PASS Summit - Day 4

Rise and Shine

When my alarm went off today I had just finished getting dressed after my post-workout shower.  That’s right....  once again that east coast internal clock had me up around 4:30am.  I headed to the convention center to work on my blog while enjoying a PASS pastry.  The blog had to wait because I promptly made friends with a gentleman from South Africa and another gentleman from the UK.  The conversation flowed and time flew(as it tends to do here at the Summit)!

Conferencing

The second keynote of the conference is rarely as exciting as the opening keynote, but I still love it.  While the first keynote of the conference focuses on the exciting technology that is yet to come, the second keynote focuses on the community.  There is recognition for those who are passionate about PASS and thank you's to the volunteers and community.  I think the best memory I will have from this entire conference will be watching Wendy Pastrick deliver the PASS finance report to the audience by singing her presentation to the tune "I Will Survive".  yeah... Wendy wins Summit this year :)

I was able to spend some time in the morning networking in the Exhibition Hall and visiting with the Microsoft Data Clinic before attending the Woman in Technology luncheon ( Always a great event!). 

My first session of the day was Bob Ward's "What's New in SQL Server on Linux and Containers".  Bob is sooooo smart and he is a fabulous presenter.  This presentation showed me how out-dated my personal tool-set had become.  I quickly installed VSCode on my laptop and now I'm challenged with acclimating, but I will get there!  Now that I have the proper tools I can start my journey with containers.

Next I attended "Azure Cosmos DB - Accelerate a Real-Time Big Data Solution" presented by Alexandre Bergere and Jonathan Petit.  Unfortunately I had a very difficult time understanding their french accents.  The content looked like it could have been promising for me, but I'm afraid I took away very little.  At the end I asked Alexandre what Cosmos DB offered that MongoDB did not and his answer was somewhat disappointing.  He said nothing at this time, but to watch for what more Cosmos DB has to offer in the next 6-12 months.  I can't really drive development towards Cosmos DB with vague statements like that.

My final session for the day was "Use Docker to Deploy SQL Server Applications" by Frank Geisler and Tillman Eitelberg.  This sessions was full of fabulous information and it's another one I will be re-watching when the session recordings come out.  I managed to get docker installed while I was in the session.  Now I need to dive in and start creating containers.  I'm pretty excited to expand my knowledge here!

Strangers are Just Friends I Haven't Met Yet!

I followed the sessions with a nice dinner at the Yard House with fellow Rochesterians and a couple of other folks I had never met before, but quickly became fast friends!  From the Yard house we returned to the conference center for the Pass Summit Games night.  Several DBA's were playing "Datavailopoly" which looked super fun!  The crew I was with decided to play "Munchkin".... turns out I love this game and it has nothing to do with me winning.  ha! 

Our table was having a blast, but the event time ran out and everyone had to leave.  We decided to keep the night going and grabbed an Uber to Bush Gardens for some late night karaoke which is an absolute must if you ever attend Summit.  The drinks, music, and laughs are non-stop!  We even got to see Wendy sing the real lyrics to "I Will Survive".

Day 4 was fantastic and as anxious as I am to get home, I'm also sad that tomorrow brings the end to the #SQLFamily fun.