DevTeach Days - Sunday

I spent a good deal of Sunday morning trying to make my laptop operable after uninstalling the April CTP build of SQL Server 2005 and then installing the June CTP build.  Sadly, I'd just done a straight uninstall and then attempted the install of the next build.  As it turns out, the Readme file is quite clear that a straight uninstall is inadequate with the CTP builds.

Thanks to some help from some of the SQL Server MVPs and the advice of Microsoft Communities Manager, Ed Lehman, I was able to get back up and running.  (In case you didn’t already know this, you need to use the Build Uninstall Wizard hidden in the Setup Tools folder of the CD.)  I should also admit that I went through this same exercise just a few days before at TechEd.  Doh!  The only thing that I still need to figure out is how to install SQL Server 2005 without the Visual Studio 2005 beta.  I simply don’t have enough space to spare. 

I had the opportunity to meet some new interesting people, hook up with some old friends, and to meet person-to-person some people I’d spoken with on the newsgroups.  I also had the opportunity to attend sessions, since my sessions were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

In the category of meeting someone new, I met Kirk Haselden, the dev lead for Microsoft’s SSIS team.  Kirk was a lot of fun and quite interesting to talk with.  You can get an idea of what Kirk is up to by checking out his blog.  There’s also a surprisingly good photo of me, along with fellow speaker Rushabh Mehta and the DevTeach SQL Server program manager Roman Rehak.  Rushabh keeps a blog at SolidQualityLearning.com.  I’ve recommended Roman’s blog in the past because of his excellent tips.

In addition, I got to see ol’ buddy Rick Heigis at the event.  Rick has left the world of academia and now works with Scalability Experts.  If you’ve been to any of the European SQLMag/PASS SQL Server 2005 Readiness Roadshows, then there’s a good chance you’ve heard Rick speak.  You can check out Rick’s blog at http://www.sqljunkies.com/WebLog/rheiges/default.aspx.   

In the category of meeting someone person-to-person for the first time, I had to opportunity to finally shake hands with Adam Machanic.  I’ve known Adam for a while as a SQL Server MVP.  So it was nice to put a name and a face together.  Adam keeps a blog at http://www.sqljunkies.com/WebLog/amachanic/.   

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about the speakers I got to hear and the sessions I was able to attend.

Cheers!

-Kev