Blog ala Vidar

From left: Stian, Erik, Svein Even, Erik Martin, Vidar, Kai Roger, Jekaterina, Werner, Mauricio. (Photo: Werner Waage)

This weekend me and 9 others from my department had what we called a SQL Weekend. No, not Spa Weekend, but SQL Weekend. The goal was to learn as much as possible about SQL Server and start studying for the 70-433 (TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development) exam, but also to socialize. We arrived at Rica Maritim Hotel an hour after work and went straight to Naustet, which is the restaurant at that hotel, and had dinner. If you’re in Haugesund and want a good meal, you really have to go there. It was delicious!

After dinner we headed up to one of the meeting rooms we had ordered and started preparing for our talks the next day. The plan was that each person would pick a chapter in the book and have a presentation about it. My chapter was chapter 4; Using additional query techniques. I’ve already passed this exam, and my presentation was done WAY before this weekend, so I used my “spare” time to help the others preparing their sessions.

When we started getting tired of PowerPoint, we all went to the bar to have something to drink and socialize a bit. It’s nice to have some time chatting about something else just for a couple of hours.

Stian having his talk about SQLCLR and FileStream.

The next day (Saturday) started with breakfast at 08:00. Breakfast was, as the dinner the day before, one of the best meals I’ve ever had. After eating a bit too much we went to the meeting room to continue preparing for our presentations. A couple of hours later we Werner Waage started the show with having his session (chapter 1; Data Retrieval). Everyone followed him with their chapters. After a while it went for the sport in referring to my blog, so at the end Stian Skjerveggen topped it off with having a sexy picture of me in his slides.

To summarize this was an awesome weekend. Everyone learned a lot, loved the service from the hotel, the food was great and we got to hang out together. I’m really hoping we can do this again, and then maybe invite people outside our department. Anyone want to join? 🙂

If you click on the post title, you can download the presentations and demos.