Completely off-topic

My globe-trotting brother has started a blog. He's currently hanging out in Moscow doing translation work for a big Russian firm, and while I'm not sure what the typical content will be like, he's a good writer, so it should be interesting.

http://russiatranslated.blogspot.com/

SQL Management Studio Setup

First off, I'm back at a desk after an excellent time in Europe - a whirlwind tour through Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, and Vienna. I may have to move to Vienna one of these days, and I may be seeking a trophy wife in Bratislava. So today is my second day at my new employer, an entity I have been informed prefers not to be named publically, so all references to it from here out will be oblique, or possibly substituted with "The Black Chamber."

In any case, I needed to start setting up my new desktop (that was already built when I got here, by the way, and with three (!) 19" monitors mounted on extremely solid articulating arms), and realized that I can never remember the miscellaneous settings I change in SMS to get it set up the way I like for maximum productivity. Generally I just stumble into them after I try to do something the way I usually do and it doesn't work. So like many other posts on this blog, this is purely for my reference purposes, and if it helps anyone else out, even better.

1. ProFont - Mike Forman introduced me to this, and I find it absolutely essential these days. I use it as my main text editing and printing font, at 9 point, and it's clearer and smaller at that font size than anything else I've found. I'll make it available for download as soon as I manage to get access to my own FTP server again. Until then, I'm sure it can be googled.


2. Environment->Keyboard - I add the following:
   
   
   
   • Ctrl+F1: sp_helptext
   
   
   • Ctrl+3: sp_who2
   
   
   • Ctrl+4: sp_spaceused


3. Text Editor->Plaintext - I change the tab spacing to 2. Just my personal preference.


4. Query Results->SQL Server->Results to Grid - I check "Display results in a separate tab" and "Switch to results tab after the query executes." I prefer having as much screen real estate as possible for both query and results, and I find it quick to switch between tabs with F6.


5. The Change Connection button - Another one from Mike, I use the Customize menu option to display the Change Connection icon as Image and Text, and change the Name from "C&hange Connection..." to "Chan&ge Connection...". This allows quick switching of the connection via the keyboard shortcut of Alt-G. The default name needs to be changed because Alt-H brings up the Help menu.

I know there are a few others, but I can't recall them at the moment.
UPDATE 2012-02-16
SET ARITHABORT OFF - refer to http://nyc-dba.blogspot.com/2012/02/query-plan-troubleshooting.html

UPDATE 2013-11-05
Fix the Management Studio tab text - http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2011/06/fixing-sql-server-management-studios-tab-text/

Change of Scenery

It's about that time again. The Big Corporation atmosphere wasn't turning out to be what I wanted, so I'm going small again, moving to [redacted], a hedge fund based in Dallas. I'll be in the New York office, where I'll be working with some very bright people, who will hopefully point out to me how little I know about SQL, databases, and computer science in general, and then help to further my education in these subjects.

I have no idea what the rules are regarding any further disclosure about my current and future employers, so that's all I'm going to say for now.