Finding Motivation

Posted on December 31, 2025 by way0utwest

I ran across a tweet (are they still tweets?) on X/Twitter that was titled: how to ruin yourself. It had these items, which seem to be coming from a young person. Either a student or in their first job.

  1. Stay on your phone all day.
  2. Feel sad for no clear reason.
  3. Stop eating well and ignore your studies.
  4. Sleep super late and wake up in the afternoon.
  5. Let sadness take over everything.
  6. Always look at others’ lives and feel yours isn’t enough.
  7. Keep blaming yourself for the past but never try to let it go.
  8. Compare your progress with people who started years before you.
  9. Get stuck imagining outcomes instead of creating them.
  10. Keep waiting for motivation instead of building discipline.

What was interesting to me is I saw people doing similar things when I was younger. Either adults with careers or fellow students. I’d change “sad” to “anger”, which I saw a lot in the 80s. Replace the phone with TV, as I saw lots of people start to invest a lot of time in TV with the growth of cable and 24-hour channels in the early 80s. Eating well was less of a thing, but drinking more was a thing. However, many people stagnated, or maybe ruined, themselves in similar ways.

What things motivate you? What gets you to become better at, well, anything you want. From your career to a new career to a better parent or coach or friend? What gets you away from short-term enjoyment (or wallowing) into action?

I write about working on your career on a regular basis, but I’ll summarize my advice for making a better you:

  1. Be curious about the world
  2. Dream of something better
  3. Make a plan to realize a dream
  4. Give up some leisure time
  5. Make adult decisions
  6. Be Kind to Yourself

I’ll try to expand on each of these on my blog over time. The list are things I try to do to make changes in my life. Whether at Redgate, while coaching, or even improving a hobby skill. I have to invest a bit of myself to get something back.

Though the journey is by far the most satisfying part.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

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Using Prompt AI for a Travel Data Analysis

Posted on December 31, 2025 by way0utwest

I was looking back at my year and decided to see if SQL Prompt could help me with some analysis. I was pleasantly surprised by how this went. This post looks at my experience using this to help me write a few queries.

This is part of a series of experiments with AI systems.

New York City

This year was a big one for me and New York City. By my count, I went there five times. I wanted to see if that was right.

I started by loading up a bunch of travel data I keep into a database. I do this to keep an eye on where/when I’m going places, so that I have a few of how busy I’ll be. In this case, I loaded data into a table. Here’s a short sample of data.

2025-12_0217

I started by asking Prompt AI to write me a query. Here’s the prompt:

2025-12_0212

Simple enough. I could have written what it gave me, so I asked for more. Since I’m not tracking trips, but where I am on days, I needed something better. My prompt is what I might express to someone else, non-continuous trips.

2025-12_0213

2025-12_0214

I got a 4 back from more complex code, which is looking for entries with the city being NYC or a variant. It then adds a LAG(), which is what I was thinking before I decided to let Prompt do this. Notice above I was already asking for dates.

2025-12_0215

I got my dates, but still 4 trips. I know I flew to the NYC area more times. In looking at the dates, I realized that one of the trips, Mar 31-Apr 2, was only to Jersey City. So I had asked for that above.

You can see more more complex code, which adds in New Jersey. The results were interesting. This has 6 trips, because on one another trip, I went to New Jersey for a day. I had forgotten that one.

2025-12_0216

Checking Countries

I wanted to do some country analysis. I knew there was a bunch of country data from 2025 in there, so I wrote a simple query. That gets me some data, but it’s a bit of a mess. I really want to know when I visited countries.

2025-12_0227

I used PromptAI with a simple request.

2025-12_0228

I got some results back, which were good, but included the USA. I then asked to remove this and you see the result.

2025-12_0229

This was a good query, overall, so I clicked the “Optimize SQL” button. I got these items added as comments.

2025-12_0230

There isn’t a lot to do here, but I created the index. The “optimize” had also added a FORCESEEK, which I didn’t realize at first, so I removed it.

Eventually I added back the USA, partially as this improves performance, but also, with the results, I got a good look at travel patterns. In this case, I can see when I’m in the USA and when I’m not. I liked that I had asked for the trip duration, but the GenAI also added days traveling on the trips, which was fascinating.

2025-12_0233

The final query is here:

;WITH TravelCTE
AS (SELECT Country,
            TravelDate,
            DaySpentTraveling,
            ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY Country ORDER BY TravelDate) AS RowNum
     FROM dbo.Travel WITH (INDEX = IX_Travel_YearCountry) -- Use existing index to improve performance
     WHERE TravelDate >= '20250101' -- Using efficient date literal format
)
SELECT t.Country,
        t.TripStartDate,
        t.TripEndDate,
        t.TripDuration,
        t.TotalDaysSpentTraveling
FROM
(
     SELECT Country,
            MIN(TravelDate) AS TripStartDate,
            MAX(TravelDate) AS TripEndDate,
            DATEDIFF(DAY, MIN(TravelDate), MAX(TravelDate)) + 1 AS TripDuration,
            SUM(DaySpentTraveling) AS TotalDaysSpentTraveling,
            DATEADD(DAY, -RowNum, TravelDate) AS GroupingKey
     FROM TravelCTE
     GROUP BY Country,
              DATEADD(DAY, -RowNum, TravelDate)
) AS t
ORDER BY t.TripStartDate;

Summary

This was an interesting experiment in having an AI help me do some data analysis. I could have written these queries, but it would definitely have taken me as long as it took to ask the AI and write this post to do so. I’d be messing with data, double checking myself, and trying to decide what I wanted.

I also found it interesting to have the AI write the code and I could think more about the data being returned. I found a few data anomalies that I corrected along the way.

Prompt AI is proving useful, though when I was going back and forth a lot, I got this message.

2025-12_0223

There are limits to how much and how often you can query.

Video Walkthough

I’ve tried to duplicate this in video below.

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The Side Job

Posted on December 29, 2025 by way0utwest

Most of you reading this are likely technology professionals of some sort. You might be a software developer in C# or a DBA or a manager of those teams. Maybe you’re an analyst working with data and reporting. You have made this a career choice and (hopefully) are growing and learning more about your craft.

I also expect that you want to continue working in the area you are now, or maybe want to move into a related area. Maybe a report writer wants to move into more warehousing/lake housing. Maybe a DBA wants to be a Reliability Engineer. You have a career and you’re working in that area.

However, I’m sure early in your life, you had other jobs. You might have even continued working in some of those areas as you started earning money from technology. Some of you left those jobs behind, but in my first paid job as a network admin, I kept bartending on the weekend to make extra money.

Today I’m wondering what side jobs have you had at work that weren’t related to databases.

These could be paid or unpaid. They could be volunteer , 1099, W-2, anything. Maybe you have an interest, maybe you want to help others, maybe you have a skill that you enjoy as a hobby.

For me, I’ve been a Scout leader (Boy, Cub, and Girl), a bartender, a fundraising speaker, and been on the board of a few organizations. Today, I’m a coach part-time at night and on weekends for a competitive volleyball team. These are fun ways for me to spend my time away from work, and I love having the break from technology.

Let me know today what side jobs you have, or have had, that let you get away from your data professional work.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

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2025 Wrapped for Steve

Posted on December 29, 2025 by way0utwest

I’ve often done some analysis of my year in different ways. Last year I had a series of posts (health, music, reading,  speaking, travel). This year, I took last week off, and it’s been busy up until then, so I decided to get back to a wrapped post with a few more numbers and less writing around the important data.

Speaking

I do a lot of speaking, so here are the numbers.

  • 28 events attended
  • 36 presentations
  • 5 keynotes
  • 12 Simple Talks podcasts
  • 11 Redgate events – most of my year
  • 3 SQL Saturdays (only 3 Sad smile )

This was a year that a lot of my time was spent with customers. I did some training and speaking for them, including at customer events, but not as much publicly. I can’t decide if I need to do more in 2026, but it’s something to consider.

I have already submitted to 3 SQL Saturdays in 2026.

Travels

A big year of travel. Only two rough stretches, but otherwise I didn’t feel too stressed or burned out.

  • 74 flights (70 on United)
  • 110 nights in hotels
  • 5 nights on airplanes
  • 5 trips to the NYC area
  • 5 trips to the EU
  • Visited 5 different countries (plus the US)

A quick look at my year plotted as distances from home. Looks a bit like Seattle (I’ve been re-watching Frasier).

2025-12_0211

A good year with lots of vacation as well. I had a few breaks with my wife in these places, either for Volleyball or vacation.

  • New York
  • Greeley
  • New Orleans
  • Dallas
  • Cancun
  • Big Sur
  • Milan/Turin/Barolo

Health

I try desperately to keep myself healthy. A decent diet, not great, but I try for fresh foods and proteins/veggies more. I don’t track the diet well, but I do track activity with my watch. I also got a Peloton bike this year, which has helped. A quick graph of activities for the year:

2025-12_0207

It’s mid December as I write this, but I’ve done a good job of doing cycling early in the year and a bunch of yoga as well. I’ve been battling tendinitis in an elbow, so much less weight training than I’d like. A few numbers

  • Yoga – 66 sessions (once a week on average)
  • Cycling – 113, including 76 on the Peloton as of Dec 12
  • Swimming – 5 times, which sucks. Too much travel and not enough effort here
  • Weights – 42 sessions, mostly as I bailed in the middle of the year with the elbow. Trying to at least get back to legs regularly.

I fell fairly healthy. My weight is slightly up, as I’ve fluctuated a bit with travel. My avg for the year is 228lbs, with a low at 224 and a high of 235.

My heart rate averages 51 at resting and 122 at a high, mostly from exercise. Not bad. I had hoped for a sub 50 resting rate, which I see a lot of days, but not for the year. I think some stress from travel and long days likely keeps it from falling more.

Music

I love music and look forward to my Spotify Wrapped every year.  A few stats

  • 37,820 minutes listened
  • 364 genres
  • Pop Rap, Classic Rock, Alternative Country, and R&B where my tops
  • 4,200 songs tops were
  • 57 Albums (Death of Slim Shady was tops)
  • Top Artists: Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, Eminem, Beatles, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z
  • 933 minutes of podcasts

I didn’t get as much guitar or play as much as I’d have liked, but I did learn some new songs. Not great, but I did enjoy working through fingerpicking versions of The Sounds of Silence, Something (Beatles) and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Those and a few Zach Bryan songs. I think I know as many from him as The Beatles.

One interesting thing was my music age was 78. Apparently I like listening to older songs more than newer ones.

Reading

I spend a lot of time reading, especially on airplanes. I don’t consume a lot of visual media. Reading is a great escape for me. I tend to read a few non-fiction/career/business books each year, but those are work, so it’s usually just a few. I might add in some biographies, but mostly I love fiction.

This year, as of Dec 19, I have read 148 books, which is a rise from previous years:

  • 2025 – 148
  • 2024 – 136
  • 2023 – 111
  • 2022 – 105
  • 2021 – 118
  • 2020 – 82
  • 2019 – 128

A few stats from this year:

Most read authors, which were mainly from series that I devoured on airplanes.:

  • Mathew Rief (29)
  • J N Chaney (26)
  • Gerald Kilby (14)
  • Jason Kasper (12)
  • Janet Evanovich (9)
  • Lee Goldberg (6)

I had a number of re-reads as well from Jeffrey Deaver, John Sandford, Lee Child, and a few others that helped pass the time.

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