That’s a wrap on 2025

Weird, freaky year for me. I almost just left it at that, but I realized it might make me feel better about things to add some stats. I did not include the number of views/viewers/etc because I want to maintain the illusion of not caring for such things. I do care, but I also don’t really care. I am doing this for the fun of it, to help others, and occasionally to make money so I can visit a mouse who needs my money.

I am going to break this year into two halves. I will mostly only talk about the latter half, because the first half was (without sounding whiny), kind of a bummer, but there were highlights, and the bummer did lead to something old/new/revived.

The first half of the year

I really got rolling with writing again after my first two years at Redgate. During this time, I had spent mostly editing the work of others. I was proud of the writing and editing I did, and I never felt as if it wasn’t well-received. Things change, and I had coincidentally written a post about the subject of loyalty in mid-June.

The whole ordeal felt awkward because I just happened to be someone whose position meant I had to put my face/work/spirit out into the world, so when it ended, there was a good bit of awkwardness (mostly in my mind) that is largely over now.

Anyhow, in the first half of the year, along with editing other people’s work, I posted:

The podcast was a lot of fun this year as I had episodes with Kellyn Gorman, Grant Fritchey and Ryan Booz, and had recorded one with Steve Jones that went unaired, but Steve is a natural!

The latter half of the year

Total life reset. When the Redgate gig ended, I went back to CBN, where I had left to join Redgate. It was an easy decision because I love working there, and I love the project I am working on, which happens to be an extension of the one I had worked on just before I left.

However, it did leave a gap in my life for producing content. My position is on the BI team designing and creating software, not writing about it. And as you may know…I really like to write! So I started a new blog at drsql.link. I learned so much about WordPress from the Simple Talk updates that I have been able to create a relatively decent site and put out some interesting content. Hopefully, I will be merging this with my drsql.org site soon!

On the drsql.link site, in the final six months of the year, I have published more than I actually expected I would:

26 SQL Server oriented posts on various SQL Server topics, from Regex in SQL Server 2025, to some features I just learned about, and a lot more.
19 Editorial posts about various subjects from changing jobs, meetings, focus, etc.
14 Posts in a series called Feedly Friday where I call out the people I read in my feedly.com feed reader
24 episodes of my writing blog/vlog called Blogging for Programmers sharing tips for people who blog about programming stuff.
5 episodes of a new Tilting with Tuples podcast (5 more to be posted)
1 post on Redgate’s Learning Site about SQL Prompt

That last one is probably my favorite, because that and the fact that I rejoined the Redgate Ambassadors (used to be Friends of Redgate) pretty much reset my life completely.

Still Speaking?

I am still speaking at conferences, but I haven’t been as much this past year. At Simple Talk, we sponsored several conferences, and I typically only submitted a talk if I was asked. My goal was to represent the brand and look for new writers.

In the latter half of the year, I spoke at SQL Saturday Orlando, but that was all.

I missed the PASS Summit this year, which was a bummer, but on the bright side, it was the first time I missed that I was not recovering from some orthopedic surgery, so at least I wasn’t in a lot of physical pain at the time.

And I had just been to Walt Disney World with my friends at Dillos Diz, a theme park podcast that mostly about WDW of course, so I am not complaining that much! (My wife and I guest hosted the podcast once in 2024!)

Up Next?

Without revealing too much, as I haven’t finalized anything yet, but more of the same is definitely in order. It has been fun being back writing code, and it has been freeing writing blogs and making podcasts/vlogs for me.

Sometime soon, I will have my resolutions post after I have time to get myself pumped for the future.

Well, and also temper my expectations so I can also get some sleep! The first draft of this post may have been written on my iPhone laying in bed when I ought to be sleeping!

So Happy New Year, I hope your 2025 was great and your 2026 will be even better than the great that 2025 was and if it wasn’t great then 2025 is much greater than whatever 2025 did to you.

Note: The key picture for this blog is from one of the nerdiest/coolest things I have ever seen. May the Fourth at Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios after SQL Saturday Jacksonville… What a moment, one I didn’t realize would occur until I arrived at that spot by happenstance.