The Right Tool for the Right Job

Reminiscing

We’re two weeks into 2024 and I’m sitting here staring at my carousel M&M dispenser (it used to be full) of dark chocolate peanut M&Ms. Some people collect hats, stamps, or Lego sets. I collect M&M dispensers. I probably have 50 of them (and the dark chocolate peanut M&M is the ONLY way to go, btw), and I’m wondering what 2024 will bring.

And yes, that is a mic propped up on a mini Starbucks cup because my laptop mic sounds like crap. So I hooked that thing up, but it lacks a stand, so I’ll be ordering one of those.

Anyway, back to 2024.

I don’t want to turn this blog into a “look back at 2023” or “what could have been” post. I want to look forward. I mean, it’s 2024 and, barely two weeks in, a lot has happened. Microsoft has already released CU 11 for SQL Server 2022. Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick (two GREAT NFL coaches) were let go, and Nick Saban retired (a phenomenal college coach), all in the span of 24 hours.

Plus, for the past few days my laptop has been popping up messages that my Norton antivirus software has expired (and others), and I am not even running it. Looks like I’ll be paving my laptop this weekend. Ugh, welcome to 2024.

But honestly, I’m looking forward to 2024. From many perspectives, I think we are going to see great advancements, including in technology, that on one hand will make our lives easier, but also make our decisions a bit harder. My dad died last July, a week before his 90th birthday, and for the few months following, my bothers and I helped Mom clean and organize a lot of my dad’s things.

He had a lot of tools. A lot. It took us days just to go through his tools. I brought some back home with me. My dad had a really nice snow blower, because where he lived it snowed quite a bit, and he used it to clear the pathways of not only his house, but his neighbors’. He enjoyed bundling up and firing up his trusty mega snowblower 9000 (no, it’s not really called that), making mounds and piles of snow by clearing the sidewalks and walkways of his neighbors.

Where I live, it doesn’t snow that much, so I’m torn. I’d love for it to snow enough to justify firing up the snow blower, but I also DON’T want it to snow that much. When it does snow (like it did the other night), I’m looking at my inherited snow blower and snow shovels and wondering what the best tool for the job would be. My neighbors would probably get a kick out of seeing me fire that thing up for only a 1/8 of an inch of snow, which, if I just waited a couple of hours, would be gone anyway. *Sigh*

So, here I sit, two weeks into 2024, pushing the button on my carousel M&M dispenser waiting for it to drop out those precious dark chocolate peanut M&M’s, thinking about the upcoming projects and the technology available to me.

Do I use SSIS or Azure Data Factory? Would a particular client benefit from a distributed availability group? Why isn’t Query Store enabled at this other client? What about AI (have you seen the movies M3GAN and Moonfall?. Um, no.) I’m kidding a bit, because I just read a great blog post by Daniel Janik on how to use AI to generate test data in SQL Server.

Anyway, make 2024 a great one. Help others, be kind, play with awesome technology, and eat a bunch of dark chocolate peanut M&Ms (preferably out of a carousel dispenser).