Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • A Shrinking Window and a Build Change

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

    Last week I wrote about the date slippage in the delivery timeframe for my Tesla. The original date window that had actual dates was Aug 14-Sep 3. That’s slipped, but not as much as I noted last week. As I returned from vacation, I got a notice that the window was set for Sep 7-9. What’s more, I had a VIN assigned, so I’m guessing the car is in, or near production. My guess it got built sometime this week (Aug 30-Sep3) and then dropped on a truck to arrive in Denver.

    That means from the earliest date, I’m slipped about three weeks and from the last date of that window, I’ve slipped a week. Not bad, and I’m definitely excited. The only downside is that I may be out of town on the 8th/9th, so I may have to schedule the pickup for Sep 13/14.

    A couple days later, I saw the date move again: Sep 2-Sep 8, so the car was definitely built and scheduled in some way to make it’s way from CA to CO.

    Then on Sept 1, I got an email saying that I could schedule the pickup. This was an automated tool, which only allowed me to schedule the 10th or 11th. Not the 9th, and not even the 13th.

    Strange.

    I reached out to the local Tesla store and told them I had a trip scheduled for those days. They ended up saying they do think the car will be there the 7th, and we scheduled a late afternoon pickup for that day.

    Less than a week now.

    The other item that changed was a notice when I signed in to check the date at the end of August. I got the statement that radar was being removed from this evolution of the car, which I’d see in the news. All of the Model 3/Ys built in late Q2 or Q3 (or most of them) would not have radar. A little disconcerting, but what do I know about the science of a self-driving, or assisted driving car.

    I had to agree this was OK, which I’m assuming means that my car got dropped into the official build queue when I clicked that.

    So far, I don’t know that I think about this, but I’ll see how the car drives and reacts in my care. To me, I’m mostly worried about tracking cars around me and deer/wildlife out in the country. I’m not expecting or looking for full self driving, nor do I plan on adding that for the time being. If I take road trips, I might try out the monthly subscription and see, but for now, I’m really looking to just enjoy the acceleration when I need it and the cool features of driving a big computer around.

  • Daily Coping 3 Sep 2021

    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 friendly chat with someone you don’t know well.

    I was on vacation recently, camping in Custer State Park in South Dakota. It’s a wonderful place, and I can’t recommend enough this as a place to visit at some point.

    In any case, one of the people working at the site was walking around, trying to help someone get their very large camper parked. While we watched them struggle to get into a spot, we chatted a bit. About life, the area, and more. It was a nice 15-20 minute talk with Josh, before he headed out for a week on his own break from work.

    I enjoyed the chance to talk to someone new, with a completely different view on life. He was moving from Chicago to South Dakota, and it I enjoyed our time. Hope I get to see him next year.

  • Daily Coping 2 Sep 2021

    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 find a way to pay it forward.

    Paying it forward is a way of doing something for others that you’d want someone to do for you. You are hoping to inspire someone else to do something for others, not for you.

    I’ve had a few people do this for me, sometimes buying me something or doing some favor without this being a trade. Without me doing something for them. They were looking for me to continue things forward.

    I’m in town regularly, but not often with crowds. I tend to go when there are less people around. Often I get coffee after yoga, but it can be late morning, so rarely is someone behind me in line.

    The other day that wasn’t the case, so I just decided to pay for the person behind me. this was in the drive through, so I told the person taking payment to let them know I was paying it forward, and I hoped they’d do the same.

    No idea if it worked, but it was a small thing. About US$12 to cover their order.

  • Daily Coping 1 Sep 2021

    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 share an article, book, or podcast that helped you.

    Lots of stuff helps me, but I‘ll pick an item that really got me to stop and think for a minute.

    Scott Hanselman interviewed Abel Wang a few months back. I never had the chance to meet Abel in person, but I have watched him present and speak many times over the years. I did host a webinar with him last year and had the chance to sit and talk with him beforehand. I always assumed I’d run into him at some event or at Microsoft and get to shake his hand.

    That won’t happen. Sadly, Abel passed away after a battle with cancer earlier this summer. Re-watching that interview, re-posted the day he passed, was a good reminder to me to not wait for some time to do things I want to do.

    I am trying to tackle parts of chores, not waiting for a big block of time. I’m making small strides in areas I am interested in without putting things off. I’m learning that there are some things I don’t care about, and I shouldn’t spend time there. I’m also starting to travel where I can and enjoy the time that I get with my wife. As limited as it is during the pandemic, I’m trying to just get busy living.