Last night I got in around 3, saw a few people in the airport, shared a cab with some of them, and worked on my presentation. There is my news 🙂

But the bigger things is that I am getting ready to go to registration, I think for the 10th time in a row. Every year is something different. Some years I learn something that I really need to know. Some years I meet a new person that has been helpful for my speaking/writing career.

Every year except for one I have spoken, and I am glad I started early, because the competition for speakers gets more and more tough each year. And to be honest, in my early years I have no idea why they chose me, why I came back, or anything. I did have one really decent presentation in my first few years (it was on query optimization, and I REALLY wish I could find those freaking slides,) but beyond that, I was never all that great.

While I am clearly not going to name myself SQL Server’s Churchill, I have in recent years finally carved out a niche speaking about design (which is not a heavily covered subject around these parts). This year is no different, and Thursday at 4:00 I will be talking about database design. And in some odd turn of fate, Andy Leonard (http://twitter.com/#!/andyleonard) will be talking Database Design for Developers in a session at 2:30. Hopefully between the two of us, you can get at least a reasonable idea of what goes on to make a great database (though it will a good deal more education/reading and weeks and weeks (and years) of practice to get really good.

First things first. Tonight is the Welcome Reception/Quiz Bowl and we have another great lineup of contestants:

Team 1: Allen White (http://twitter.com/#!/sqlrunr)  and Wendy Pastrick (http://twitter.com/#!/wendy_dance)
Team 2: Buck Woody (http://twitter.com/#!/buckwoody) and Jen McCown (http://twitter.com/#!/midnightdba)
Team 3: Tom Larock (http://twitter.com/#!/sqlrockstart) and Denny Cherry (http://twitter.com/#!/mrdenny)
Team 4: Kendra Little (http://twitter.com/#!/kendra_little) and Jeremiah Peschka (http://twitter.com/#!/peschkaj)

And Tim Ford (http://twitter.com/#!/sqlagentman) and I have concocted a “fun” set of questions. He, he, yeah, “fun” in quotes is a good way to put it 🙂 Some come out tonight and have some fun. 

To all of you who will miss PASS this year…bummer. We will be thinking of you whenever you tweet your sad tweets… But at least you will be with your family, those of us here in Seattle, most of us will be missing our family, I know I will…