Voice of the DBA

Tag: travel

  • Gathering Data Through Life

    Every once in a while, I find a list of places posted on the Internet with a “how many have you visited?” question attached. This might be US states, countries, cities, or even attractions. I love traveling with my wife and having new experiences, and as we’ve gotten older, we value the experiences more than any physical things. It’s something that I hope we’ve passed on to our children as well.

    My wife and I have been very blessed and have been able to travel a bit in life, though not as much as we would have liked with three children and a ranch of horses. We made it a goal about 6 years ago to try and visit a new country every year and experience life in another culture. The pandemic limited our travel for a few years, but we are starting to make plans to travel a bit more and gather some data for our minds.

    We don’t actually get data to store in a database, but rather experience life, see and hear things, taste new foods, and hear new languages. The database in our brain gets a few inserts, although I’m not sure of the long-term retention and accuracy of those memories. A few bits get stored in the form of pictures, and one of the reasons I do like social media is that I’ll get reminded of times gone past on a regular basis.

    Today, I’m wondering what data you might wish to gather through experiences? Is there something you have on a bucket list that you are hoping to experience in the next few years? This could be a place or an event. Perhaps there’s a concert or an experience. Skiing somewhere? Completing a class? Eating at an amazing restaurant? If you’re looking for inspiration, Brent Ozar has a list in his Epic Life Quest.

    I’ve included a list of places below from the list that inspired this piece, and I have a longer list of places on my blog, but let us know what dreams you have to experience something in life.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

    How many of these cities have you visited? (18 for me)

    • New York
    • Toronto
    • Tokyo
    • Bangkok
    • Melbourne
    • Mumbai
    • Hong Kong
    • Beirut
    • Cairo
    • Moscow
    • London
    • Munich
    • Rome
    • Copenhagen
    • Berlin
    • Milan
    • Kiev
    • Los Angeles
    • Sao Paolo
    • Istanbul
    • Montreal
    • Beijing
    • Singapore
    • Abu Dhabi
    • Casablanca
    • Dublin
    • Prague
    • Barcelona
    • Amsterdam
    • Budapest
    • Athens
    • Manila
    • Las Vegas
    • Vancouver
    • Jakarta
    • Shanghai
    • Cape Town
    • Stockholm
    • Paris
    • Vienna
    • Glasgow
    • Osaka
    • Taipei
    • Miami
    • Santiago
    • Seoul
    • Dubai
    • Lagos
    • Warsaw
    • Lisbon
    • Auckland
    • Hanoi
    • Honolulu
    • Perth
    • New Delhi
    • Rio de Janeiro
    • Chicago
    • Zagreb

  • The Bucket List of Places

    I wrote an editorial about gathering data for my brain through experiences. For me this is mostly through travel and going to places, but this could be through a particular experience. For example, I used to want to do an adult fantasy baseball camp, though that’s not on my list. Skiing in Japan, however, is.

    I sat down and made a quick list here, things that stuck out in my mind, and I have an older bucket list, but I need to review and break some things down. I like some of what Brent Ozar has in an Epic Life Quest, and I might try to break my list into shorter term goals and longer ones as well.

    In the meantime, I’m making a list of places I want to visit. These are in a variety of forms, some cities, some attractions, but all places I’ve thought about. Now we’ll see if I get there:

      • Tokyo
      • Okinawa
      • Mt Fuji
      • Svalbard
      • Reykjavik
      • Antwerp/Bruges (planned 2022)
      • Lisbon
      • Rome
      • Florence
      • Venice
      • Cairo and the Great Pyramids
      • Istanbul
      • Cyprus
      • Jerusalem
      • Dubai
      • Cape Town
      • Johannesburg
      • Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro
      • Madagascar
      • Singapore
      • Bangkok
      • Phuket
      • Ho Chi Minh City
      • Kathmandu
      • Beijing
      • Shanghai
      • Great Wall of China
      • Nepal, Mt Everest, Tibet
      • Taiwan
      • Manila
      • Jakarta
      • Dubai and Burj Khalifa
      • Auckland
      • Santiago
      • Machu Picchu (scheduled 2023)
      • Easter Island
      • Rio de Janeiro
      • Lima
      • Buenos Aires
      • Costa Rica
      • Virgin Islands
      • Bermuda
      • Juneau
      • Cabo San Lucas
      • Prince Edward Island
      • Denali (Mt McKinley)

  • Back to Traveling in 2022

    I’ve had a busy speaking schedule for a number of years. If you look at my Speaking CV, there are a lot of events, even during the last two years. Before the pandemic, most of my events were in person and I was able to travel around the world. The last two years I’ve had few trips, though last year I did manage to get out of town with my wife to:

    • Omaha
    • Philadelphia
    • Orlando
    • Key West
    • Las Vegas
    • Boise
    • Brussels
    • DC

    A fairly busy year, with a couple other trips to LA for Redgate business.

    I wasn’t sure what would happen in 2022. While airlines extended status in 2020 and helped in 2021, I was a bit worried about 2022. Would I travel enough to renew my status? It might be silly, but it makes travel easier, and there are perks my wife can enjoy as well.

    I had a slow start this year, and I haven’t been on a plane yet. I had a trip cancelled as well, and a couple others I expected got delayed. United gave me a kickstart, with 20% of the credits I need to renew status, but I was slightly worried.

    However, things picked up quickly. As of now, I have these trips scheduled:

    • London
    • Syracuse
    • Las Vegas
    • Chicago
    • Reno
    • Jacksonville
    • London and Brussels
    • Amsterdam
    • Austin
    • LA

    Quite a packed schedule, and it’s one that will definitely hamper my work on spring chores around the ranch. Still, it’s exciting and I’m looking forward to seeing new places, meeting new people, and spending time with friends.

  • Redgate at SQLBits

    SQLBits LogoRedgate and the Advocates are attending SQL Bits next week in London. I’m excited to see Grant and Kathi in person, as it’s been far too long since I have been in the same room with them.

    You can register today and attend any of these sessions in person.

    If you feel comfortable in crowds and miss getting together in person, come to SQL Bits next week and say hi.