Kevin S. Goff: Stages of Data

3/29/2008 – Elite 8 Picks

Wow, what a great bunch of games in the Sweet 16!

I like UCLA and UNC tonight, and Memphis and KU tomorrow. So yes, I believe the Final 4 will be all #1 seeds.

KG

3/28/2008 – The Baker’s Spring Road Trip!!!

Well, spring is here – warmer weather, baseball, and a big set of road trips coming up!

First, I'll be in Boston the weekend after next (April 5^th and April 6^th) for Boston Code Camp in Waltham Massachusetts. Here's the preliminary session schedule. While subject to change, I'm doing 5 sessions over the two-day period, on WCF, LINQ, T-SQL, SSRS 2008, and applied MDX with Microsoft BI tools.

The Boston event is usually huge – about 400-500 people. Boston Code Camp holds a lot of sentimental value for me – I attended my first Code Camp in Boston in March 2005. I got to hang out with Rod Paddock that weekend and had a great time. While I'm not fond of long car rides, the drive through New England is really nice.

Then I'll be at the Mother Ship April 13^th through 17^th for the Microsoft MVP Summit. While I've been an MVP since 2005, this will be my FIRST MVP Summit. I missed the one in fall 2005 because of heavy client workload, and then I missed the one in March of 2007 because I was sick, really sick. For years I've owned my MVP friend Bonnie Berent a free dinner, and now I'll finally get to pay up!!!

Next, I'll be in Richmond on April 26^th for Richmond Code Camp. The schedule isn't yet set, but I believe I'll be doing three sessions that day, probably on T-SQL, LINQ, and MDX. I'll post the link when the schedule is set.

I spoke in Richmond twice in 2006, and found the attendees were really, really sharp. Kevin Israel, Andy Leonard, Susan Lennon, and the other organizers are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Sometimes people are surprised that I'd drive 4-5 hours each way for a Code Camp that's several states away. If you have the chance to meet these people, you'd understand why. Code Camps aren't "just" about technology, they're about people.

After that, I'll be in Philadelphia for Philly Code Camp. I "think" the date will be May 17^th. Bill Wolff and Company always put on a tremendous show with great support from companies like ComponentOne, Infragistics, RDA, and RedGate. I get to see many of my local buds in Philly, and always have a great time. I'll post more details as they become available.

And finally, I'll be doing my LINQ/VS2008 Language enhancements talk at Northern NJ .NET User's Group. The company I train for (SetFocus, LLC) hosts the User Group meetings – they have an outstanding facility and a smart user group.

So that's my schedule for the next few months – tentatively I may be doing another .NET User Group and SQL Server User Group meeting between now and summer. I'll post those details if that winds up happening. Last year I did a total of 18 events – I don't think I'll have that many this year, but I'm sure there'll be another road trip or two in the second half of the year.

You only have one life – live it to the fullest…

KG

3/27/2008 – Sweet 16 Picks

Wow, this week has been flying by….almost forgot that the Sweet 16 starts tonight! I struggled last weekend in the 2^nd round, only going 8-8. So I'm 30-18 for the tournament.

Well, very quickly, here are my picks for tonight and tomorrow night:     

West Virginia over Xaxier (update, that was a heartbreaker!!!)
UCLA over Western Kentucky
UNC over Washington State
Tennessee over Louisville (update, I'm gonna have to take the Cardinals seriously!!!)

Wisconsin over Davidson
Texas over Stanford
KU over Villanova
Memphis over Michigan State

KG

3/24/2008 – Be a Good Citizen

My friend John V. Petersen has a good blog post on supporting local fire departments.

Ironically, just a few days ago there was a terrible multi-car accident just minutes from where I live - it led to a fire and serious injuries, though the fire department was able to save someone's life.

Stop and think about that – saving someone's life…whether it's a total stranger, a friend, or a loved one. I can't think of a more sobering concept.

So I plan to make a donation this week. When you stop to think about things like this, every day someone's life rests on blood donors, fire departments, emergency medical people, etc.

John's blog (http://tredyffrinpolitics.blogspot.com/) is a very interesting blog on local government. I read it from time to time, and he's caused me to stop and think about local issues. Sure, Obama and Clinton and McCain are the big news items, but it's easy to lose sight of important issues in our own neighborhoods.

And now for my own public service announcement: I had a college professor who once challenged students: "Every day, for the rest of your lives, keep your eyes open for one opportunity to make someone's life better. It can be big or small". When questioned about whether a situation actually comes up every day, his answer was, "anyone with two eyes and a heart will have met the challenge by lunchtime."

KG

3/22/2008 – My NCAA Roundball picks for the Second Round

Wow! What an exciting first round! My beloved Jayhawks had a nice tune-up against Portland State.

They face UNLV next, a team that looked very strong in the MWC tournament.

I'm 22-10 so far, I guess that's not "too" bad, though I'm kicking myself for a few picks that I wanted to make, but didn't.

For instance, I watched San Diego beat both Gonzaga and Saint Mary's to win their conference tournament, and wanted to pick them, but figured Jim Calhoun's coaching would be enough for UConn to win. I also wanted to pick Villanova, but thought they were a little too young. But then again, I don't think too many people saw Western KY beating Drake.

And I would have GLADLY accepted a 21-11 record in exchange for a Duke loss. God, I wanted Belmont to win, just to see another loss for that foulness that is the ACC. J

So, here are my picks for the 2^nd round, which starts in about 8 hours. Except for that great tournament in 2005, I honestly cannot recall any tournament with this many good match-ups in the 2^nd round.

On Saturday:
    Duke over W VA (Mountaineers are my 2^nd favorite team, so this is painful)
    Wisconsin over K-State (I'm still not sold on K-State)
    Purdue over Xavier (I picked Baylor over Purdue in the first round, so they better not make a liar out of me twice!)
    Notre Dame over Washington State (this is a tough pick, but the Irish are shooting very well)
    Marquette over Stanford (another tough one, I almost picked Stanford, but Marquette is just a bit deeper)
    KU over UNLV (of course!)
    Pittsburgh over Michigan State (the inconsistent Spartans looked good in round 1, but they're bound to lose here!)
    UCLA over Texas A&M (don't be surprised if this one is a nail-biter)

On Sunday:
    Siena over Villanova (great comeback that 'Nova pulled against Clemson…my heart says 'Nova, my head says Siena)
    Texas over Miami (this will be a blow-out)
    Tennessee over Butler (but I won't be shocked if we have an upset here)
    San Diego over Western Kentucky (two Cinderellas, but only one slipper…gotta go with the Toreros)
    Georgetown over Davidson (this will be a great game, but Hoyas are just too tough)
    Memphis over Mississippi State (I can't wait until the Sweet-16, for Memphis to get some real competition)
    Louisville over Oklahoma (Cardinals could quietly slip into the Elite-8…Rick P rocks as a coach)
    North Carolina over Arkansas (I hate the Tar Heels, but only because I respect them)

God, just please let KU get to San Antonio!!!

KG

3/21/2008 – My new blog on SQL Server Business Intelligence, sponsored by SetFocus, LLC

I'm now a "double-blogger"! J

I recently started a new blog called I-Data Weekly – it's sponsored by SetFocus, LLC. SetFocus is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Learning Solutions. I've been working with SetFocus as a contract trainer and courseware contributor for SetFocus' Master's Program - Business Intelligence Track.

The intention of the blog is to show the type of content we cover in the actual BI Masters training program. We cover all the products in the Microsoft BI stack (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, MDX programming, SharePoint, and PerformancePoint Server).

Each week I'll have a new technical article on the I-Data Weekly site. (Right now the articles are on a regular site – eventually they'll be part of an actual blog site). As articles go up, I'll post a link here on my blog. Right now I have two entries up there – the first is on OLAP/MDX named sets, and the second is on charting with PerformancePoint Server.

So feel free to check out the new blog and SetFocus' site – and if you're interested in BI training (or other training that SetFocus offers, such as .NET, SQL Server, etc.), then definitely contact them for more information! SetFocus also offers Online Training through their GRID system. SetFocus is a super company – very progressive, very talented and hard-working group of people. They also support the Northern New Jersey .NET and SQL Server User Groups (the monthly meetings are held at SetFocus' great site in Parsippany, NJ). I'm honored to be a part of their team.

KG

3/17/2008 – Touch/Peel/Stand, then Try/Catch/Raise

I heard one of my all-time favorite songs today on the radio: "Touch, Peel, and Stand", by Days of the New.

Then I was looking at some SQL 2005 code that recently came in handy for me at a client site – specifically, the ability to implement a TRY/CATCH block inside a stored procedure, and RAISE an error back to the calling application.

Now, the fact that you can insert TRY/CATCH code into SQL Server 2005 stored procedures isn't exactly "hot off the presses" news – most people have been aware of it for some time. Additionally, the ability to raise an error (using RAISERROR) goes back to SQL Server 2000.

But what's cool is that you can combine the two, to check for an error, grab information for that error, and then raise that error back to the application. So if you're also doing a TRY/CATCH in your application, you can access the error message that was raised in the SQL RAISERROR call.

So first, let's look at a very simple .NET call to a basic stored procedure using TRY/CATCH block. The stored proc will also have a TRY/CATCH block, and will raise any error back to the data provider, so that we can catch the error in .NET.

SqlConnectionStringBuilder osb = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();
osb.DataSource = "localHost";
osb.IntegratedSecurity = true;
osb.InitialCatalog = "AdventureWorks";

SqlConnection oConn = new SqlConnection(osb.ConnectionString);
SqlCommand oCmd = new SqlCommand("dbo.TestSPRaiseError", oConn);
oConn.Open();
try
{
    oCmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
catch (Exception eErr)
{
    // Either write out the error, or just display to the screen
    MessageBox.Show("Error occured!\n\n" + eErr.Message.ToString());
}

Now, here's the SQL code, a test stored procedure that intentionally tries to violate a database constraint by deleting an order header ID for which line items exist.

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TestSPRaiseError
AS

BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON
BEGIN TRANSACTION

    BEGIN TRY
        -- Try to do something that will generate an error
        DELETE FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrderHeader WHERE PurchaseOrderID = 6
    END TRY
    BEGIN CATCH
        DECLARE @errorseverity int, @errornumber int,
            @errormessage nvarchar(4000), @errorstate int,
            @ErrorLine int, @ErrorProc nvarchar(200)
        -- Grab error information from SQL functions
        SET @errorseverity = ERROR_SEVERITY()
        SET @errornumber = ERROR_NUMBER()
        SET @errorMessage = ERROR_MESSAGE()
        SET @errorstate = ERROR_STATE()
        SET @ErrorLine = ERROR_LINE()
        SET @ErrorProc = ERROR_PROCEDURE()
        -- Construct a detailed error message to send back
        SET @ErrorMessage= 'Error ' + CAST(@ErrorNumber AS VARCHAR(10)) +
                    ' in procedure: ' + @ErrorProc +
                    ' Line: ' + CAST(@ErrorLine AS VARCHAR(10)) +
                    ' Error text: ' + @ErrorMessage

        -- Not all errors generate an error state, to set to 1 if it's zero
        IF @ERRORSTATE = 0
            SET @ERRORSTATE = 1

        RAISERROR (@errormessage , @ERRORSEVERITY, @ERRORSTATE, @ERRORNUMBER)

        -- If the error renders the transaction as uncommittable, we must rollback
        IF XACT_STATE() < 0
            ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
    END CATCH
    COMMIT TRANSACTION
END
GO

Again, nothing earth-shattering, but hopefully a nice-to-know. There are many ways you could construct the error message and then deal with it in the client piece.

I just added Touch, Peel, and Stand to my "Midnight Mix" on my MP3 player. It's 3 AM here on the east coast, but I guess that means it's midnight somewhere!

KG

 

3/16/2008 – My NCAA Roundball picks for the First Round

I just spent much of the last few days watching the conference tournaments – and (for a change) picked a few winners, such as my beloved Jayhawks, Wisconsin, and yes, that myth of a team known as the Tar Heels (ducking as TCH throws a mean right-hook). And hey, I even picked UNLV, Kent State, and San Diego, so I'm feelin' pretty good right now about my roundball prognostication skills, haha.

(And someone in the country, some lucky guy is counting his millions, having picked Georgia and Arkansas to reach the SEC finals!)

So, here are my picks for the first round. If you want to play along, just post a comment/response and I'll keep tally of the picks. I'll do this round-by-round. But before we begin, remember one thing – there can only be one national champion, and it will be these guys:

So, in the East:
    Carolina over winner of the play-in game (please god, please let UNC survive until April 5, so that KU can beat them)
    Indiana over Arkansas (according to Dick Vitale, Bobby Knight should come back and coach the Hoosiers)
    Notre Dame over George Mason
    Washington State over Winthrop
    St Joseph's over Oklahoma (would be a bit of revenge from the 2004 Elite Eight)
    Louisville over Boise State
    Butler over South Alabama
    Tennessee over American (you could combine American, Swiss, and Provolone, and the 'Vols would still win)

In the Midwest:
    KU over Portland St (as KU begins their quest to cut down the nets in San Antonio)
    Kent State over UNLV (these were my Cinderella teams, it sucks they have to play in the first round)
    Clemson over 'Nova (god, I hate picking ACC teams almost as much as I hate picking Big 10 teams)
    Vanderbilt over Siena
    USC over K-State
    Wisconsin over CSF (eeeghads, another Big-10 team, somebody hand me some Listerine)
    Davidson over 'Zags (Gonzaga usually does better when they're seeded lower)
    G-town over UMBC

In the South:
    Memphis over UT-Arlington (uh, oh, I used the letters 'U' and 'T' together!!! Can I get banned from my own blog?)
    Miss State over Oregon (hate to go against my beloved Ducks, but the Bulldogs are too good)
    Mich State over Temple (Something tells me that Drew "Oh What a" Neitzel is about to lead a run)
    Pittsburgh over Oral Roberts (I refuse to pick a team named "Oral Roberts" – "Oral Robertas" is a different story)
    Marquette over Kentucky
    Stanford over Cornell (well, that oughta be a quick way to eliminate the Ivy League school)
    St Mary's over Miami (I saw a half-dozen Gaels games this year – they can be really good)
    Texas over Austin Peay (Even though KU beat Texas today, I still don't want to see them again)

Out West:
    UCLA over Miss Valley St (one of these days, UCLA's luck will run out)
    Texas A&M over BYU (tough call, but I gotta go with the Big 12)
    Drake over Western KY (Drake is the only team I've seen with a better 3-pt FG % than a 2-pt FG%)
    UConn over San Diego (tough call, I'd love to pick the Toreros, but UConn is too strong)
    Baylor over Purdue (sorry, Ninja MC, but a Big 12 is better than a Big 10, haha)
    Xavier over Georgia (wow, a college that sounds like a porn star, vs. a team that got blown away in the regular season)
    W VA over Arizona (letting my heart pick this one)
    Duke over Belmont

KG

3/14/2008 – A great blog post on public speaking

My editor at CoDe Magazine and good friend Rod Paddock has written a fantastic blog post about public speaking.

If you do any kind of public speaking, you should read this. And read it again… J

Rod is an excellent speaker. I've seen him present at several different events. Have you ever seen an athlete who almost effortlessly does something spectacular? That's Rod -his presentations are smooth.

KG

3/13/2008 – New book from Joe Celko

A friend of mine told me yesterday that Joe Celko has a new SQL book: Joe Celko's Thinking in Sets: Auxiliary, Temporal, and Virtual Tables in SQL

That should give me something good to read in between the NCAA Conference Tournament games this weekend. J

KG