Daily Coping 11 Feb 2021

Posted on February 11, 2021 by way0utwest

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 make an effort to have a friendly chat with a neighbor.

Most of my direct neighbors, at least those whose property is adjacent to mine, keep to themselves. We all have our own tasks and work, and we’re rarely outside. Unlike previous places I’ve lived, I can’t call out to someone if I do see them outside, as they’re 1/4 mile or more away.

There are also few of us. My road, which is a cul-de-sac, only has 5 properties on it, and I rarely see cars going to and from any houses.

However, recently I was in the feed store getting a few things for my wife and I did see a neighbor in the aisle I walked by. I stopped for a few minutes and chatted, asking about his kids, who I hadn’t seen in years.

It was a nice catchup, and a welcome break from the routine of sitting at my desk or quickly getting in and out of stores.

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Daily Coping 10 Feb 2021

Posted on February 10, 2021 by way0utwest

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 send someone a message to say how much they mean to you.

For many people, this is likely something with family or close friends. It certainly is for me, but I like to also reach out to others at times.

Today, I sent a note to a friend that I’ve known for many years. Someone I’ve seen at events, and someone that has been to my house. Not many can say that. However, I wanted to just tell this person that I’ve enjoyed their company and thoughts in the past, but during this pandemic, I’ve appreciated and enjoyed the things they share about their life, that lets me keep in touch with them and remain somewhat close, even though we’re separated.

Touching the important people in your life is incredibly helpful to coping, and to enjoying your life.

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Anyone Can Click Through Once

Posted on February 10, 2021 by way0utwest

I was watching some of the Virtual Summit conference content (which is still available) trying to catch up on a few sessions that I missed during the event. One of the sessions I watched was a PowerShell panel. In the panel, Ben Miller (b | t | L) said that “anyone can click their way through something once.”

I agree with that. It’s really easy to run through something once, even a long wizard or install process. Most of us find it easier to just get something done than work on a script to complete it. Often, I find myself doing this for tasks that I tackle rarely, like installing SQL Server. With the growth of containers, I rarely install SQL Server anymore, but the few times I might want a VM outside of a cloud system, I find it easier to just run the install than find a script and alter the settings.

However, there are tasks I need to repeat. Anything that I might need to run more than once or twice, I usually do think about scripting. I look at T-SQL and PowerShell, both of which are very useful, but have different times and places where they fit better. The key, however, is that running a repeatable process is easier when it’s scripted.

This is true whether you are doing something for yourself or for your employer. When you have to repeat a series of steps, it’s too easy to forget one or make a mistake. Maybe more importantly, as more companies adopt DevOps automation and pipelines, the need for command line automation and logging is critical.

One of the panelists noted that they think PoSh is critical for your career and wouldn’t hire someone that didn’t know the technology. Not everyone agrees, but the tremendous growth of systems, the need to often deploy changes using automation, and the likelihood that you will see PoSh on the Microsoft platform, I tend to think this is something employers will strongly desire.

Steve Jones

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

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Fixing Python on Windows 10 – #SQLNewBlogger

Posted on February 10, 2021 by way0utwest

Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBloggers.

The other day I picked up a laptop, opened a command prompt and typed “python” to check something. I got this:

2021-02-04 17_52_35-Microsoft Store

I did have Python 3.8 installed, so upgrading to 3.9 wasn’t out of the question. However, why did this come up?

I searched around and found out that Windows sets up application aliases for some versions. I can only assume since I had python on here that some update last fall did this and I hadn’t used this laptop for python because I’m stuck at home.

I saw this on SO as an issue, and followed the instructions. I used Win+I to open the control panel. Here I typed “apps and” to get to Apps and Features.

2021-02-04 17_56_28-Settings

In here, I see there are “App execution aliases” as a link.

2021-02-04 17_56_57-Settings

In here, I see that both Python.exe and Python3.exe are set as aliases.

2021-02-04 17_57_38-Settings

I turned these last two off and then when I type “python,” I get what I want.

2021-02-04 17_58_14-cmd - python

SQLNewBlogger

I wrote this as many of us run into silly issues, and while I found that SO article quickly, you might not. Your search terms might be different, or the search engine might give you different results. This might help you get setup quickly with Python, which is becoming more useful for data professionals.

This took my about 5 minutes to type up and grab a few screenshots.

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