Sparks of sanity

This blogs moving to it’s new home

Chris — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:02:43 +0000

After being in doubt for quite a few months I decided to register a better domain name for my personal blog. As a result, this blog will cease to exist and all content will be relocated to my blog on http://www.christiaannieuwlaat.nl

SQL load image from file

Chris — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:49:04 +0000

Once in a while my colleagues ask me to change a jpeg image stored in a databaserecord, and every single time they ask I need to search all my sql files to find the query needed to do this. Maybe I’m not the only one who needs this, that’s why I’m posting my solution here… [...]

Passed the Microsoft 70–235 exam!!

Chris — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:08:12 +0000

Although I’ve been working with Microsoft BizTalk on a daily basis for about 5 years now, I didn’t take the microsoft exam for BizTalk until last friday. I’ve had the courses years ago, but I haven’t had the time ( I know it’s a lame excuse ) to take the exam. Last monday morning I [...]

SEO vs GO

Chris — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:37:10 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my blog, mainly due to the lack of spare time, but I really needed to spill my guts over this. Ever since webpages became indexed by search engines like Altavista, Excite, Lycos and Google there have been companies stating they know a lot about optimizing webpages so [...]

Sesame street knew Google before it existed

Chris — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:33:56 +0000

While browsing the web I ran into a really creepy movie on youtube. It seems sesame street’s cookie monster knew about google 27 years ago, way before it was founded [sarcasm mode] Maybe they were one of the funders of google?? [/sarcasm mode] Anyway, without further ado… the flick www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdRkdvKy5WI

SSIS Lookup component is case sensitive

Chris — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:24:38 +0000

The other day, i was working on a new SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) package to transform data from a production database to an analysis database. It worked quite well, i thought, everything seemed to work as it was supposed to when testing with a subset of data. So next up, live usage. And that [...]

default(T) vs null

Chris — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:35:51 +0000

When programming in C#, we often test if a variable is used in the following way: if (var != null) { // do the right thing } else { // fallback or raise exception } This works well if the variable is a nullable type or a reference type, but when the variable is of [...]

Now I’ll use shortened urls in my twitter feed

Chris — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:14:14 +0000

A small message just to let you know I now use shortened urls in tweets

The O of SEO

Chris — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:11:57 +0000

Let me first tell you I’m no expert in SEO ( for those who don’t know the abbreviation, it stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization ) but as it’s not that difficult to find a lot of information about it, I think I’m allowed to tell you what I think about it. In my humble opinion, [...]

Essential tools for .net development

Chris — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:52:39 +0000

Every developer has the need to use good tools from time to time. It makes the developer’s job a lot easier. In my experience as a .NET developer these are the really essential tools every (.NET) developer should have ( and use of course ). Red-Gate’s .NET Reflector ( http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/ ). This tool is in [...]