tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328354082011-11-27T23:48:41.078ZDiscussions of data and how it relates to the world around us.Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-90733493547726865742007-03-27T12:14:00.000Z2007-03-28T11:51:22.005Z

Hey all,Sorry for the long absence. I have been going through a job change recently and I couldn't say anything about it until it went public. I am sure you are saying something like "Great, congratulations, now get on with the data help stuff". I am sorry to say that my new job takes me away from the world of database architecture and places me squarely in the middle of the business itself.

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-91534984184015207262007-03-07T14:01:00.000Z2007-03-08T13:20:47.900Z

I don't actually sit down to write this blog so much as get inspired to write it. Today I am inspired by having had the opportunity to do something I love to do. As it brings me such joy, I thought I would share it with you. Today, or last night, I got an email from Mitchell Holden (is that a silver spoon name or what). Mitchell dropped me a line to say he was sorry for not getting to talk to

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-29702914020348370792007-02-26T13:38:00.000Z2007-02-27T13:16:02.535Z

I haven't really done any database specific stuff in a while so I thought this might be a good time to point you to a great article, which references another great article, on the subject of NULL(s). I happen to love the subject of NULL(s) because it is as close as you can get to metaphysical philosophy in the database world. Usually database stuff is pretty dry. Rows and columns, columns and

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-11154750388986546892007-02-19T15:09:00.000Z2007-02-19T20:40:12.330Z

I know some of you were disappointed that I didn't spend more time on Anna Nicole and North Korea last time. I used up all of my creative muse on the dog show, and left with little space and little inspiration, I short changed you. As it turns out, I couldn't have done North Korea any better than Scott did, so I thought I would encourage you to read his view. DilbertBlog Funny stuff. As for

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1709812764483394672007-02-13T14:44:00.000Z2007-02-13T15:14:06.317Z

Westminster, Anna Nicole, and N. Korea, what do these things have in common? They all prove the world has gone to the dogs. Ha Ha, I slay me. Anyhow, I am flipping through the channels last night and come across the dog show thing. Now normally it wouldn't bother me but last night was different. See, I am an HDTV junkie and there simply are not enough channels available in high-def to be

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-33176763667791593442007-02-06T14:41:00.000Z2007-02-07T13:53:42.379Z

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Chicago sports fan. I was raised that way, and much like religion and political party affiliation, it is clearly the result of nurture not nature. Those who know me will also know that I love football. Football is America's favorite past time, long ago passing baseball in that category (work stoppage and canceling the world series might have been a factor

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-57423253697780105542007-01-26T21:04:00.000Z2007-01-31T20:16:50.115Z

It's days like this that I think I should have stayed in the academic world and gotten a lot of money to study something that most of us assume to be common sense. So I came across this article, which was the summation of study done, that shows that one method of teaching children to read was no better than the other. The specifics escape me and of course I lost the link to the story, which I

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-79595025363502860702007-01-24T20:55:00.000Z2007-01-24T21:10:17.109Z

OK, I only have 15 minutes so I have to make this quick. For the last couple of days I have asked for comments and feedback from people on whether or not anyone was reading this. It turns out that at least a few people are which is all of the motivation I needed. Having said that though, there are going to be some changes.The title of the blog will remain the same, but I reserve the right to

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-22860612661249215032007-01-19T17:34:00.000Z2007-01-19T19:50:07.070Z

So I need some help/advice/encouragement. Is anyone reading this? I ask only because I have no idea who is or isn't reading this. I have tried almost everything I can think of to get comments or questions to no avail. So I figure the best way to figure it out is to ask. In addition if you could let me know what you would like to hear about, that would be great. I'm ok if there isn't a lot

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-27730393943970132192007-01-17T18:36:00.000Z2007-01-17T23:47:57.113Z

Let me start by saying I am an information junkie. I like all information and then I like to decide if that information is important to me. If it is, I like to dig into it further and see where that takes me. As a result of all of this information and sifting through it, I can never find anything. Maybe that is why I like database systems, because as long as I can control what comes in, I can

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-19164403651901155082007-01-16T14:53:00.000Z2007-01-16T14:58:39.675Z

I thought this would be right up the alley of most of us. Even if it isn't your cup of tea, you have to admit that as geeky things go, this is pretty cool. Enjoy your day!-mikePeople want economy and they will pay any price to get it.-Lee Iacocca

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-84620646323885890892007-01-12T19:55:00.000Z2007-01-12T21:13:55.022Z

Is there anything that isn't data or metadata(which is data about data and therefore still data). And if everything is data, then what is the best way to retrieve everything. I bring this up based on the Google telescope project. It seems that Google is going to try and Google space. If you think about it, the idea isn't so crazy. To search the web, you put in some search criteria and via a

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-48060698881086566702007-01-11T03:09:00.000Z2007-01-11T13:45:15.341Z

So today I found myself amazed by something I probably shouldn't be amazed by. Excel. Yep, that's it, plain old Microsoft Excel. I am not amazed by the fact that I'm amazed by excel, but amazed at how efficient excel is at some things. Excel is one of those offensive linemen apps. You know, the ones that do all of the work, but very little glory. We go to excel when we need something quick

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-52393328941796155732007-01-09T16:15:00.000Z2007-01-09T20:15:42.258Z

What a great time of year this is. The Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas is in full swing and we are just a couple of hours away from the Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld. I, of course, am at neither of them (although I was thinking about using that as an excuse for not posting yesterday, but I really just got busy and didn't have time). Even though I am not at either event, I do follow them

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-70874989830660405812007-01-05T19:49:00.000Z2007-01-05T20:15:57.231Z

So I am sitting here waiting for a corrupt database to decide if it wants to fix itself, when it occurs to me that it is pretty amazing that it is even trying. Then it occurs to me that maybe having it not become corrupt in the first place is a better answer. Now the very first thing you think is that there is really no way to do that and I would agree, at first. Then I would think for a

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-5505384862425562572007-01-04T19:29:00.000Z2007-01-08T12:45:15.657Z

Pretty odd title I know. I was reading an article at sqlservercentral.com (registration required) about defaults and the ups and downs of using them. It was an opinion piece and in my experience there is no one right answer to that sort of thing. Document what you have done and why you have done it and keep the big picture in mind is about the best you can do when it comes to that sort of

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-29579689790385789732007-01-03T16:37:00.000Z2007-01-03T19:15:47.493Z

So I came across this article the other day and didn't really think much of it. But today Computer World had this article about it. Here is an excerpt; "January 03, 2007 -- Autonet Mobile, a San Francisco startup, said yesterday it is preparing to release a product for cars that combines 3G cellular access and Wi-Fi that will plug into your car's cigarette lighter. Users will be able to

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-5323492681066533932007-01-02T16:07:00.000Z2007-01-03T19:14:53.542Z

So I thought I would drop a note to say happy new year and to announce a change to this blog. So in that order, Happy New Year! I hope all of your wants and dreams are realized this year or at the very least, become a step closer. As for the blog, I really want and need (therapist's orders) to write on a daily basis but the fact of the matter is there just isn't enough database related

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-70170388838332695592006-12-07T13:32:00.000Z2006-12-07T14:51:28.732Z

I don't know about you, but one of my least favorite things to do in a database is deal with foreign key constraints. It seems as though every time there is a serious data problem that requires manual intervention, I run into constraints that I am going to have to deal with before I can fix the data. Of course I know that is why they are there, but it seems to me I should be able to type in a

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-72266535067652098032006-11-29T13:21:00.000Z2006-11-29T13:27:34.813Z

This might be one of the best articles for developers that I have come across in a long time. As soon as I started reading I knew it would be something that everyone could derive some benefit from. I think you will find this most interesting and will encourage you as you look forward to working consistently with SQLServer 2005. So rather than listen to me babble on here is Sureshkumar

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-72981831434175063402006-11-22T13:31:00.000Z2006-11-22T16:05:31.664Z

There has been some talk over the last couple of weeks about recompiling on sql server and the tone has been a very negative one. So I thought I would touch base on the issue of recompiling and the positive as well as the negative side.Let's start with the meaning of recompile. Many developers hear this term and assume that it is bad. Based on their background that is understandable.

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-89018487544423667862006-11-03T13:09:00.000Z2006-11-03T13:15:05.613Z

I don't think we see enough of this sort of thing so I thought I would pass this along. The things we do here affect children everywhere and I think this article does a great job of describing the other benefits that can, and often are, derived from our products. So enjoy this article and give yourself a pat on the back. Even if you didn't contribute directly to the products in this article,

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-4802131968715142882006-10-25T15:05:00.000Z2006-10-25T18:32:06.426Z

So I was hit with an interesting quandary today about how we should handle a problem. I am thinking most of you can relate to this so I am going to throw it out there and see what you think. The problem itself was easy to solve and the details of the problem are not as important. I have had this situation occur on a couple of occasions so I feel comfortable in leaving it some what

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-25301319593149690082006-10-19T14:48:00.000Z2006-10-25T12:33:58.263Z

So in non-database related news, IE7 was released today. I have actually been using it for some time now and there are many things I like and many things I don't. I assume most of you will be the same, although what we like and dislike will differ. One of my favorite features is the built in RSS feed reader. It is a side bar thing that lists favorites, history and feeds. I find this reader and

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-53826165617389759392006-10-18T19:59:00.001Z2006-10-23T19:36:28.366Z

OK, I am back and hopefully will not have to take that kind of leave of absence again. Truth be told, I used the project as an excuse to not have to do the blog thing so much. A blog is one of those things that you really have to be motivated to do. And like anything in life, it abides by the law of the universe that states when you don't have a blog you will get all of these really great

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-25734617908337808592006-10-04T14:45:00.000Z2006-10-04T14:54:56.244Z

Sorry for the absence, but this project I am on is actually pretty big and requires great portions of my time. Time I used to spend doing this for instance. Fear not, I am sure things will slow down and my nuggets of wisdom with continue to rain down like...oh I don't know, something that rains down a lot, like maybe rain or something. But I digress. Today I have stolen a bit of time which is

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-75530086747246625302006-09-27T12:39:00.000Z2006-09-27T13:18:52.990Z

The other day I received a call for help on a situation I hadn't encountered before. The caller provides a hosting service in which several db's reside on a single server running on a single instance. The problem they were having is that some reporting being done by one customer on their db was blocking all of the other customers ability to run their reports. Knowing the application the caller

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-44672277422748899082006-09-21T19:54:00.000Z2006-09-21T20:15:33.942Z

Inspiration is a funny thing. There are all sorts of quotes about it from famous, and not so famous people:Inspiration and genius--one and the same. Victor HugoEvery artist was first an amateur. Ralph Waldo EmersonHappy are those who dream dreams and are ready to

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-17229354422484970362006-09-15T12:37:00.000Z2006-09-15T14:07:44.535Z

In the last couple of days I have gotten calls and emails from several people who have had sql server 2005 issues related to upgrading from 2000, so I thought I would take a moment and let you know what I have seen and how it was fixed.The first and easiest one was actually told to me by a colleague the other day and was something I was able to use to help another person that very same day. If

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-185135975882469282006-09-11T12:35:00.000Z2006-09-11T13:45:18.865Z

So lets get to first things first. Bears 26 Packers 0. I know I am gloating, but for a long time I had to go into the Bears Packer game knowing we were going to lose. Brett Favre beat us time and time again for many years, most of which I have blocked from my memory. So it was nice to sit in the stands with the many packer fans, including my wife, and watch the Bears destroy the Packers. It

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1157635077689872832006-09-07T12:38:00.000Z2006-09-07T13:53:59.433Z

So I know this is going to sound overly geeky, but I was reading this science blog and she had a link to a quiz type thing that measured your level of Nerdiness. She scored a 99 which is about as high as you can go, but that is sort of what you might expect from a woman who has a science blog. So I took said test, (not on work time of course:) and scored a 72. I posted the link here on the

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1157117104982376642006-09-01T13:10:00.000Z2006-09-01T13:29:38.890Z

Seeing as how it is the Friday before Labor Day and me and about 4 other people are the only ones here, I thought I would keep this short and sweet today. Last time I was ranting about the lack of a certain feature in SQL server 2005 and I thought I should be fair and talk a little about the features it does provide. To that end, I came across an article at SQL Server Central that compared the

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1156950956925724752006-08-30T15:01:00.000Z2006-08-30T15:41:45.223Z

So it has been a couple of days and my exceedingly large fan base has been clamoring for more insight and wisdom so here I am ready to wow you all with said insight and wisdom.See this is the problem with setting the bar too high. I could never truly deliver on that suggestion. How often do we promise more and deliver less as opposed to promising less and delivering more. I always try to do the

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1156537749847233062006-08-25T18:43:00.000Z2006-08-26T18:38:52.846Z

Redesign is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean. Well the simple answer is, it depends. When it comes to software and database systems it almost always means starting over and because of that it is rarely accomplished. In most cases you start out with the grand plan and end up settling for whatever you can get in. If you ask the software developers, the reason

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1156339535383280552006-08-23T12:58:00.000Z2006-08-23T14:21:53.816Z

So I wasn't going to post today for a couple of reasons. First, I think that by posting each day some people miss the article because the didn't have time to get to it or had surgery or vacationed on a remote island with no internet or something along those lines. The other is it is just plain hard to come up with a topic every day and I think quality suffers. As I read back through the posts so

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1156254511972895122006-08-22T13:04:00.000Z2006-08-22T14:48:50.060Z

As I mentioned when I started this blog, I am sort of a data geek. I like data, the storage of it, the retrieval of it and watching people use it and manipulate it for their needs. What I don't like about it is the strict rules we have to abide by to store and retrieve it. In the company I currently work for we have data spread all over the place. We have portals, wiki's, databases, and just

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1156165414704709202006-08-21T12:53:00.000Z2006-08-21T13:32:34.673Z

Top of the morning and happy Monday to all. Today I am going to throw a link out there and then talk a little bit about this space in general. So here is the link:http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/dpoole/2559.aspThe topic today is the .net enterprise library and some of the cools stuff you can do with it in .net 2.0 with regard to database calls. Some of this stuff you may already

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1155910040779427502006-08-18T12:49:00.000Z2006-08-18T15:34:16.836Z

I don't usually like the all caps thing but "bulk copy" seems to me to deserve a more grandiose introduction. BULK COPY just seems to be more fitting to me. Imagine being able to copy everything out of your database with a simple little script. Think of the years you have spent amassing the gigabytes of information in your database. And here we come with a little command line tool that allows us

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1155825036632582872006-08-17T12:54:00.000Z2006-08-18T12:23:35.503Z

Let me start by saying I hate security. I hate everything about it. I don't like the policies, I don't like the procedures and I don't like the hoops I have to jump through to prove that the database or application is secure. Mostly though I don't like the people who like security. And truth be told, it isn't the people in most cases. It is the job they have to do which is to put in place and

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32835408.post-1155739662795731632006-08-16T14:28:00.000Z2006-08-16T16:44:59.590Z

Let me start by saying, and I know this is going to be hard to believe but here it goes anyhow; I don't know everything. Wheww.... That was harder than I thought and if it was that hard for me to say I can imagine it would be even harder for you to believe. The reason I post this is because there are people out there that go from blog to blog or post to post simply to disprove or argue with the

Myke Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16653039973675692163noreply@blogger.com2