Voice of the DBA

Tag: syndicated

  • Daily Coping 20 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is to get outside and notice how the weather feels.

    This was a good tip to see before my trip last week to the UK. I flew over Mon, arriving Tue in London. I tried to get outside a bunch last week in these ways:

    I spent a day at the T4 Hilton at LHR to recover from travel. While there, I went for a walk along the road circling the airport. I managed to get a look at an airplane coming in to land. It was a nice, sunny day, about 50F/10C, not too windy, refreshing and brisk.

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    Walking from the conference center to the hotel is a short outside section for me. Lots of rain in Wales, but I managed to take a few minutes and loop around the building during dryer moments and enjoy the very green open space and cool spring weather.

    Not as much outside time as I would have liked, but it was Wales. Lots of rain during the week.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.

  • Enjoying SQL Bits

    It’s been a good week at SQL Bits. This is my favorite conference, and the organizers go out of their way to make it a fun and sustainable event.

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    I brought three different shirts. Day one:

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    Day 2:

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    and Day 3:

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    The conference center in Newport is fairly large, and dedicated to Wales. We see the dragon out front.

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    I even got a chance to stand next to this, and it’s pretty big.

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    And castles inside. The theme for the week was dungeons and dragons, and Redgate joined in with the castle theme.

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    Overall, the Expo was a nice success, and often busy with the food (and coffee) available inside.

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    We even had a mini dragon for Lego Steve

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    And more full sized dragons

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    There were the bean bag chairs everywhere, with the updated logo on one side. Sponsor logos were on the reverse side.

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    There was a big wall where artists were sketch noting after sessions. I thought this was pretty cool. I forgot to check after mine, but I was saying good bye and getting ready to leave and forgot to look.

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    Overall, it was a great week, and again, an amazing conference put on by the SQL Bits crew. I enjoyed it and look forward to coming back in the future. Wales was a great site, and I had a lot of smiles, laughs, and fun with others.

    The Redgate crew was great, and it was nice to spend time with them, something I don’t always get to do at events.

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    The party was a lot of fun as well, with some amazing costumes. Some random shots here:

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    As I walked back through Heathrow, I always pass this iconic image, which both makes me smile and brings up a little sadness as I leave the UK. Another great trip though.

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  • Blogging for the Tech Professional PowerPoint

    Thanks to everyone that came to my talk at SQL Bits.

    Powerpoint here for download.

    If you have questions, reach out.

  • Daily Coping 17 Mar 2023

    Today’s coping tip is to eat mindfully. Appreciate the taste, texture, and smell of your food.

    I am not a big foodie. I’ve been to some cool dinners with Brent Ozar, but I mostly go for the company. I’d be just as happy if we had the chance to eat at Ted’s or even an Applebees.

    In any case, I am trying to enjoy food more, mostly as a way to build better eating habits and cope with getting older. I don’t think I have great taste, but I also am working to experiment and try new things.

    A few noticeable tasty things lately:

    • My wife and I went out for sushi. I ordered a new type of roll, as did she. We shared. Hers was wrapped in ginger and had mango inside. Salmon as well, of which I’m not a huge fan, but it was a pleasant mix of sweet and salty, crunchy and soft. Mine was tune with crab mix, and a firm avocado and spicy mayo. More squishy.
    • I went to Hard 8 BBQ in Dallas and had the softest, tenderest, cut with your fork brisket. It was really good.
    • In St Louis, I tried a number of different BBQ sauces. I tend towards spicy, vinegary ones, but tried the sweet ones and appreciated the mix of honey, sugar, and spices in there.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.