Voice of the DBA

Tag: syndicated

  • T-SQL Tuesday #134–Taking a Break

    I’m a day late for T-SQL Tuesday this month, literally because I was taking a break. Yesterday I took a holiday to go snowboarding with a friend. The weekend was a break from life, as I twisted my back Thursday night and spent most of the time since Friday in bed, healing over the weekend.

    This month, the invitation is from James McGillivray, and the topic is “Give Me a Break”, which might be appropriate as we have left 2020 behind, but not the pandemic. While I had a break, I’ll give you a few things that help me unwind.

    My Breaks from Work

    I’ve been stuck at some somewhat, but not completely, during the pandemic. The lockdowns in Colorado were shorter, and easier, so I haven’t had the challenges of others. Plus, I live on a horse ranch, so I’m not as restricted as many others.

    I am used to traveling, however, and despite the space we have, I felt somewhat trapped last year. I haven’t been used to spending more than 3-4 weeks in my office without a trip, so there was a different adjustment from many others. Some of my breaks:

    • horseback riding with my wife. We can ride off the property and through some nearby fields for a 2-3 mile trip
    • guitar – I spent more time learning some songs and sitting outside. I’ve even taken some breaks during the day when I need them.
    • language – I picked up Duolingo, and started relearning Japanese with my oldest. He studies on his own, but we text to practice.
    • cooking – my household went from

    Vacation

    For vacations, I have been trying to do more of this over the years, and more with my wife. My children are adults, so my wife has joined me for a number of trips in the last few years, some dedicated to vacation, some just extending work trips.

    The bucket list vacation for me is a big tour of Japan. I’ve never been, and for no good reason.

    Last year we were planning on Machu Piccu in the summer, which got cancelled. That’s still on the list, as is some sort of trip to Africa, likely Kenya/Tanzania. Hiking Mt. Kilmanjaro is on my list.

    As for the best vacation, it has to be with family. We’ve had a number, but I think our 12-13 day camping trip up through Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park was epic.

  • Daily Coping 13 Jan 2021

    I 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. All my coping tips are under this tag. 

    Today’s tip is to take 5 minutes to sit still and just breathe.

    Five minutes. It’s quick. Not a big impact in my day. Yet, I find stopping everything for 5 minutes and relaxing to be very, very hard.

    It’s silly, especially as this is often a part of the beginning and/or end of yoga classes in a group. However, if I’m doing yoga by myself, or even with a video, I struggle. I seem to always stop and look forward, look at the next thing I need to do.

    However, I tried this. I set a timer, and I sat on the front porch, just enjoying a sunny day, doing nothing. No distractions, no computer, no phone.

    It was very nice and relaxing.

    It was also very hard. My mind kept wandering and I kept thinking of something I could do in this 5 minutes.

    I’m not sure I could do this every day, but I am going to try and make it a point to stop and no tackle some different chore or task away from work, but just sit for a few minutes a couple times a week.

  • Daily Coping 12 Jan 2021

    I 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. All my coping tips are under this tag. 

    Today’s tip is to look for the good in others and notice their strengths.

    This can be challenging when you disagree with someone, but it is helpful to stop and think about others, even when you agree with them. The world has been polarized in many ways during the pandemic, so it is helpful to stop and change your view.

    I have been trying to do this with one of the kids I coach. Often I might have an impression of the kids’ effort level, desire, even how well they listen. At the same time, I have empathy that this moment isn’t always representative of them.

    For one kid, they haven’t always seemed to be focused, and haven’t had much effort after the holidays. I remind myself to stop and appreciate that this person still shows up, they do have some strengths, and I need to praise and appreciate those. I can try to get them to work on others, but pausing to appreciate the good helps me stay balanced in how I view them.

  • Career Goals for 2021

    I’m a couple weeks late, but not nearly as late as 2020. In any case, I’m going to break these down as I did last year, but hopefully with a bit more focus. After a quick review last week, I am hoping I can do a better job in 2021.

    The areas I want to focus on for my career are slightly different from last year, but still in a few areas.

    • Reading
    • Technical skills
    • Projects

    I am going to go back to a monthly check-in, with a reminder in the calendar, to review the progress I’ve made, and hopefully help me keep slightly more focused. I used Outlook to set this as the last Friday of the month, ending on 31 Dec 2021.

    2021-01-04 13_54_25-Goal Progress Update - Appointment Series

    The details of each section are listed below. I’ve tried to be slightly detailed, but not so detailed that I don’t feel I have any flexibility.

    Reading

    I love to read. I’ve read over a 100 books some years, finishing 2020 with 82. I like the focus on longer reads in books, getting caught up in a topic, and I think this helps me to view the world differently.

    For my career, I need to read some semi-technical or business focused books. Last year I aimed for technical (meaning code related) and non-technical (but non-fiction) books. I am going to do something similar this year, but also the realization slightly.

    Goals:

    • 3 non-fiction, career related books
    • 1 technical book

    I’d like to do something technical, and work through some project in a book, so I’ll continue to do this. I realize that 1/quarter is probably plenty. For now, I’ll leave a template here for my updates:

    Technical Skills

    One thing that I’ve regretted slightly across the last year is that I didn’t focus on improving my career in a tangible way. Specifically, I need more Azure knowledge. I dabbled here and there, and could make things work, but not in a measured, focused way. I saw a few people work on certification, and I’ve regretted not going through some of the courses and work in the past.

    I do want to go through some of the Azure certification paths, which have changed. Microsoft has changed many of the options, but there are some data ones, and I certainly would like to round out some of my Azure knowledge in new ways.

    I also want to build more skills in these areas:

    • T-SQL
    • Python
    • PowerShell

    I find these to be the most relevant for my work, and I think these are areas that I use often. As a result, I have a couple of options here for the items that will grow my career. Here are my initial thoughts in a template:

    • Certification –  AZ-900 – 0%
    • Certification – DP-200 – 0%
    • Skills – T-SQL – 2020 Advent of Code – 4/25
    • Skills – Python – 2020 Advent of Code – 0/25
    • Skills – PowerShell – 2020 Advent of Code – 0/25
    • Skills – TBD

    The Advent of Code is a good, and fun, way to exercise my skills and mind. I usually find 5-6 are easy and the rest challenging, so I’m going to try and work through these across the year. Already I find that when I start in Dec, that weekends and time with family get in the way, so I’m expanding these through the year.

    I don’t know I’ve measuring improvement here well, but if I compete the skills test, that’s good.

    I’m sure I’ll add something else, but this is a good start.

    Projects

    Building something is good practice for a career project, and it’s good documentation. I think that a few of my ideas have been more fun in the past, so I’m going to focus on more tangible items.

    I want to do more community work, especially with PASS failing, so I’m going to aim here, especially in the local community. I also want to continue with a technical project of some sort, and certainly share some data.

    With that in mind, here are a few items.

    • Support DataSaturdays (or whatever the data platform one day event thing is)
      • Added 3 events manually in 2021
    • Speak at the 3 local user groups, at least one live presentation
    • Help organize a Denver/Colorado event, live or virtual
    • Complete my Power BI Volleyball report – I know lots of kids will use this, so I need to get it done – 20%
    • ?? – TBD