The Current Invitation

The current invitation (June 2025) is for T-SQL Tuesday #187. The next invitation should be released on July 1st.

Invitation from Joe Fleming

For T-SQL Tuesday this month, someone made the mistake of allowing me to host! I’m curious about how you solve problems.

If we’ve never met, I’m an independent SQL Server consultant in the Detroit, Mich. area. I ran the PASS user group for this area until about 2018. I have a fondness for one of the features of SQL Server that tends to produce really strange errors: Replication. I enjoy mentoring, and I have a weird sense of humor.

I like to think of myself as a pretty good problem solver. I have always been curious about how things work. According to my mother, when I was around 4 years old, I took the doors off of all the bedroom entrances in the house. My dad was a mechanic, so finding a screwdriver and causing havoc was a trivial operation for me. I was fortunate to have parents who encouraged and supported my curiosity, though it did occasionally lead to a raised voice or time spent alone with my thoughts.

I’ve mentored people in problem solving and watched top notch people fix strange problems. I’ve learned a ton just by watching over the shoulders of someone who does manage to fix my problem, and experimenting with their techniques on my own, later (and not in production!). One of the most satisfying ways to learn a new approach is to ask, “What was the thought process that led you to that conclusion?” Whether the conclusion is correct or not, I’ll often pick up something of value to my future attempts at problem-solving.

T-SQL Tuesday Prompt

For this month’s T-SQL Tuesday, I want to hear: What’s a strange or unique problem you encountered and resolved, and how did you identify the cause/resolve the issue. What was your thought process?

While SQL Server is the main focus of this blog, I’d like to keep it open to people of all experience levels and perhaps attract new bloggers as well. So if you solved a tricky non-SQL problem, I’d love to hear the thought process for that as well.

  • Was your car making a funny noise that no one could identify?
  • Did you find your washing machine dancing across the mudroom floor?
  • Did your “smart” thermostat decide to set the temperature to “Siberia?”
  • Was your cow being stubborn about coming out of the barn?