Sites and Videos Which Helped Me With SQL

Back in high school I hated math. Which was no problem since it hated me as well!

I made it into college on the strength of my verbal score on the SAT. My major was originally pre-med biology. Which meant that math would be a part of my everyday life. I either had to like it, and learn it well, or I wouldn't graduate.

I had to take an Intermediate Algebra course in order to be allowed into college. I studied for hours upon hours. In fact, one weekend my favorite singer from my favorite band was giving a concert. David Lee Roth from Van Halen would be a few miles away from me belting out the VH classics!

Alas, I had an algebra exam on that following Monday. Since I was so committed to my college career I skipped out on David's concert. I studied all day and night on both days of the weekend. What did it get me? A 57% on my algebra exam!

I ended up failing that class. (My university didn't kick me out though. They really were wowed by my verbal SAT!)

The instructor told me that I had to swallow my pride, and take an even lower level algebra class. He said I wasn't grasping the basics.

So....I took the lower algebra class. It was basically an introduction to algebra which any 9th grader could've pulled off. However, since I didn't pay attention to much of anything in the 9th grade I figured that now I had hope. Because this time around the old high school algebra circle I was going to FOCUS!

I passed that class with an 'A'. I retook Intermediate Algebra and got an 'A'. I took College Algebra and got an 'A'. I took Calculus I and II and got......yes, you guessed it...an 'A' in both classes.

I discovered that I was really good at mathematics. But it took swallowing my pride, and absorbing the basics at a level meant for a moron. By moron I don't mean a stupid person. I mean a person that just needs an explanation as simple as possible in order to understand.

I've found throughout the years that we techy folks like to impress people with overly complicated explanations. When I'm learning some new technology I HATE the overly techy talk. I want the common sense explanations. I don't care how smart you are, or how smart you think you are. Give me the basics. Don't tell me that, "The rock succumbed to the gravitational forces which surround and permeate the earth."

Just tell me, "The rock fell."

So it's with my seal of approval that I recommend the following websites/videos. ESPECIALLY the video by Derek Banas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPu6qV5byu4

For practice with explanations from basic querying to advanced querying try:
http://sql-ex.ru/

For every question you could possible have...even ones that expose your outright stupidity (yes, I mean me) try:
http://forums.mysql.com/