August 2009
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Month August 2009

Entries 3 Total

Oh Boy, Business Cards!

Aug 6, ’09 8:30 AM

I was pretty excited to get home today, in part because I need to recharge the air conditioner in my car. Driving around in a mobile sauna isn’t anywhere near as much fun as you’d think it would be. For the record, I never thought it would be much fun in the first place. That being said, you’re not reading this to hear about my solution to Active August. Today I was stoked to get home because my new business cards arrived today.

You see, a long time ago I had a great idea that I should order personal business cards that would reflect me. Then I promptly forgot about the idea because I couldn’t think of anything to put on the business cards that would really pop out.

This is what fancy looks like

This is what fancy looks like

Now, why would I want business cards? After all, my employer has given me a HUGE box of business cards… for free!

Here’s the thing: when I give out my card, I want people to remember me. They didn’t have a conversation with my employer, they had a conversation with me. When I’m meeting people, networking, speaking, dining, whatever, I want to make a personal impression as quickly as possible. No offense to my employer, but their business cards are very corporate. And rightly so, we give them out to potential clients in the work place. My business cards reflect my personality. That’s what I want people to remember when they meet me out and about – my personality, not my corporate presence.

Additionally, I always tell people to get in touch with me if there’s anything I can do to help them. I don’t check my work email very often – maybe once a day – since I’m on site at a client. Giving out my work email address and phone number makes it difficult for people to contact me. Personal business cards make it much easier to say “Here’s how you can get a hold of me. Don’t hesitate to call.” (Or something to that effect.)

I got my cards printed through 4by6.com and they did a phenomenal job. The entire ordering and approval process was a piece of cake. The fine people at 4by6 even got in touch with me when it turned out that I was an idiot and didn’t crop my image properly. They fixed the problem and put my order right back in the printing process. I ordered my cards on Friday and I had them by the next Wednesday (they were supposed to be here next Tuesday, I think).

I ended up choosing 4by6 for a number of reasons. First, they’ve been around for several years. I remember the stir they made when they first launched because of the high quality of both their website and the incredibly high quality of some paper samples I ordered several years ago. I was finally prompted to order because they introduced a new, lower cost, digital printing option (which makes more sense for low volumes). If you’re interested, check them out at www.4by6.com. They’re helpful and they produce an very high quality product.

Comments (1)

Rounding to the nearest 0.5

Aug 5, ’09 8:30 AM

Yesterday I encountered a fun little problem where I had to round to the nearest 0.5. Admittedly, I solved the problem in C#, but the solution is the same no matter what language you are in.

So, here’s our starting data set:

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#ratings') IS NOT NULL
  DROP TABLE #ratings ;

CREATE TABLE #ratings ( rating INT ) ;

INSERT  INTO #ratings
        SELECT  1
        UNION ALL
        SELECT  3
        UNION ALL
        SELECT  2
        UNION ALL
        SELECT  7
        UNION ALL
        SELECT  9
        UNION ALL
        SELECT  8
        UNION ALL
        SELECT  3 ;

And, of course, the average is really easy to get as well:

SELECT  AVG(CAST(rating AS DECIMAL)) -- Use decimal so we don't lose precision
FROM    #ratings ;

But that average really doesn’t do anybody any good since it’s nice and precise. How are we going to get to this number? Well, funnily enough if we multiple our average by 2 and round it to the nearest whole number and divide it by 2 (still with me?) we’ll end up with a number that’s rounded to the nearest 0.5. 

SELECT  ROUND(AVG(CAST(rating AS DECIMAL)) * 2, 0) / 2
FROM    #ratings ;

It’s also possible to change your rounding precision simply by change the number you multiply and divide by… Want everything in thirds? Just use 3 instead of 2. Magic! You can use this in your rating algorithms to give you half or quarter stars or whatever the heck you want. Happy rounding!

Comments (0)

Who Wants Free Learning?

Aug 3, ’09 10:53 AM

I want free learning. Lots and lots of free learning. Why? Because nobody else is going to pay for it in these troubling economic times.

You might now be wondering “How can I get some free learning?” Well, I’ll tell you how: The Internets.

By using the internets you have access to a ton of free training. Crazy Helpful people just write up blog posts and give presentations via LiveMeeting out of nothing more than kindness so that you can get your learn on for free.

Understanding Execution Plans On Tuesday, August 11th at 1pm EST Grant Fritchey will be sharing some of his execution plan knowledge with everyone! This is a LiveMeeting and audio will be provided via the computer, not your telephone, so bring headphones to work if you want to listen in.

Quest Connect 2009 Brent has a great article up on his upcoming speaking engagement at Quest Connect, which will also feature Tim Ford and Tom LaRock. Brent was also kind enough to include links to multiple other sources of free training.

24 Hours of PASS Starting at midnight GMT on September 2nd, there will be 24 hours of PASS presentations available for the world to see. Check out the list of sessions and speakers. This is a great free event, don’t miss this opportunity to learn from some incredibly sharp people. Ready for the best part? The speakers will be available to take your questions while you watch the presentation. So go ahead and register. You can learn while you eat corn flakes.

Comments (4)

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