This is an amazing idea, make our representatives dress up like Nascar drivers with their donors/political sponsors emblazoned on their clothes.  Imagine trying to push through some banking regulations with Bofa and Citi emblazoned on your chest. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aAFgqtwU4K2Y

I’ve got nothing better to do, I am going to be spending the next few months working on completing some certifications.  I figure I’ve got about 60-70% of the knowledge I need via real world experience, and I’ll really only have to cover things like hardware requirements, Service Broker, endpoints, XML, etc.

I’ve mapped out a quick plan to achieve my goals of MCITPs for Database Administration and Business Intelligence in both SQL Server 2005 and 2008.

MCTS – SQL Server 2005 – Exam 70-431

The first step on my path, and my introduction to many of the technologies that I’m weak with.  This one will take me a few weeks of study and practice.

MCITP – Database Administrator – Exam 70-443 (database design)

This one should be pretty easy.  Designing DBs is what I do, and I don’t think I’ll have much of an issue here.

MCITP – Database Administrator – Exam 70-444 (optimizing and maintaining)

 Basic database administration here, simple stuff.

MCITP – Database Administrator 2008 – Exam 70-453

 The upgrade to 2008, I’ll likely spend more time on this one, since it will cover the new technologies in SQL 2008 that I haven’t had much exposure to in the real world.  I’ll be forced to learn things like geospatial and temporal data handling, filestreams, and other bleeding edge technology.  I expect this to be one of the more enjoyable studies, but it may take me 2 months to get a hold of the material.

MCTS – Business Intelligence  – Exam 70-445

 This one should be difficult, as I am quite well versed in reporting services, but have almost no experience with SSIS and Microsoft’s ETL.

MCITP – Business Intelligence – Exam 70-446

 More of the same here, lots of new technology to learn with respect to Data Warehousing and Data Mining.  I don’t even know how much MDX I’ll have to learn to pass this one.  

MCITP – Business Intelligence Developer – Exam 70-455

 Since I’ve been quite interested in the capabilities of SQL 2008’s data warehousing, this one should be a really fun study.

MCAS Excel 2007 – Exam 77-602

The cherry on top of my certification stack, this will give me the basic Excel chops to extend my BI work on the desktop.

Once these are complete, we’ll have a look at the MySQL CMA exam, and possibly the Database Developer MCITP track.  Someday, maybe even the $20,000 3 week Master Certification for SQL Server 2008.  Has anyone looked deeply into this certification?  I’d be very, very interested in talking with you!

This is super cool.  Spend some time reliving memories related to Mac OS 7.1 on a SE30, and the entire thing is not emulated, it is written (painstakingly) in flash, and everything from the fun programs we all ran back then, like After Dark, to the sound of the modem dialing and connecting, have been recreated here.  I am impressed!

Mara, originally uploaded by wharrislv1.

Born December 16th, at 5:35am, 7 lbs 12 oz, Mara Isabelle Harris, my lovely new daughter!

OK so, the PS3 has DLNA capability, and this is great!  Set Windows Media player to share out, add everything to your library, and you’re set…right?

Wrong.

DLNA doesn’t really stream every format (MKV anyone?) and it has issues with large libraries of MP3s, which are becoming quite common these days.  It also doesn’t support Internet content like youtube videos, or hulu.com.

There are a few things you can run on your server that can help with this issue.

The first is tversity.  This amazing product allows for podcasting, vidcasting, live transcoding, and support for big libraries and custom folder interface on your PS3.  This product runs on windows, and streams to any device, invluding your cell phone, any web browser device, your Wii, your PS3, and on and on.  You can use it to stream out to the Internet, too, getting full access to your entire media library from anywhere in the world.

The second product is a new one, right out of beta, which supports Hulu, CBS, ESPN, Netflix online streaming, and Youtube.  This one is great, and I’m really excited to see it.  It will cost you $30, and is worth every penny.  It is called PlayOn, head on over to MediaMall’s site and check it out!

Another neat one is uSirius, a neat little app to interface your tversity software with Sirius satellite radio’s streaming online content.

Update : check out Krynsky’s post, which is everything mine should have been!