of the trees being bulldozed [...]

Carbon Footprints

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 26, 2009 ⋅ 4 comments

Apparently, someone is concerned with Google searches:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10140142-54.html
Now, why are they focusing on Google? I mean, how many hits a day does Amazon.com get? Why pick on Google? What about MSN.com? (I would ask about Live Search but chances are not enough people bother using that for it to matter as far as power consumption.)
I recall [...]

More Violated Now Than Ever Before

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 24, 2009 ⋅ 4 comments

Last week while I was trying to have a vacation in Las Vegas, something came up at work that seemed rather strange. It seems that our monitoring scripts for a particular server stopped working. Worse, our backups also started failing. We can live without monitoring for a period of time, but we really need to [...]

Whaddya Mean, It’s Not Free?

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 21, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

I have been attending the WPPI conference in Las Vegas this week, keeping Congress company. I have been to lots of IT-related conferences in my career, but only a handful of conferences outside my current industry. So I was interested in learning more about how this conference was organized, how it was run, meeting some [...]

My Happiness Coach

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 19, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

OK, turns out I happen to know a Happiness Coach. You can check out their website at http://www.powerconsultingusa.com/, they specialize in helping photography studios but a lot of what they say and do relates to just about any profession. Jerry has started a blog and has said he would like to talk to me about some technical [...]

More Chainblogging

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 18, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

Looks like I have been tagged again, this time by Dennis Gobo who wants to know some details of my childhood. The question this time is “what was your first computer and what were some of your favorite games”. I have no idea why Denis wants such intimate details of my early childhood. I can only [...]

Vegas

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 17, 2009 ⋅ One comment

So, I am in Las Vegas this week, my first trip ever to Sin City. Last night I stopped at a CVS and found a dozen slot machines. Who the hell goes to CVS to play slots? About the only place I have not yet seen a slot machine is in the bathroom. Why not? [...]

The Broken American DBA

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 17, 2009 ⋅ 4 comments

I recently finished reading The Broken American Male by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and wanted to share a few thoughts. Congress and I found his show on TLC a while back (it is no longer on the air) and were disappointed that he did not continue to make additional shows. Of course after I read the book [...]

The Super Villains I Face

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 13, 2009 ⋅ One comment

A while back I started to realize something. Well, besides the fact that I have never had sex at the end of an interview, or have ever actually eaten whale bacon, I realized that I see Super Villains almost daily. I spent some time trying to classify a few of my more well-known enemies and perhaps as [...]

Interviewing Tips

By Thomas LaRock ⋅ February 11, 2009 ⋅ 3 comments

Recently we had a team member decide it was time for them to move on to a new opportunity. As such i found myself a part of the interview process, something we had not done in a few years. I have not had to interview for a job in eight years and I honestly hope [...]