Why I blog

I enjoy blogging because it allows me to do the following:

1. Research & Experiment- I find that I am oftentimes testing the limits of SQL Server, or an idea, or something that someone else says or writes about.
2. Learn and then share ideas – I am always running into something, whether it’s a new way of doing something or finding a solution to an error. Learning and then publishing my findings is enjoyable for me.
3. Take notes – I can’t remember the number of times where I actually went back to my blog to find the answer to something…I forget just like the other guy and need a reference myself.
4. Have fun – If you have read any of my posts, you know that I keep it on the light-hearted side of things, and many of my blogs contain humor.

Blogging is for sure a lot of fun. I certainly enjoy learning, and then passing my findings along to others.  My mentor Don Bishop used to tell me to share everything and keep nothing to myself; back in 1998 I never knew why, but I do now. Thanks, Don.

From my adventures in blogging SQL Server topics, I'm finding that I do Research & Experimentation more than anything, whether it's a proof-of-concept or some wacked-out idea or premonition, and I make this conclusion because most of my posts seem to lean towards this category.  I should change my monker from "Sharing tips and tricks so that you might avoid the beatings that I've endured" to "Research & Experimentation, Sharing Ideas, and Fun".  There are many outlets for training these days - SQLServerpedia, MSDN, ASP.net, SQL Share , SQLServerCentral, and others - but few do the Research and Experimentation as I do on my site.

What is "Research and Experimentation" you ask?  For me it's simply doing something with our product that hasn't been done before, or taking an idea and moving it beyond a "Hello World" example. And I am also learning that this category many times leads to dead-ends, e.g. where nothing really comes out of idea.  I have probably a half-dozen topics right now that I am going to blog about that led to little or nothing, other than a conclusion, which might be along the lines of "don't do this", or "this was a bad idea", or simply "nothing came from this". Being creative is a refreshing outlet for me, but my plentiful ideas harvest little more often than not.

Going forward I'll probably throw in a little caveat that "hey this is an experiment" in some of my research blog postings, just to make sure that you know from what perspective the idea should be viewed.  I think of this now because I am going to put out a really cool post that perfectly fits this category, one that I spent quite a bit of time and effort on, that really went nowhere.  More importantly, though, I mention this now because a colleague of mine and good friend who assisted me on it - myself frustrated on the outcome - reminded me of the good that comes from these 'dead end' ideas.

As always, thanks for visiting.

Lee Everest