Performance Tuning

Cantankerous   : difficult or irritating to deal with
<a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed 

Yep.... that is pretty much SQL Server.  Very powerful, but definitely a little hard to deal with from time to time.  I will even agree that she is female... but, I can't really explain that one.  Regardless, I've tried to list varied pointers here that I have learned over the years, pertaining to Performance Tuning.  There are many, many ways to do it.  Unfortunately, they are not all necessarily the right ways.  :-)