Voice of the DBA

Tag: life

  • Donating for a little kid

    One of my authors sent me this note:

    “

    I know you only know me as a writer for SQLServerCentral, but I have a friend whose son is really bad. He is at the hospital and the cannot pay it. It is very expensive. The family is desesperate. They live in Bolivia.

    I am collecting some money for the Family. The sickness is: multiple sclerosis or disseminated sclerosis.

    If you would like to donate: http://cuentitosdeltio.blogspot.com/2013/04/donacion-alejandro.html

    I created a form in one of my blogs to receive donations. 10 $us or whatever donation is welcome.

    Thanks for reading this email
    “

    I doubled the author’s payment out of my account and donated. If you feel like doing so, please feel free to participate. If not, please think about others in your life that might benefit from some charity and give back to the world when you can.

  • Exercise in the Margins

    This article about exercising when you can is really interesting. It contains a number of hints about exercising and fitting it in, but fitting it into your life, as you live it. I especially like the note about the fact that you will lose time in your life every month for reasons beyond your control. That’s certainly true.

    I run every day. As of Thur, that was 1353 days in a row that I’ve run at least a mile. I started the mile a day streak thinking that a mile, even jogging slowly, takes no more than about 15 minutes. Maybe 20 if you’re older. I can always find 15 minutes in my day.

    I know that’s not easy for everyone, but I’d think most people could find 15 minutes to walk every day, whether it’s 5am or 11pm. Time is not a great excuse when you set a low bar. Or maybe it’s not an excuse at all if you do things like taking the stairs, or walking out of your way on a flat surface, parking further from the door at the grocers, or any number of other ideas.

    In technology, it seems to be harder for many people to get into shape. We sit at desks, staring at screens, and often get lost in our work. I try to move fairly often, but I’ve certainly been lost writing code or words and found myself sitting at a desk for hours at a time.

    I think taking care of yourself is important, and it’s an investment worth making. My PSA for today is to get out and do a little more movement. You don’t have to run or play basketball or ski. Just go walk. You’d be surprised how beneficial that it.

    And have a short memory for sure. If you miss a few days for some reason, forget about it. Pick up some small exercise tomorrow and don’t try to “make up” for what you missed.

  • Lifehacking – Not such a good idea?

    I read the confessions of a recovering Lifehacker and thought it was an interesting read. It seems that the author has started to realize that while you can make some differences in the small stuff in your life, it’s just small stuff. It’s also important not to let the organization, or hack, or change, overwhelm the benefit you get from it.

    I try to make some small changes here and there, and I do want to be more efficient, but not if the efficiency cost takes away too much of the rest of my life. It’s a balance, and one that can be hard to find.

    There’s also an interesting discussion on Hacker News about the post.

  • Living a Dream

    It was a little over a year ago that I stood on stage at the Rocky Mountain Tech Trifecta and gave a keynote speech in which I said these words:

    “My wife works in the mobility/cellular phone industry right now, but she really wants to train horses for a living.  In the short term, which might be the next few years, she’s a little "stuck" in her current job. However we spend time and money every year improving her skills, and I support her in doing the "professional development" she needs to do in order to be a horse trainer some day. I know she’ll get there at some point, and I am sure she’ll be ready for her next career with all the work and training she is doing now.”

    As I write this today, my wife is finishing her last day of work in corporate America. She resigned a month ago, and today, May 4th, is her last day working for her company. She had a farewell dinner with her boss last night. She is packing up her equipment and shipping it back. She’s having final calls with co-workers and saying good-bye.

    Her dream has been to work with horses for a living. She has been working part time for years boarding and training horses and people to work with them, and we’ve been working for years to try and adjust our life so she could work on her dream full time.

    That starts tonight, as one job ends and she commits to building her business full time, and with a passion that amazes me. I have no doubt this will be a success for her, and for our family.

    We know there will be an adjustment, and finances will get tighter, but we all think it’s a trade that is worth making. Life is short, very short, and you only get to live it once. We have lost a number of friends in the last year, all too young to leave this Earth, and it’s helped to make us realize that it’s important we don’t delay this change any longer than we need to, even if it’s uncomfortable.

    Life is short, but we never know how short it will be for each of us. Any of us could leave this life at any time. Remember that each day, as you choose your path in life.