Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Daily Coping 13 Jul 2020

    I’ve 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.

    Today’s tip is to  make a list of things you’re looking forward to doing during a break from work.

    When you’re working at home, it’s important to take breaks. I’ve gotten pretty good at not sitting at my desk all day, but it’s easy for me since I don’t work with others too often. As a result, I can flex work.

    My short list during workdays is:

    • exercise
    • cooking

    I will often take a few minutes after finishing some task to tackle a chore, or take a slightly longer break to set up lunch or dinner or exercise. My gym is open, and I go 2-3 times a week, but mostly continue to work out at home.

    A better list might be what I will do on a vacation day. For those, I have another camping trip booked, taking a few days off. I’m also looking forward to skiing, which looks possible this winter.

  • Social: Thinking about those that have less of a voice

    I saw a few things posted this this week that got me to think. One was a note about the end of pride month, where I realize I hadn’t said or done anything to promote inclusiveness. I don’t think that LGBTQ people are any different than me in most ways. They chose to live a portion of their life in a different way than me, but lots of people do this, just in other different ways.

    There was no Pride 5k this year, and few other events in the real world. However, I should have made some effort to promote this event, along with Black Lives Matter, and other things in the world that I’m thinking about.

    We have LGBTQ people in the #sqlfamily. Andy Mallon has run an event at the PASS Summit, but I don’t see much else talked about. There are people that feel ashamed, second class, angry, and many other things about their lifestyle because many in society don’t openly welcome them. It’s not enough to

    Kendra wrote that she’s sharing pronouns, which I think is a simple, easy thing to do that promotes inclusiveness and helps anyone that wants to share something different than my “he/him”, to do so. I’ve seen some people share “they/them”, but it takes some bravery to do this when most people don’t think about it and a few openly mock the choices.

    I just updated my base Powerpoint deck and bio that I keep around on my site and machines to include pronouns. It’s an easy thing to do, and hopefully it makes others more comfortable expressing their own thoughts.

    I also need to go out of my way to encourage and support others. I have tried to promote the WIT groups and spoken at a few of their events. I hope that others build groups to support their own underrepresented causes, because there is strength in numbers. However, I also hope that more people that are parts of less mainstream groups find a voice and promote themselves at other events.

    That also means I need to make more of an effort to actively include those people when I can and go looking for them.

    If anyone feels they are a minority and needs some mentoring, coaching, or wants an opportunity to write/speak, please feel free to reach out to me. I will do my best to include you in our community.

  • Daily Coping 10 Jul 2020

    I’ve 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.

    Today’s tip is to see the upside in a difficult situation that helped you learn something.

    I’m going to take a different tact here, not looking at a situation that was hard in the moment, but looking at the entire last quarter where the pandemic has interrupted my life and changed how I live.

    I’ve learned a few things from this pandemic, but two stand out to me as things that I consider often as I go through life. They’ve helped me to make the best of the world.

    First, one upside is that I cook more and we get the family together most every day. At least, the two kids that still live with me. Prior to this pandemic, we were often running to different events each night. If I wasn’t heading out, it was one of the kids. We’ve started to get back to the times when my kids were in elementary and middle school, spending more time together.

    The second thing is I’ve been working on my Japanese on duolingo. I studied the language in college, but let it fall away. My middle son has been trying to learn, and I decided while I have less travel, less activities to occupy my time, I’ll spend some of the time brushing up on skills. I’m hoping to visit the country at some point, and this is some minor preparation.

    For awhile I resisted tackling too many new projects during the pandemic, just trying to mentally cope with the world. As I’ve found that this is more of a new normal, at least for this year, I’ve started to change some habits, finding a positive note in the changes.

  • Daily Coping 9 Jul 2020

    I’ve 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.

    Today’s tip is to Eat food that makes you feel good and savor it.

    That’s an easy one for me. I enjoy food, but more comfort food than anything fancy or special. I really enjoyed going to Jose Andreas’  restaurant with Brent Ozar, but more so because of the company. The food wasn’t something I’d want to recreate myself.

    Instead, my favorite food has to be pizza. It’s my go to, and what my family always suggests for me if it’s my turn to pick. They’ll even indulge me sometimes when they don’t feel like it.

    I try not to eat it too often. I’ll eat too much and it’s not the healthiest, but I decided to enjoy it this week, going to a local place, supporting them, and slowly enjoying a simple pepperoni pizza.