Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Daily Coping 2 May 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 an extra break in your day and walk outside for 15 minutes.

    It’s the weekend before May 2 and I’m coaching again all weekend. For the last few weekends I’ve done this, I usually find a way to work out on the first day (Friday), and then struggle Saturday and Sunday to find time. This time the schedule is slightly different, but since it’s also a smaller event, I can walk outside.

    My plan is to take a break between matches, which we usually have, and get outside a bit for a short walk. Matches tend to be in the 40-60 minute range, so I think I can out outside for a few minutes.

    In Vegas, it can take 10 minutes to get outside, so I didn’t really have a chance to go out during the day, but Reno is different.

  • Come to VS Live Austin in June

    I’ll be at VS Live this June to speak on a couple of topics. I love that city and I’m excited to  get back to an in-person event. You can join me from June 13-17 at the Hyatt Regency Austin for an in-person, fun event that covers a variety of Microsoft developer and database technologies.

    Register today with promo code: SPKAU15 and get US$400 off the 4 and 5 day conference admission packages.

    I’ll be talking serverless and graph databases, but there’s plenty of other sessions going on as well. Learn about C# and web apps, Entity Framework, Docker, and plenty of DevOps talks.

    VS Live is a smaller event, but packed with info, everyone is friendly and in the same hotel, and it’s a great chance to get excited about a variety of different technologies.

    Register today and I’ll see you in June.

  • Daily Coping 29 Apr 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 have a “no screens” night.

    The modern world is hard on our society  with the constant connectivity. I think it’s great in many ways, but I find far too many people occupied with a device and not interacting much with others. Or they are distracted in their interactions.

    One of the things I like about our volleyball tournament trips is that my wife and I get out more and interact with others, using our devices less. She often still has her horse business clients to schedule or interact with, and our kids reach out, but overall we spend more time without screens.

    Tonight I’m outside Reno, after a day of competition and I’m leaving my phone in my pocket. Unless a kid has an emergency in another city, nothing is as important as spending time with my wife and other coaches overlooking Lake Tahoe.

  • The Bucket List of Places

    I wrote an editorial about gathering data for my brain through experiences. For me this is mostly through travel and going to places, but this could be through a particular experience. For example, I used to want to do an adult fantasy baseball camp, though that’s not on my list. Skiing in Japan, however, is.

    I sat down and made a quick list here, things that stuck out in my mind, and I have an older bucket list, but I need to review and break some things down. I like some of what Brent Ozar has in an Epic Life Quest, and I might try to break my list into shorter term goals and longer ones as well.

    In the meantime, I’m making a list of places I want to visit. These are in a variety of forms, some cities, some attractions, but all places I’ve thought about. Now we’ll see if I get there:

      • Tokyo
      • Okinawa
      • Mt Fuji
      • Svalbard
      • Reykjavik
      • Antwerp/Bruges (planned 2022)
      • Lisbon
      • Rome
      • Florence
      • Venice
      • Cairo and the Great Pyramids
      • Istanbul
      • Cyprus
      • Jerusalem
      • Dubai
      • Cape Town
      • Johannesburg
      • Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro
      • Madagascar
      • Singapore
      • Bangkok
      • Phuket
      • Ho Chi Minh City
      • Kathmandu
      • Beijing
      • Shanghai
      • Great Wall of China
      • Nepal, Mt Everest, Tibet
      • Taiwan
      • Manila
      • Jakarta
      • Dubai and Burj Khalifa
      • Auckland
      • Santiago
      • Machu Picchu (scheduled 2023)
      • Easter Island
      • Rio de Janeiro
      • Lima
      • Buenos Aires
      • Costa Rica
      • Virgin Islands
      • Bermuda
      • Juneau
      • Cabo San Lucas
      • Prince Edward Island
      • Denali (Mt McKinley)