PASS Summit - Day 1

Starting My Day

My first day at PASS Summit has been fantastic.  Thanks to my biological clock being on east coast time, I promptly arose around 4:30am and started my day with a great LIIFT4 workout in the Hilton Seattle Fitness Center.  I thought for sure I would meet some east coast allies this morning, but alas I had the gym to myself.

After my workout I met up with a fellow Rochesterian, Chris Sommer, and headed to Lola's for breakfast.  It's a destination that is an absolute must when coming to Seattle and I'm always excited to go with someone who is experiencing Lola's for the first time.  After sharing Lola's world famous fresh donuts and enjoying a solid hot breakfast, Chris said it was "the best breakfast I've ever had".  Mission accomplished!

 

Learning @Summit

Today I attended Denny Cherry's full day pre-con session on SQL Server Security.  Denny did a great job organizing and presenting the session content.  We initially covered security outside of the database (vLANS, Firewalls, ACLs, etc..) which filled in several knowledge gaps I had (which is why I'm here!).  Then we dove into database level security such as encryption, contained databases, AG group security, and more.  I was very pleased with the quality of this pre-con and I'm grateful my company was generous enough to send me here.

There seemed to be a reoccurring theme that is somewhat disheartening....  securing your data the right way goes beyond what a DBA can do alone and getting the resources you need to secure your data the right way is near impossible.  Also, the biggest threat of a breach in security is our users and there is nothing we can do to stop it.  Sounds like a losing battle to me.....  How dreary!!!

Again, this was a fantastic session.  Denny is a fantastic presenter and I learned a lot.

The Night Life

PASS is community focused and is great at planning events for people to enjoy in the evening.  Today was the Networking dinner at Yard House.  I was able to reconnect with a couple of people that I had met at SQL Saturdays as well as previous Summits.  I also had the chance to talk to a first timer, Monica, who wasn't familiar with our #SQLFamily.  It's always exciting to introduce someone new to the community!  Chris and I changed venues and continued an evening of socializing with more SQL friends until the east coast clocks starting weighing on my eyelids.

Overall my first day at PASS Summit was awesome and I can't wait to do it all again on day 2!