Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Daily Coping 26 May 2020

    I’ve 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.

    Today’s tip is to share an inspiring quote with others to give them a boost.

    I love quotes. One of the things I’ve been doing across the last year is not to just wish someone a Happy Birthday online, but find a quote that I think applies to them and gift it to them.

    There are some quotes I used often. Amazon once sent me a bookmark (when those mattered) with the quote “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” I love reading, and that one stays with me. Not very inspiring, but memorable. These days my books live in my mobile.

    Hope for the best, plan for the worst, from a Lee Child series, is one I always think about, but really that’s not inspiring either.

    When I think about inspiring someone, especially my kids or the kids I coach, I think about what has helped me in life. I’m certainly a grinder, someone that plods along and works hard. I’ve never been afraid of hard work, sometimes working too much. I’m not the smartest, or the quickest, but I do get things done.

    One quote that stands out to me is this: 千里之行，始於足下

    which is probably more familiar to you as: a journey of a thousand Chinese miles starts beneath one’s feet.

    I try to move forward. I have learned to relax and stop working, especially outside of work hours. I’ve learned to flex my schedule, taking care of things when needed, but also meeting the milestones and deadlines for my commitments at work. I’ve also learned to work across time, not being discouraged by a lack of progress today or daunted by a large undertaking.

    At least at work. I’ve gotten good there. In the rest of my life, I’m still learning, which is why this quote is something that inspires me. Hopefully this inspires you as well.

  • Building Better Software for Everyone

    When I first started to use the Internet, everything was text. We used Archie and Gopher, crawling through Usenet lists, with most everything in text format. When the WWW gained popularity with Netscape and visual browsing, this was just a new way of getting information for me. It made sense, and seemed easy.

    These days, using the WWW is something many of us do without a second thought, browsing on mobile devices as well as large computer screens. Many of us have become used to transacting business and using software as a tool throughout much of our lives. However, that’s not easy for many people, including lots of those with some sort of disability. To them, much of the content available seems disjointed and disconnected.

    Not too long ago the US Supreme Court let a ruling stand that notes the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to online content. Plenty of web developers and designers might decry the additional work they may have to undertake to comply, and certainly lots of companies would rather not spend any resources, or few, in this area. However, this is something that has started to matter more to me over time.

    I’m getting older. At 50+, my eyes and ears don’t work that well. I find myself struggling at times to consume the information on a screen. More than once I’ve gotten annoyed with the text on the screen and tried to zoom in, only to have everything get larger, requiring me to scroll left and right to read something. What happened to the reflow of text on the WWW when we zoom in?

    There are ways to change font sizes, and I find myself taking advantage of them more and more. However, there are many people with disabilities that are harder to overcome and they expect that websites and apps have accessibility features. I’ve seen no shortage of complaints that too many software designers are highly connected, physically capable 20 and 30 year olds, who design for themselves, not for a wider audience with varying needs.

    I am trying to do better. I don’t want perfect to be the enemy of good, and I know that some of the content on SQLServerCentral isn’t as accessible as it could be. When I find things pointed out, I work to change them, and I also am trying to do better with images and media content to be more compliant. As I’ve grown older, I appreciate more and more that my work gets used by many people, and the way they interact with the computer isn’t the same as mine. Accommodating them just seems like the right thing to try to do.

    Steve Jones

  • Daily Coping 25 May 2020

    I’ve 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.

    Today’s tip is to share photos of 2 things you find meaningful or memorable.

    I’ve got lots of photos, but I’ll share two work related ones.

    483533_10200536364880508_165645237_n

    Before SQL Saturday Albuquerque, a few of us drove to Taos to ski for a day on Friday. We did this twice over the years, and it was an incredible memorable time with friends from Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and more.

    The other photo that I think about a lot as a memory of work is this one. I had a lot of fun putting this together with people from Redgate, it makes me smile every time I see it.

    dbateam8

    What photos are memorable for you?

  • A Byte of Redgate–Bonus Queso Recipe

    As part of the Community Circle effort at Redgate, we’ve released a cookbook: A Byte of Redgate. You can read about the story in this blog, and it was a fun project. Andy Warren had the idea and I suggested it for us since Redgate has a baking club, a cake club, a cooking club, and probably more.  We even have a real cookbook author, Dave Rook.

    You can download the free book (pdf/epub), and it includes a guacamole recipe from me. However, I had a bonus recipe that I sometimes make with the guac. I don’t do this too often, as it’s not the healthiest dish, but my family loves when I do.

    If you want to enjoy a Mexican-American themed Memorial Day, you might enjoy this with the guac, some chips, and a refreshing drink. That might be all you need for dinner today.

    Ranch Queso

    The ingredients needed are these

    • 12oz sharp cheddar

    • 4 oz cream cheese, softened (room-ish temperature)

    • 1 Tbsp cornstarch

    • 1 Tbsp butter

    • 1-2 jalapenos, diced

    • 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

    • ½ small yellow onion, finely diced

    • 2 cloves garlic, minced

    • 1 ½ cups half and half. I often use half milk and half whipping cream

    • optional – chorizo

    Instructions are fairly quick, but require you to pay attention for a few minutes.

    1. Optional – cook the chorizo and set aside

    2. Grate the cheddar cheese first, set aside. I usually hand grate from a block, but you can use shredded is you wish.

    3. Chop up the onion and jalapenos

    4. Open the chipotle peppers and have ready.

    5. Set aside a tablespoon of corn starch

    6. Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat

    7. Add the butter, as this starts to melt, drop in the onion, jalapenos, and garlic, stirring for 3-4 minutes

    8. While this heats, I usually chop the chipotle peppers

    9. Once the vegetables are softened, but not browned, add the half and half and chipotle peppers

    10. Stir to combine everything. As this gets heated, add the cornstarch and mix in thoroughly.

    11. Lower the temperature to low. For my gas stove, not quite the lowest setting, but pretty close

    12. Next add the cream cheese in small chunks and stir to combine.

    13. Once this is combined, start to add the cheddar, stirring to combine. The mixture should then thicken.

    14. Pour into a bowl and serve. Optional, drop a spoonful or two of chorizo on top

    This usually makes about twice when my family of five will eat with chips before dinner, so I drop rest in plastic and reheat a day or two later.