Voice of the DBA

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.

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.

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 take a photo of something special.

I’m going to use a photo from this past weekend. I was able to get away in the mountains with my wife for a couple days, and it was a nice break from just being at home.

My wife and two dogs, enjoying the river that runs through the ski resort. It was neat to see them really enjoying the afternoon.