Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

Charge Costs at Tesla Superchargers

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

I finally had a charge for a Tesla Supercharger. These re the public, high speed chargers that Tesla has put all over the world, which can add 200-500miles of range per hour to your car.

I mostly charge at home, as you can see from my log:

However, last weekend my wife and I were in Keystone, CO and driving over to the Winter Park Jazz Festival each day. The drive takes about 20% charge each way through the mountains, so we charged each time we were in Silverthorne on the way to/from Keystone.

I got 1000 free miles of Supercharging when I bought the car with a referral code from Glenn Berry. While I haven’t charged away from home much, we have a few times. This time we got part of one session for free, and then charges started. I don’t know why my logger doesn’t have the charges, but I see them in my Tesla Account.

US $0.43/kW, with my car having 75kW of capacity. The 50kW charge was from around 15%-80% ish. We plugged in the car and walked over to have dinner nearby. This was close to a fill up for just over $20. Not cheap, but not bad.

The prices for “fuel” here seem to vary around the country, and possibly by time. I’ve seen reports in CA of lower and higher values ($0.29 – $0.58). I was expecting something more like $0.28-$0.30, but in the mountains, early evening, things were different. The average reported here is higher, so I can’t complain.

I definitely plan on charging mostly at home, and using the public chargers when I don’t have a choice. I haven’t successfully charged at a non-Tesla charger yet (tried twice, once failed/broken, one too slow), but I’m sure I will one of these days.

July 29, 2022
Being Reasonable

The last two years have changed the way many of us work in technology. The pandemic allowed many of us to work remotely, a challenge that many companies are struggling with. Or perhaps, management is struggling with and employees appreciate. In any case, no matter what your situation, the way we work has changed.

The change wasn’t easy at times, and even though many people appreciated the extra time in their day from not commuting to work, they often had other challenges. Co-existing with others in a residence, finding a place to work that allows concentration, and even learning how to separate work from home life. These have been issues for many data professionals and other technologists. Even if we’ve had an easy time adapting, not all of our colleagues have felt the same way.

One of the core values that we have at Redgate Software is being reasonable. It’s a somewhat amorphous value that I didn’t know how to interpret or act on at first. Our former CEO repeated this often in updates, to the point where I have heard other management and employees use the verbiage in meetings on a regular basis.

I think as a company, we’ve learned how to be reasonable with others. We don’t overly rely on policies or rules to guide us in how we accomplish work and interact with each other. Instead, we use judgment, and managers are flexible in their interactions with employees. As a Type-A, driven American, it has sometimes felt strange to not have everyone trying to outwork everyone else. It was an adjustment for me.

The idea is not that we do little work or avoid work, but that we avoid working too much. It’s not about the hours anyone puts in, it’s the contribution they make to their department. No one watches the parking lot to see who’s in the office or who’s logged in. Instead, we expect people to manage themselves, meet their commitments, and be accountable for the tasks they’ve been assigned. At the same time, we cover for each other and support the team. We’ve had people out sick, out for maternity/paternity leave, or struggle with other life-altering issues. The rest of their team will help cover for someone, knowing they will do the same for us.

We treat each other as humans, have empathy for others, and act towards others as we would want to be treated. At the same time, we have goals and missions to drive us forward to build a better company. We find balance in how we do this, and it’s worked very well for over 20 years. In many ways, it’s how I try to live life. There are good and bad days. There are busy ones, some hectic, chaotic times, but also slower times when I can recover and recharge.

It is really hard to describe what being reasonable means, and at times I am not quite sure how to act in a situation, but I try to put myself in someone else’s shoes, see their point of view, and then decide how I would want to be treated. That usually guides me as to how I should proceed. It’s worked well for 15 years for me and I look forward to being reasonable for the next 15.

Steve Jones

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

July 29, 2022
Daily Coping 29 Jul 2022

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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.

Today’s tip is to identify what helped you get through a tough time in your life.

I’ve mostly had a good life, but there were definitely some tough times. However, what has helped me, or what I did to cope changed over time.

Earlier as an adult, I had financial struggles at times. I used stubbornness and persistence to make my way through things. I took two or three jobs to make ends meet and overworked myself. I know I’ve had more than my share of 100+hour weeks.

When I was struggling early in my first marriage, I went to counseling with my wife. I leaned on a therapist, first together, then on my own to help me come to terms with the need for a divorce.

When COVID hit, I found myself in a strange place. A telecommuter of 20 years that wasn’t used to being at home for months at a time. I leaned on my wife and kids to distract myself from the sameness. I also focused on cooking more food for the family, which was good. Unfortunately, I also drank too much alcohol while cooking. Luckily, I’ve gotten better and less drinking and healthier food as the pandemic stretched on.

Coping can change over time. What worked at one point in my life, might not work later, or might not be appropriate. I have tried to approach things this way, changing when needed: “strong opinions, loosely held.” When I need to change, I will.

July 29, 2022
Daily Coping 28 Jul 2022

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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.

Today’s tip is to if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

I’ve been working on growing SQL Saturday back to a series of events that make the world better for data professionals. My business partners and I started this idea, grew it, and gave it to the PASS organization. When they failed, I got the new owners to donate it back to the community and it runs as a 501.c.3 US chartable foundation.

At the beginning of 2022, I was hoping for 10 events. Early in the year, I wasn’t confident about this. As of a couple months ago, I was confident in 10 and possibly more. Now, we’ve got 8 on the schedule and 4 completed. A couple more might come about.

There are two things happening now that I can’t change. One is that a few people are upset about SQL Saturday, mostly because of the mismanagement by the PASS organization. I’m working to change minds, but I also know I can’t get upset by their emotions and feelings. All I can do is show that I run the franchise differently and hopefully get them to realize that.

The second thing is that a few people are still nervous about events. That is understandable, and I have worked to remember that my view of the world isn’t more or less valid than theirs, and I need to work with them. I have learned to accept their decision not to run events if they are concerned.

July 28, 2022