Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • The Car Game

    I started this on Facebook, privately with friends. I heard about it from one of them and liked it. I didn’t get many guesses, so I took a chance and posted on Twitter.

    Some good guesses, but I decided to drop it here as well. Leave a comment with your guess. Play along if you like and give me a trackback and I’ll take my guess.

    The Game

    The game is to list some cars you’ve owned in your life (or your family has) and add a fake one. List however many you want, include years if you’d like/

    Here’s my list. Use the number when guessing. I added more and included some years, where I knew them.

    1. 1988 Porsche 911
    2. 1991 Acura Integra
    3. 1977 Pontiac Bonneville
    4. 1980 Chevy Suburban
    5. 2004 Honda Odessey
    6. 1974 Porsche 914
    7. 1977 VW Scirocco
    8. 1990 Isuzu Trooper
    9. 1982 Saab 900
    10. 2007 Dodge Durango
    11. 2010 Chevy Silverado
    12. 2011 2500 Dodge Ram 3500
    13. 1991 Mercedes 240D
    14. 2007 Toyota Prius
    15. 2010 Toyota Prius
    16. Pontiac Station wagon
    17. Ford F250
    18. 1997 Isuzu Trooper
    19. 1984 Chrysler Town and Country
    20. Jeep Grand Cherokee
    21. 1980 Pontiac Bonneville
    22. Yukon XL
    23. 2001 Chevy Suburban
    24. 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan

  • Daily Coping 10 Apr 2020

    I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

    Coping today is to make time for self-care. Do something kind for yourself.

    Hmmm, what can I do here. I already do a lot for myself, but I’m going to do some baking on Friday afternoon. I find cooking and baking relaxing, especially after work and working out, and with an adult drink. Since there’s no going out, I’ll spend some time in the evening making something.

    My daughter is gluten sensitive, so a lot of the traditional way I’ve cooked things for most of my life doesn’t apply. This is especially true for baking. I did get a cookbook from Nicole Hunn for small bites that I’ve made a few things from.

    This week, I think I’ll tackle a cheesecake made gluten free. That would be a nice treat.

  • Daily Coping 9 Apr 2020

    I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

    Today the tip was to make some progress on a project that matters to you.

    Fortunately, I had a timely delivery today. This has been my desk and chair.

    20200409_121155

    I heard a truck this morning and then got this:

    20200409_114145

    I’d been meaning to upgrade my situation for some time, ever since I visited Glenn Berry and sat in his chair.

    I opened the box to a nice greeting.

    20200409_114425

    Took a break to assemble things.

    20200409_115423

    And voila

    20200409_121315

    Way more comfortable and I can physically see a difference. Next up, I need to spend some time putting up a better charging station to organize my desk. This is the current one:

    I’d like something more like this, with more room to organize part of my desk

    2020-04-09 12_38_06-(281) Pinterest

  • Webinar: How to unlock the value of frequent deployments

    I’m doing a webinar next week, on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, that looks at some of the learnings from the 2020 State of Database DevOps report. I’ll be discussing how frequent deployments can bring your organization more value from its software. I’ll talk about:

    • Practices associated with higher code quality for frequent deployers
    • Coding patterns that enable you to use smaller deployments
    • How to correct defects more quickly
    • How these patterns enable you to focus more on features and value-added work

    You can register here for this webinar now and I’ll see you next Wednesday at 4:00pm BST/11am EDT/8am PDT.