Category Archives: Random Musings
Insert Blog Title Here
[Insert witty comment here]. [Insert funny anecdotal story regarding life, my past, or my workplace]. [Insert second witty comment].
[Start new paragraph]. [Hope the reader hasn’t clicked on their Google bookmark on the favorites bar]. [Insert Google link just in case]. [Insert uplifting statement of hope and inspiration].
[Insert silly trademark ending such as ‘Enjoy!’]
P.S. This blog post has been brought to you by the Society For Mold Breaking (and you thought it stood for Server Messaging Block…silly rabbit tricks are for kids)
Excitement or Business As Usual?
After a hectic Monday morning, I sat back and reflected upon the events that occurred. For most of my career, I would dread coming to work on Monday mornings, and I loathed the stressful work environments created in the aftermath. At this point in my career, I thrive on the chaos that is called Monday. Most days are business as usual, especially if your plan is to be as proactive as possible, however Mondays still provide excitement. Mondays provide a challenge. Mondays are a raging tower of excitement. Well, maybe I am getting a little carried away, but you get the picture. How do you tackle the beast that is Monday?
Enjoy!
Time Flies When You’re Having Fun
On the drive in this morning, a precarious thought struck me: I have been working in the IT field now for 17 years! I have been using a computer for three fourths of my life. All I can say is, wow time flies!
My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 with its programs loaded via cassette tape and attached thermal printer. If I remember correctly I had a 128 KB memory module plugged in for performance! Oh the joys of starting a chess game and then going outside and playing for the 30 minutes it took to load assuming I didn’t have to flip the cassette over. The freakishly small and flat keypad was difficult to type on but it was mine! Those were the days!
My first real computer was an IBM PCjr which was a great little machine for my high school days. For my birthday one year, I remember getting a laser mouse that sat on a metal mouse pad with grid lines painted on it. My Dad thought that the mouse was the future (at least that is what the IBM sales guy at the computer store told him). The mouse came with solitaire and he bought me a paint program because it would be so easy with the mouse, it was not. So yes I have been wasting time on solitaire since the mid 1980s, way before everyone else! In college I bought a 386 then began building my own machines. The love affair had begun.
To Be Continued….
Winds of Change
In today’s marketplace we are constantly bombarded with the word change. We hear on a daily basis that we must be flexible to change as the marketplace evolves. The workplace changes daily, yet we are told to prepare for change. There is one thing that never changes: people never stop talking about change!
My life changes daily and as much as I enjoy a good routine, I also relish a good change. No one wants baked chicken every night. We need a change!
A previous manager once told me that change is the new order of business and if you were not on board the train was passing you by. I do not think people are afraid of change in as much as they are afraid of the company changing without them. People want some semblance of security, some semblance of hope. The talk of change disrupts the status quo and says that there is no stability to be found here for we are a purveyor of change and that means be prepared because one day the reaper will come for you too! Random musings, enjoy!
Martin Luther King, Jr Day 2012
In honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, I thought I would pass on some of his wisdom since I am at home enjoying my last holiday until Memorial Day. Enjoy!
“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.”“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”“Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”
SQL and Nothing Else?
I have a thought that has been resonating in my head all week, well probably for a couple of weeks. It was a comment made at the Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group Holiday gathering last month. To set the scene…it was a moment of frivolity where several of us where debating as to who had the best job. Naturally, everyone denied that it was their job and thus pointed to another member at the table and espoused the reasons that they believed that person to have the best job. When the TBSSUG version of Quentin Tarrantino, yes looks and mannerisms but not the height, turns to me and says the following:
Tarrantino: “Hey what about you, do you have the best job?”
Me: “No, I don’t think so….”
Tarrantino: “Why not, what disqualifies your job?”
Me: “My job is not 100% SQL, therefore it cannot be the best job, in my opinion. I have other Windows Server administrative duties, I am a VMWare administrator (which is a positive and not a negative even though it may not seem like that from the tone of this blog), I have to attend numerous pointless meetings, and I have to deploy numerous dot NET applications, which should disqualify me automatically. I am personally responsible for approximately 200 servers. Don’t get me wrong, but I love my job, except for the pointless meetings, but that is a separate blog topic. I just don’t think it would be the best job, that would be a job where I was a SQL DBA for 100 percent of my duties…”
Tarrantino: “100%, that would be the worst job….who would want to do that? SQL and nothing else, that would be boring…no way…you’re crazy…(turns to the next person) What about you, is your job the best?”
It was a silly conversation served up with a delicious beverage and Christmas cookies, so why does it still bother me? Is it the fact that one of my peers does not share the same passion for SQL Server? Or is it the fact that maybe I am Don Quixote and this is my windmill: chasing a dream of a golden job opportunity in a town called Perfect.
What do you think? Enjoy
Merry Christmas Everyone!
I would like to personally wish you and your family a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope 2012 is especially productive and that we all have a very #SQLAwesomeness year! I look forward to seeing you all at various SQL events in the new year! I would also like to thank everyone in the SQL Community for everything you do throughout the year to help spread the SQL love, it is appreciated! Finally, let the Big Gator Growl!
Hello and Welcome to the Swampland!
Thanks for visiting my new blog. I have decided to create this blog in order to separate my personal blog from my professional blog as I become more involved in the online SQL Server community. With this blog, I will be covering SQL Server, VMWare, and Windows server topics as I traverse my professional career online so you can learn from my mistakes and my journey. Welcome to the Swampland!
SQL Swampland 