Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

Daily Coping 13 Mar 2023

Today’s coping tip is to start today by appreciating your body and that you’re alive.

I greatly appreciate my body today. I had a long weekend, with a lot of standing while coaching and everything felt tired and ache-y each morning. However, I’m getting moving with some gym time, with some better food, and I’m grateful that I can still do most of the things I want to do.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

March 13, 2023
A Better UI for the Tesla

Since I’ve had my Tesla Model Y, there have been a few things that changed in the UI. Some good, some bad, which is what I think about most software changes. This post talks about a few of these.

This is part of a series that covers my experience with a Tesla Model Y.

Side View

There are pretty near cameras that you can use in the Tesla. Before I got mine, I saw some people posting how they like driving with the cameras on, as they can see behind and to the side of them

At some point after I got my car, Tesla added an option to have the side camera appear when the turn signal was activated. I got a view like this one:

I thought that was pretty cool, but when I did this, the entire left side display jumped a bit to raise the car from the bottom of the screen to a point above the camera view. A bit jarring and annoying.

A few months later, another software update fixed this. I could still get the camera view, but I could also move it around, to allow me to choose where it appears. I picked this spot:

This allows me to see the view, but not have the car in the UI jump around when I signal.

Music Controls

I love music, and I love streaming Spotify in the Tesla as I drive around. It’s not a connection to my phone, but an app that logs into my account and streams independent of my phone.

However, when I first got the Tesla, the controls for music were on the far side of the (wide) screen.

It’s not a long stretch, but I do lean forward and right slightly to reach the next or previous buttons. I know I can use the steering wheel control, but that doesn’t always come to mind.

One thing that I appreciated was moving the controls to the driver’s side of the car, which you can see below.

What’s more, they added 3 cards for trip info and tire pressure to this same place. If I swipe left, I get the odometer trip stuff.

Small changes, but these made a nice difference in how I work with the controls as I drive the car around.

Customized Dock

Another change made to the UI and functionality was setting 2 levels of steering wheel heat. When I got the car, I could only turn on steering wheel heating or off. Now I have two levels of heat, which is pretty cool. I mostly use the lower level, but I can use the high level when it’s really cold.

However.

Getting to this means opening up the climate controls and then finding the steering wheel in the center. I have to press this twice to get from off->high->low. Not easy to do if I’ve started driving, and it’s distracting.

I can add this to the dock, along with other controls, which is cool. If I open the list of items, I see this:

These are all the items I can select.

Now, if I long press, I can edit, and then more controls appear.

If you look at the bottom, I’ve added the steering wheel heater, which is one of the 5 most used items for me. Now I can turn it on and off without having to open a larger menu.

A super useful item, especially for people that want to quickly control wipers. Not an issue in Colorado, but in other places, I know some people get annoyed they can’t turn these on with a button. They can, the left stalk button, but a screen button makes some people happier.

March 10, 2023
How Normal Is Your World?

The last three years have felt like a bit of a time warp. I’ll run into someone or reach out to a friend, thinking that I haven’t talked to them in a year or two. Then I realize that it’s been 4 or 5 years because the 2020-2022 time frame felt like a year or less. A long year, but still, less than the three years that passed.

Life is mostly back to normal for me, with travel, events, vacations, coaching, work, etc. all similar to the way things were in 2019. At the same time, I’ve changed and my life has changed. Some of this is aging, some is life moving on, but some is from the pandemic.

Spending so much time remotely has me a little less patient or excited about small trips, even around town. I cook more and my family is more often at home. My adult kids enjoy spending time with my wife and me. I appreciate family and time off more, which was good. These are positives for me.

Work is similar to 2019, but also different. Redgate is moving to a new, smaller office, and the culture of most people being there and eating lunch together is gone. We won’t have our SQL Servery in the new building, so I’ll be going out with friends, or bringing some sort of meal in when I’m at the office. I don’t like that.

I still get to visit customers, and more so this year than in prior years, but there are a lot more Zoom meetings and short, quick engagements than in the past. That’s a good thing, and I find it exciting.

At the same time, we have fewer events. Last year saw 18 SQL Saturdays, and we’re on pace to exceed that this year, but we’re far below the 100 a year from 2019, even adding in Data Saturdays and other events. Every event seems smaller than in the past, which is a bit disappointing for me.

Some people still wear masks, signs from the pandemic are still posted, and I find people to both be better and worse. They are more enjoyable at times, but at other times displaying more anger, argument, and selfishness than before 2020. It’s a weird mix, and I think the pandemic has people quicker to get upset at little things while being more tolerant in general. In general, the world feels normal to me, but slightly evolved from 2019.

Is life back to normal for you? It mostly is for me, though with one big difference. I appreciate life more, the people, the trips, the time, it all means a bit more after spending a few years fairly isolated and limited in many ways.

Let us know today.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

March 10, 2023
Daily Coping 10 Mar 2023
Today’s coping tip is to notice three things you find beautiful in the outside world.

I haven’t been outside a lot lately. It’s been cold and I’ve been busy working, coaching, and even traveling inside a lot. Not spending much time outside, so I had to stop and take a few minutes the other day.

The things I noticed:
1. After a light snow, the trees were sparkling with just a light coating of frost. Everything looked bright, clean, and fresh.
2. The air, while cold, was crisp and refreshing. If you weren’t out too long. At 12F, it gets cold quickly.
3. The sky was cloudy and gray, but bright in the early morning. This was at 6am and everything looked like a bright Ansel Adams print.
I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.
March 10, 2023