Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Daily Coping 3 May 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 find a fun exercise to do while waiting for tea or coffee.

    The last few months I’ve been making instant coffee many mornings. I know, I know, many of you think this is not something that’s worth drinking, but I like the taste of coffee and prefer something hot. I also am usually limiting myself to 1 cup of decaf, so I don’t want to brew a pot.

    While I wait for the kettle to heat up, I decided to try something different. Rather than red on my phone or play a short game, I decided to do some active stretching. The kids I coach often do these to get moving before practice or play.

    While waiting, I did some leg kicks, not too high, but a walking kick as I moved across the family room. Then going back with some butt kicks, though walking for me rather than jogging. Some high knees, some stretching side to side.

    Basically a slow version of what a high school volleyball player does. A couple minutes, just enough time for water to boil.

  • Daily Coping 2 May 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 take an extra break in your day and walk outside for 15 minutes.

    It’s the weekend before May 2 and I’m coaching again all weekend. For the last few weekends I’ve done this, I usually find a way to work out on the first day (Friday), and then struggle Saturday and Sunday to find time. This time the schedule is slightly different, but since it’s also a smaller event, I can walk outside.

    My plan is to take a break between matches, which we usually have, and get outside a bit for a short walk. Matches tend to be in the 40-60 minute range, so I think I can out outside for a few minutes.

    In Vegas, it can take 10 minutes to get outside, so I didn’t really have a chance to go out during the day, but Reno is different.

  • Come to VS Live Austin in June

    I’ll be at VS Live this June to speak on a couple of topics. I love that city and I’m excited to  get back to an in-person event. You can join me from June 13-17 at the Hyatt Regency Austin for an in-person, fun event that covers a variety of Microsoft developer and database technologies.

    Register today with promo code: SPKAU15 and get US$400 off the 4 and 5 day conference admission packages.

    I’ll be talking serverless and graph databases, but there’s plenty of other sessions going on as well. Learn about C# and web apps, Entity Framework, Docker, and plenty of DevOps talks.

    VS Live is a smaller event, but packed with info, everyone is friendly and in the same hotel, and it’s a great chance to get excited about a variety of different technologies.

    Register today and I’ll see you in June.

  • Testing or Learning

    All of us get into challenging situations. This might be a coding problem that we struggle to solve. It might be an argument with a co-worker. It could be feedback from a customer on how we dealt with them or maybe just how our app works. Our responses to a challenge might determine how we view the situation, our future actions, or even just how we react to life in the next few hours.

    When someone struggles or feels as though they have failed in a situation, they tend to react in one of two ways. They can view the experience as though it were a test and they didn’t pass. This is quite common among many people, who might become sad, angry, or defensive. They might defend their approach or look for an excuse. They might seek to put the whole situation behind them and move on. This is a common reaction and one I’ve had often.

    Like many people, I want to do well, and when I don’t, it can feel as though I’ve failed or I am being attacked. Whether because of my words, actions, or code, I know I’ve often reacted in a way that I somewhat regret. I will try to solve the problem better, apologize, or find some way to rectify the situation, but it still feels like some sort of personal failure.

    The other way to view the situation is a learning opportunity. Things didn’t go well, but how can I improve things in the future. How can I improve myself, or what can I learn? Maybe, more importantly, this reaction often has the person looking for a similar challenge and the chance to do better the next time.

    How do you approach a challenge? Do you view most things as tests or learning opportunities? I tend to view many things as tests, but I am trying to change and learn how to view them as opportunities to learn. When I don’t or can’t solve a problem, I look to find out how I can improve my thinking and skills and at least solve that problem in the future.

    Steve Jones

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