When I get busy, I tend not to write as much on the technical side.  So to enrich your MidnightDBA blog experience, I hereby present a tip or two before the big announcement.

• First, Paul Randal (@paulrandal on twitter, blog) says, "Don't shrink data files. Don't shrink data files. Don't shrink data files. Don't shrink data files. Don't shrink data files. Clear?"  Yessir!
• Next, yesterday someone requested some tips on performance tuning.  To start, here are the blog posts I've done so far on performance, here is a blog by Greg Larson "The Dos and Don'ts of Database Indexing", and of course there's always BOL. This is a topic I'll be focusing on more in the near future.

 So...Sean finished a big piece he's been working on, and he feels celebratory.  We'll have a drawing today at 5pm CST to win....wait for it....

the MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-433) on SQL Server 2008-Database Development!!

This is what we both used when we were studying for the 70-433. (And yes, we both passed!)

Entry in the drawing requires a little homework, but I bet you can handle it. Just watch the latest DBAs @ Midnight, "Companies Don't Care", and email Jen@JenniferMcCown.com with the answer to this question: Who did Jen say submitted a session to SQL Saturday?

Happy days,

Jen McCown

http://www.MidnightDBA.com