Today is the 1st birthday of this blog!

It all began one year ago, during a Community Tech Days event on a cold winter day. Jacob Sebastian (blog) asked if I would be willing to share my experiences, thoughts and tips around Microsoft SQL Server via a blog. I had never blogged before, and therefore, I thought of giving it a go. Rather than repeating what’s already available in Books On Line, I decided to direct my attempts towards bringing to the community something new, something that comes right out of day-to-day experiences – something that every reader can use everyday.

I would like to mention the names of the 3 people from the community who have had a major role in helping me take that first step towards establishing my online presence. They are – Jacob Sebastian (blog), Pinal Dave (blog) and Vinod Kumar (blog). In addition, I would thank my dear wife, Ami and my respected parents, without whose love, blessings and support I wouldn’t have achieved this. Finally, I would thank my friends and colleagues at work who kept providing me feedback on my posts and encouraged me to write more!

Some milestones…

Some of the most memorable posts and experiences during the last year have been:

• The series on Underappreciated Features of Microsoft SQL Server
• Attended my first ever Tech-Ed 2011 at Bengaluru, India (Read more from the archives of March and April 2011 at: http://beyondrelational.com/blogs/nakul/archive/2011/03.aspx and http://beyondrelational.com/blogs/nakul/archive/2011/04.aspx)
• Presented an exclusive Microsoft Virtual Tech Days Webcast on the Underappreciated Features of Microsoft SQL Server
  • PPT here: http://beyondrelational.com/media/p/12497.aspx
  • Webcast Download:http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/0/C/60CBF7F0-5558-4C00-ACC0-ABFF25A92244/Day5_SQLServer webcast.wmv
• Book Reviews
  • SAMS Teach Yourself SQL in 24hrs, 5th Edition – http://beyondrelational.com/blogs/nakul/archive/2011/07/07/book-review-sams-teach-yourself-sql-in-24-hours-5th-edition.aspx
  • SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers – http://beyondrelational.com/blogs/nakul/archive/2011/12/19/book-review-sql-server-interview-questions-and-answers-by-pinal-dave-amp-vinod-kumar.aspx
• Guests Posts on SQLAuthority.com:
  • Securing TRUNCATE permissions in Microsoft SQL Server
  • Guest Post for Pinal’s series on Interview Questions & Answers
• Guest Posts on SQLServerCentral.com
• Connection Strings 101
• Deleting large number of rows from a table & a heap in a VLDB
• Microsoft Connect cases
• Physical file names in the Database Restore wizard should default to logical file names
• Cannot open/upgrade a solution created for SSMS 2008 in SSMS SQL 11 ("Denali") CTP01
• Table Designer – "User canceled out of save dialog" message appears – if "Prevent changes that require table re-creation" is checked
• Ability to import templates (deploy custom templates) into the Template Explorer
• sp_configure – "allow updates" should be an advanced option

There are lots of other posts that I have written over the last year and which are unique in their own right. Therefore instead of listing them here, I invite you all to visit my blog’s home page, and browse out through the archives. Some of my favourite posts are available here.

The journey that started a year ago has given me an experience that I can never forget. For a beginner, my first post, The Ghost of the Y2K received an astonishing response – 1371 reads in total! The current average daily readership for my posts is in excess of 700 reads/day! You, the community have showed your appreciation towards my efforts in bringing real-life, practically useful tips and easier understanding of concepts before you. I pray that you will continue showing your support as ever.

As an author, I love to hear your feedback. Whenever you read my post, do think about leaving your feedback – tell me what you liked, what you did not like and what you would want to read about in the future. You can remain in touch with me via My RSS Feed, via E-mail and via Google+ 

SQL Server and the SQL Server community rocks! Thank-you!

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.

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