Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Daily Coping 24 Jun 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 get outside and find joy in being active.

    My ankle is doing better. I managed to go this whole week without a cane for assistance, including a work trip to Austin.

    I took advantage of this to walk alongside the Colorado River in Austin. enjoying the cool(er) evening air. Since I’ve been limited in my mobility, this was a great chance to enjoy the outdoors in a very neat place, watching people enjoying the city life and the river.

  • Daily Coping 23 Jun 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 look for something good in a difficult situation.

    I had ankle surgery a few weeks back. Actually, it’s almost a month and things are going well. However, the first two weeks I was in a boot and supposed to avoid weight bearing where possible. The next week was beginning rehab, but still being careful how much I used the joint.

    In that time, I had to travel to Germany, camped in Nebraska, and flew to Austin. Across those trips, I had to maneuver with a cane and wheelchair, navigate planes, steps, ferries, trains, carry bags, and more. It was certainly difficult at times. My ankle ached, My right arm and wrist were sore from using the cane to support myself, and I was slow. I couldn’t do things that I normally do, or if I could, I moved at half speed.

    Still, I got to go to Germany and speak at a conference. I got to go camping with my family and enjoy a beautiful view of nature. I got to go to Austin, speak at an event, meet people, and see my cousin.

    I had a lot of good, even if it was difficult.

  • A Big Year on the Road

    Someone asked me recently about my travels this year, and I listed out the trips I’ve taken. So far, I’ve been to these airports on trips away from home:

    • LHR
    • SYR
    • LAS
    • ORD
    • RNO
    • LAX
    • JAX
    • LHR
    • BRU
    • AMS
    • AUS
    • AUS (2nd trip)

    Today I’m in Austin for for the second week in a row, this time visiting the Redgate office space.

    Still to come this year, that I know of, are these:

    • EWR
    • SEA
    • LAX
    • HNL
    • LHR
    • SYR
    • YYC
    • MCO
    • MCI
    • SEA

    There are a couple other possibilities,. including 1 or 2 more LHR trips. I’ll also likely get another LAX and AUS trip in somewhere to visit Redgate offices.

    I don’t know if this will be the biggest year of travel for me. In 2019, I flew 144k miles in the air. My current total from this query of data I keep:

    SELECT top 10
      YEAR(u.Transaction_Date) AS FlightYear
      , SUM(u.PQM)
      , SUM(u.miles)
      FROM dbo.United AS u
      WHERE u.Activity_Type = 'Airline'
      GROUP BY YEAR (u.Transaction_Date)

    is 118k, but this is with a lot of bonus miles. I’ll need to parse out some of the bonus stuff to figure out how much I fly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up with around 100k miles this year.

    Unfortunately, the downloads from the airlines don’t separate out bonus miles, so I think I need a little data modeling adjustment to figure out my trips.

    With things reopening, this feels like a big year, and I am looking forward to all of these trips.

  • Daily Coping 22 Jun 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 take time to notice things you find beautiful.

    This probably doesn’t look like much:

    20220618_132029

    It’s a new manure spreader. It’s a work of engineering and art, at least compared to the old one. We’ve had the same one for 15 years, and it was small, the bottom rusting out, the wire cables that operate it were frayed a bit and I’ve had no shortage of scratches and cuts while using it.

    I didn’t use it often, but each time I did, I wished we had a new one. Or that I’d have time to take things apart and replace them. I never did, but it eventually rusted the bottom and we bought a new one.

    Seeing this in action is beautiful, and while I don’t relish the chore of spreading manure, I am think it will be more enjoyable when I do need to use this device.