Voice of the DBA

Tag: holiday

  • A Flex Holiday

    I’m taking a holiday today, enjoying New Orleans with my wife after a fun Saturday at Day of Data Baton Rouge. It’s always a great event and one I look forward to attending.

    Today’s holiday is a shift of a holiday from June. I find that I often get busy on scheduled holidays with travel or work, and I don’t get to enjoy them on the scheduled day. I don’t get too worried, since I know I’ll use the day at some point.

    That day is today, and I’m glad that my company is flexible and understanding. Just as I try to be understanding when they ask me to work. I had to record a few things on Juneteenth, and since I couldn’t take the day off because of scheduling, I just worked the rest of the time.

    I’m happy to trade a random Friday at home in Colorado for a day in New Orleans today.

  • Independence Day 2026

    Tomorrow is the United States 250th Independence Day celebration. I’ve been hearing about this on the radio for weeks, and it’s struck me that I’ve been alive and lucky enough to experience both the 200th (1976) and the 250th (2026) milestones. I’m not sure either is more amazing than any other 4th of July, but the round numbers stand out.

    In 1976, I was an 8 year old, and I vaguely remember going to Mount Trashmore park in Virginia Beach. It was a fun day of a cook out with hot dogs and kool-aid, playing in playgrounds, and some few moments wading in the lake nearby. It felt like an amazing event to be a part of.

    As a 50+ year old, I’m less excited about the 4th of July, but I am excited this weekend. I’m flying this morning to San Francisco with my wife for a weekend in Napa Valley and a slightly better food and drink selection.

    While I’m away, I hope you have a quiet day, nothing goes wrong, and you ease into the weekend. Or if you’re in the US, I hope you also enjoy a day off.

    Steve Jones

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  • The End of Year Vacation Burn

    It’s been a good year for me. With my sabbatical, I felt like I’ve gotten away from work quite a bit this year. I’ve had a few vacations around that, but I still find myself with quite a bit of time off to use this year.

    So today is the start of that. I’m taking a number of Mondays off, as that’s my wife’s day off. I will also schedule a few other days around the holidays.

    I don’t know if I’ll get rid of all my days, but I’ve gotten down to 4 days with my schedule and might see if I can get a few more gone before Dec 31.

    Hopefully you’re doing the same thing and not saving any days for next year unless you have big plans to use them.

  • A Short Break

    It’s holiday week for me. I was in the Netherlands last week for Pass on Tour and the Redgate Summit. My wife joined me and we are taking a break this week, wandering around Northern Italy.

    See you next week. Hopefully refreshed and recharged.