Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Daily Coping 19 Sep 2022

    Today’s coping tip is to make time to remember if you’re busy, allow yourself to pause and take a break.

    I’m in the UK today, and at the Redgate office for part of the time. One of the things that I like to do when I’m there is walk outside for a few minutes. Being back in an office is very stimulating, and it can be hectic for me. I’ll often schedule a lot of meetings to get time with people while I’m there.

    I’ve learned a couple small breaks outside relax me during a stressful time. I’ll take a couple of those today.

    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.

  • Tesla Warranty Service for Trim

    This is part of a series that covers my experience with a Tesla Model Y.

    I noticed a problem on the driver seat of my Tesla a month or so ago. The trim piece around the side of the seat was loose. It appears a piece of the trim cracked off.

    20220818_140751

    I picked the Service tab in the app and started to schedule things. I went through a couple menus to note this was interior to the car and a seat issue, then typed a few sentences to describe the issue. I uploaded this picture, and then was given the option to schedule service at one of the service centers.

    Apparently this didn’t qualify for mobile service, which is fine. I picked one of the service centers near me (both about the same distance) and scheduled a date and time about a week out. I could have picked a time 3 days out, but that didn’t work in my schedule.

    Communication

    I got a few messages in the app during the week. First, one a day later to ask that I confirm I still want the appointment. A day or two later, they sent a note asking which seat, to confirm the driver seat. Then they sent an estimate of US$58, though noting this might be covered under warranty.

    I approved them all as I assume I can argue the warranty thing in person.

    I also got a note the day before that they were thinking this might take a couple hours with their load and letting me know that they were giving me ride share credits.

    The Appointment

    The morning of, I drove to the service center. I parked the car, and as I walked up, I checked the app. A new message showing me how to get a rideshare credit with Uber. No loaners, but that is nice.

    I checked in with the reception person and then walked away. No need to give them a key. Apparently they have geo-fenced service keys for the Tesla Service Centers. Cool, also slightly disconcerting.

    In any case, I worked for an hour and then had another appointment, so I called an Uber.

    When I returned to Tesla, I realized I didn’t have my wallet, so I wanted to grab it. I went in the app to check the location and saw this:

    Screenshot_20220823-104631_Tesla

    Interesting. The car is in service and I can’t see app functions. I walked over to where I’d parked and it was still there. My phone worked as a key, and I could get in, but an “About” screen was visible, not the normal view. Also, a notice that the car was speed limited at this time, which is probably a good thing when techs are 20-something and have the opportunity to test a Plaid Model S for some reason.

    In any case, glad I could get my wallet for lunch instead of playing the “where will my NFC phone work” game.

    I went to lunch and about 30 minutes later I got a text that there was a message in the app. I checked and they said my car was done. They provided a message that told me where the car was located. I walked over, checked the repair (looked great) and drove away without talking to anyone at the end.

    The repair was covered under warranty and I got an invoice for $0.00 in the app.

    All in all a good, albeit slow, experience.

  • Daily Coping 16 Sep 2022

    Today’s coping tip is to make time to aim to be good enough, rather than perfect.

    I find that many of us that work in technology want a solution to be great. Often perfect. Computers are so good at following instructions that we expect them to work as we intend all the time. We aim for this perfect in our code and we find “good enough” to be a low bar.

    However, good enough means to me that it is good enough for most situations. It’s not leaving something unfinished or undone, but finishing something that works well. I often tackle chores in this manner, usually because of time crunches.

    Recently I was traveling a bit. I was gone from home for 15 days in August, and during those stretches, it rained quite a bit. The grass grew near the house, and I came home from a trip with a few commitments and kept delaying cutting it, thinking it would just take a few minutes and I’d get to it. With another 8 day vacation, I ran out of time and left town.

    I came home to grass that was really high, but I had other priorities. I needed to fix our gate, as my wife is using the front pasture and we need to keep horses in. Another busy weekend, and I got to the grass Sunday afternoon. I cut it and then needed to rake up the excessive clippings. As I did, I realized that there were a few stretches that had gotten weighed down and as I rake them, they stood up a bit. Not a clean lawn.

    However, it was good enough for the weekend. I still needed to edge with the weed trimmer, so I left them, finished edging and walked away. I can go back later this week and recut the lawn, even though most won’t need it.

    Good enough for today.

    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 15 Sep 2022

    Today’s coping tip is to make time to do something you really enjoy.

    I do enjoy life, and I’m lucky that I have the chance to do a lot of things that I enjoy. One of those is watching and coaching volleyball. Technology helps here in a few ways, which lets me cope with a busy life.

    These were on two days, but both were enjoyable times for me. First, thanks to cheap bandwidth and streaming technology, I was able to watch my daughter play volleyball in New York. My wife and I got up early and spent an hour watching her play last Saturday before we got on with our day.

    Second, I left work a touch early to go watch high school volleyball, seeing a kid that I will coach this coming season play for her school. It’s a fun, enjoyable time, and one of the few times I can cheer for this kid without looking for ways to improve.

    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.