Category: Blog

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, 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 play a game that you enjoyed when you were younger.

I have enjoyed lots of games, but my interests changed over time. Board games and card games as a kid, role playing and Dungeons and Dragons as a teenager, some computer role playing games later.

Then when my middle son grew to 12 or so, we played Halo and Doom, going through the old DOS versions and getting through the more modern computer version. He even got me to buy a new video card for that one.

These days I mostly play a few games with family, and those have been fun. We’ve acquired many over the years. Two that I enjoyed as a younger person were backgammon and Stratego. This past weekend, I challenged family members to a few games, mostly to just get my mind off other concerns and work.

It was a nice break. I don’t know that I’ll look to do this every day, but I will look to play a few more games during the week to distract myself and break up our routine.

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, 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 Immerse yourself in a new book, TV show, or podcast.

The idea is to give you something periodic or longer lived than a movie. I think that’s good, and escaping life is important. I know it matters to me.

Oscar Nominees

Not a book, but my wife enjoys watching all the Oscar nominated films each year. Last year we were too busy, so my wife, son, and sometimes the other kids have taken a few nights a week to work through the 2019 films, and then moved on to the 2020 films.

It’s good because many of them are films we wouldn’t otherwise have watched, or at least some of us wouldn’t have watched. It’s also a good time together where we escape.

Books

I loved reading. I usually go through 60-100 fictional books a year. Not so many non-fiction, but I do get through fictional ones. With my sabbatical, I went through almost 20 during that break. Since then, I continue to steal 5 or 10 minutes at times to read a few pages.

Lately I’ve been working through Evanovich’s Plum series. I read the first 9 or 10 a long time ago, but I started back through them because they’re light, funny, silly, and in no way related to the world. I like that.

So far this year I’m up to about 35 books, and with this pandemic, I bet I set a record.

Find Your Own Thing

Coping, cleaning, tackling projects, all good stuff. I need less stuff to cope, which means escapes are good for me. Maybe not for you, but it does help me.

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

The tip for today was to notice five things that are beautiful in the world around you.

I’m writing this a day or two in advance, so here goes.

I like to take pictures. My wife laughs at me, but I find these to be nice reminders of life over time. Sometimes I just flip through them. In any case, here are some beautiful things.

I’m leaving out friends and family, as those are certainly beautiful, but I tried to think and notice things that were in my life, but I sometimes don’t think about.

The Wide Open Spaces

I love Colorado. I love being outdoors, but of all the places I’ve lived, I enjoy Colorado. The dry air, the changing seasons, the openness of my ranch. The view is often the same, but walking around the other day, I find this to be beautiful.

The Sky

The sky in Colorado is often sunny (300+ days a year), it’s big and expansive, and it’s beautiful. Even as much as I see it, I still like looking at it’s beauty.

My Guitar

I’ve owned a few, but my wife bought me this one a year ago. I’ve enjoyed messing around on it, and I spent a lot of time during my sabbatical practicing. I built some skill, confidence, and found joy again in making music.

I’m not great, but I did feel good enough to provide a light backing track for Mike Walsh’s weekly call on Friday.

My Animals

This dog is amazing. Her name is Azure, and she loves playing fetch. She drops balls, scraps of paper, and twigs at my feet on a regular basis, asking for them to be thrown so she can chase them.

She’s a beautiful reminder of the joy of simple things, and of simple pleasures.

My Charging Stand

I built this.

I cut two pieces of wood, got them to fit together, and stained them. I’ve dropped my phone on this for 3 or 4 years. Last year I moved to wireless charging and didn’t use this as much, but over my sabbatical I routed out a hole for a wireless charger (thanks, @United) and then plugged it in. Now, I can drop my phone here and it charges.

This is beautiful to me, a useful thing I made. It’s not perfect, it’s not something anyone else would want, but it’s beautiful to me.