Voice of the DBA

Tag: misc

  • Finding Thanks

    Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US. While my family often gives thanks to each other over a big meal in the afternoon, I know plenty of people that make it a point to post about something that they are grateful for during each day of the month.

    This year we won’t be having family over. A couple local members of our extended family are worried about COVID, for good reason. Others are out of town and not looking to travel. With a situation worsening in Colorado and a request from the state to avoid mixing households, I’ll have the smallest dinner we’ve had in decades.

    This has been a challenging year for many of us, and certainly me. Despite the things that have been bothering me, I have made it a point with my coping tips to look for the good things I can find.

    Today I want to acknowledge some career things that I’m thankful for. Apart from my SQLServerCentral founding partners, I am really grateful for the closeness that I have with people at Redgate. My trips over there have netted many friends, thoughtful conversations, memorable events, and tight bonds. As I think back across the last decade, I realize just how many of them have influenced me in life across that time.

    I miss being able to visit Cambridge, but I am thankful for the times I have gone and the memories I can call on until I can go back.

    I hope you find some things that you are thankful for in your career, your job, your coworkers, or somewhere else. Take a moment and enjoy some of them today. If you don’t have enough, then start working to find a place where you can build some.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • The Spookiest Year

    Last Halloween I was in Chicago, in one of the biggest cities in the US visiting a customer. This was near the end of a very busy travel year, where I’d been to England 5 times, Australia twice, and was returning home for the weekend before heading back out on a trip to Seattle for the 2019 PASS Summit.

    This year I expected more of the same, even into early February, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. Since then, much of the world has changed, certainly travel, conferences, SQL Saturdays, and most other types of gatherings have changed. Not just work events, but work itself, with many of us, perhaps most, working from come. Concerts, comedy, sporting events, and more have been cancelled or changed to taking place without spectators. While some things are starting to come back, they’ve forever changed.

    I have started coaching volleyball again, and while we’ve started competition, we do so without spectators, which is a very strange experience. As I sat between matches recently, my wife and I noticed how quiet it was and how calm. In a good way, but also a strange feeling for us.

    Perhaps one of the strangest things is watching media more than in the past, and seeing people without masks, in crowds, living life in a way that I assumed would always exist a year ago. It’s certainly jarring, and I wonder to what extent we’ll return to that world in the future.

    Tomorrow is Halloween, and while it’s not an event I’ll participate in, I’ll think about the spooky feeling of this entire year, where nothing seems to have gone in the way I’d have expected. I hope that does change in 2021, but for now, I’m assuming we have at least seven more months, through at least April of 2021, living in the same world. Hopefully, I’m wrong.

    Steve Jones

  • Office Upgrade – A Secret Lab Chair

    Last year I wandered over to Glenn Berry’s house for some lunch and a chat. While I got to see his home brewing setup and the latest in computer hardware, one of the neat things that stood out was a Secret Lab chair. It’s a nice looking chair, but when I sat in it, it put my $79 Office Depot chair to shame.

    I thought about it for a few months, but since I travel a lot, I wasn’t overly concerned. Then the pandemic and lockdown hit, and I was at my desk every day, and likely for the foreseeable future. I decided my back could use a little more support and an upgrade.

    I looked through the list and decided on a Titan chair. I’m 6’, 225lbs, and this seemed to be the chair to get. I ended up with a PU Leather version, fairly plain, without any special designs. There are some neat ones, but I’m a simple guy. Plus, no one sees this and the $50 for some special edition would make my wife just laugh at me every day.

    Here’s the chair in my office.

    20200717_125910

    Since I got this a few months ago, it’s more comfortable to sit in and it supports my back well. I like that I can easily adjust the back tilt, as I like to sit up straight most of the time, but I can lower it for calls or more relaxed situations where I’m not typing.

    I even upgraded it with some rollerblade-like Oasis wheels recently after we refinished our floors. These are fantastic and the chair now glides across the floor and carpet without any snags.

    20200717_125916

    This is a nice home office upgrade. It’s not cheap, but it is something to think about if you plan on spending a lot of time at your desk. Your boss might even cover the cost as an investment in you. It never hurts to ask.

    I got my chair for $379 early this year, and you can, too. They’re $399 now, but you can use this link to get $20 off and start enjoying a better experience at your desk.

  • A Byte of Redgate–Bonus Queso Recipe

    As part of the Community Circle effort at Redgate, we’ve released a cookbook: A Byte of Redgate. You can read about the story in this blog, and it was a fun project. Andy Warren had the idea and I suggested it for us since Redgate has a baking club, a cake club, a cooking club, and probably more.  We even have a real cookbook author, Dave Rook.

    You can download the free book (pdf/epub), and it includes a guacamole recipe from me. However, I had a bonus recipe that I sometimes make with the guac. I don’t do this too often, as it’s not the healthiest dish, but my family loves when I do.

    If you want to enjoy a Mexican-American themed Memorial Day, you might enjoy this with the guac, some chips, and a refreshing drink. That might be all you need for dinner today.

    Ranch Queso

    The ingredients needed are these

    • 12oz sharp cheddar

    • 4 oz cream cheese, softened (room-ish temperature)

    • 1 Tbsp cornstarch

    • 1 Tbsp butter

    • 1-2 jalapenos, diced

    • 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

    • ½ small yellow onion, finely diced

    • 2 cloves garlic, minced

    • 1 ½ cups half and half. I often use half milk and half whipping cream

    • optional – chorizo

    Instructions are fairly quick, but require you to pay attention for a few minutes.

    1. Optional – cook the chorizo and set aside

    2. Grate the cheddar cheese first, set aside. I usually hand grate from a block, but you can use shredded is you wish.

    3. Chop up the onion and jalapenos

    4. Open the chipotle peppers and have ready.

    5. Set aside a tablespoon of corn starch

    6. Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat

    7. Add the butter, as this starts to melt, drop in the onion, jalapenos, and garlic, stirring for 3-4 minutes

    8. While this heats, I usually chop the chipotle peppers

    9. Once the vegetables are softened, but not browned, add the half and half and chipotle peppers

    10. Stir to combine everything. As this gets heated, add the cornstarch and mix in thoroughly.

    11. Lower the temperature to low. For my gas stove, not quite the lowest setting, but pretty close

    12. Next add the cream cheese in small chunks and stir to combine.

    13. Once this is combined, start to add the cheddar, stirring to combine. The mixture should then thicken.

    14. Pour into a bowl and serve. Optional, drop a spoonful or two of chorizo on top

    This usually makes about twice when my family of five will eat with chips before dinner, so I drop rest in plastic and reheat a day or two later.