Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • What Do I Do to Relax?

    I’ve republished an editorial today from another author, called What do you do to relax after work?

    I’m thinking about that a few weeks ahead, because I needed to schedule things. I’m on vacation now, hopefully enjoying Lisbon, Portugal with my wife. However, I thought this was a great question, so I decided to write something.

    First, I’m not great at relaxing. I enjoy things, but I like to keep busy. Outside of work, I try to do some traveling with my wife when we can arrange things. Before the pandemic, we wanted to visit a new country together each year. We did that for a few years, before getting stuck at home. This year we visited Germany, Italy, and now Portugal together. We’d each been to the former two separately, but not together. This trip is new for both of us.

    I coach volleyball with my wife as well. Really a second job, and a busy one for about half the year, but it’s a lot of fun for me and I do find it relaxing once in awhile, but I’m a type-A, charged person, so being busy and working on the problem of managing a team is fun.

    I go to the gym a lot, I’m often fixing things around the ranch, and I practice guitar. Those can be relaxing, but not always.

    Maybe the most relaxing thing is to read. I usually get close to 100 books a year, often sneaking in a few minutes here and there are I go through life and I have downtime. With the Kindle app, I always have books with me and I enjoy escaping life with a great book.

  • Daily Coping 9 Dec 2022

    Today’s coping tip is to find out something new about someone you care about.

    I took the time to do this at the recent PASS Summit. During events like this, I try to make time for new friends and also chat with longtime ones. I had the chance during one break to sit down with someone I’ve known for a long time. I don’t see them often, but I look forward to our meetings.

    For the first time I got to learn a bit more about their family and life outside of work, as we’ve often just chatted about work. It was a nice break from a busy week and a fun time to spend time with someone I care about.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.

  • Daily Coping 8 Dec 2022

    Today’s coping tip is to be curious. Learn about a new topic or an inspiring idea.

    My daughter pointed a new podcast out to me: What’s Her Name?

    This looks at women in history who are often forgotten. As I age, and learn more, I know that the old adage is true: the victors write the history. A lot of men dominated history and they have sometimes ignored women’s contributions.

    I grabbed a few episodes for my travels, to listen to as I’m moving around Europe this week.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.

  • Daily Coping 7 Dec 2022

    Today’s coping tip is to stop for a minute when you walk outside and just enjoy nature.

    It’s getting cold in Colorado, but we had a day recently that was 50F/10C. No wind, and a pleasant day, so when I came back from the gym, I decided to sit outside for a few minutes. The dogs enjoyed me throwing a ball, but I took a few minutes to sit and look at the world. Enjoy the bright, big Colorado sky, smell the fresh air, and appreciate the silence of country living.

    Quite a contrast from the last week in busy Cambridge.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.