Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

Gathering Data Through Life
Every once in a while, I find a list of places posted on the Internet with a “how many have you visited?” question attached. This might be US states, countries, cities, or even attractions. I love traveling with my wife and having new experiences, and as we’ve gotten older, we value the experiences more than any physical things. It’s something that I hope we’ve passed on to our children as well.

My wife and I have been very blessed and have been able to travel a bit in life, though not as much as we would have liked with three children and a ranch of horses. We made it a goal about 6 years ago to try and visit a new country every year and experience life in another culture. The pandemic limited our travel for a few years, but we are starting to make plans to travel a bit more and gather some data for our minds.

We don’t actually get data to store in a database, but rather experience life, see and hear things, taste new foods, and hear new languages. The database in our brain gets a few inserts, although I’m not sure of the long-term retention and accuracy of those memories. A few bits get stored in the form of pictures, and one of the reasons I do like social media is that I’ll get reminded of times gone past on a regular basis.

Today, I’m wondering what data you might wish to gather through experiences? Is there something you have on a bucket list that you are hoping to experience in the next few years? This could be a place or an event. Perhaps there’s a concert or an experience. Skiing somewhere? Completing a class? Eating at an amazing restaurant? If you’re looking for inspiration, Brent Ozar has a list in his Epic Life Quest.

I’ve included a list of places below from the list that inspired this piece, and I have a longer list of places on my blog, but let us know what dreams you have to experience something in life.

Steve Jones

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

How many of these cities have you visited? (18 for me)
- New York
- Toronto
- Tokyo
- Bangkok
- Melbourne
- Mumbai
- Hong Kong
- Beirut
- Cairo
- Moscow
- London
- Munich
- Rome
- Copenhagen
- Berlin
- Milan
- Kiev
- Los Angeles
- Sao Paolo
- Istanbul
- Montreal
- Beijing
- Singapore
- Abu Dhabi
- Casablanca
- Dublin
- Prague
- Barcelona
- Amsterdam
- Budapest
- Athens
- Manila
- Las Vegas
- Vancouver
- Jakarta
- Shanghai
- Cape Town
- Stockholm
- Paris
- Vienna
- Glasgow
- Osaka
- Taipei
- Miami
- Santiago
- Seoul
- Dubai
- Lagos
- Warsaw
- Lisbon
- Auckland
- Hanoi
- Honolulu
- Perth
- New Delhi
- Rio de Janeiro
- Chicago
- Zagreb
April 29, 2022
Daily Coping 29 Apr 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 have a “no screens” night.

The modern world is hard on our society with the constant connectivity. I think it’s great in many ways, but I find far too many people occupied with a device and not interacting much with others. Or they are distracted in their interactions.

One of the things I like about our volleyball tournament trips is that my wife and I get out more and interact with others, using our devices less. She often still has her horse business clients to schedule or interact with, and our kids reach out, but overall we spend more time without screens.

Tonight I’m outside Reno, after a day of competition and I’m leaving my phone in my pocket. Unless a kid has an emergency in another city, nothing is as important as spending time with my wife and other coaches overlooking Lake Tahoe.

April 29, 2022
The Bucket List of Places
I wrote an editorial about gathering data for my brain through experiences. For me this is mostly through travel and going to places, but this could be through a particular experience. For example, I used to want to do an adult fantasy baseball camp, though that’s not on my list. Skiing in Japan, however, is.

I sat down and made a quick list here, things that stuck out in my mind, and I have an older bucket list, but I need to review and break some things down. I like some of what Brent Ozar has in an Epic Life Quest, and I might try to break my list into shorter term goals and longer ones as well.

In the meantime, I’m making a list of places I want to visit. These are in a variety of forms, some cities, some attractions, but all places I’ve thought about. Now we’ll see if I get there:
April 29, 2022
Daily Coping 28 Apr 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 enjoy moving to your favorite music.

It’s a travel day for me. I leave this evening for Reno to coach another volleyball tournament. This is our last competition of the year, so I’m going to try and enjoy things. We will be less focused on winning and more on having fun and getting kids to try new things.

I’ll be in the airport and traveling to Lake Tahoe where we’re staying on the lake. I’ll be with my wife, but I’m going to take some headphones and enjoy music a bit through the airport and on the journey. Maybe some foot tapping or grooving to music a bit. I bet she’ll join me.

Or laugh at me.

Either way, it will be a smiley-day.

April 28, 2022