Goals for 2024

As I write this, we're already a few days into 2024. I hope everyone had a happy, festive, and safe holiday -- whatever holiday you celebrate -- as well as an equally festive New Year's celebration. For me, personally, New Year's Eve was a quiet evening in my living room along with my wife, and New Year's …

Our user group is having a picnic on July 23! And you’re invited! @CASSUG_Albany #SQLFamily #Networking

On Sunday, July 23, CASSUG is having a picnic, in lieu of our monthly meeting! We'll be cooking out and hanging out at Colonie Mohawk River Park! (Click here for a downloadable PDF park map!) We will be at pavilion #1 (note: it's marked as 11 on the park map! Just to add to the …

My first robotics competition

Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to attend my first robotics competition! The opportunity came up when my friend Andy Levy came to town with his team for a competition! Andy wrote a couple of 'blog articles about his robotics experience; you can read them here and here! It was a fun time, and I …

Hey #SQLFamily, who would be up for a #SQLJamSession? #PASSDataCommunitySummit #Networking #Activities

When I saw Steve Jones at New Jersey SQL Saturday earlier this year, I made him a promise. Steve knows that I'm into music. He said he wanted to hear me play sometime. I told him, "if you can find me a piano at PASS Summit, I'll play!" The other day, Steve posted a 'blog …

Your User Manual

As a technical writer, anything that mentions “manual” (or “documentation”, for that matter) tends to catch my eye. I suppose it’s an occupational hazard. But when I saw this post from my friend, Steve Jones, it made me take notice.

I’m reblogging this for my own personal reference as much as anything else. Suppose you had a set of instructions for yourself? How would it read?

I might try this exercise for myself at some point, but for the moment, read Steve’s article, and see if you can come up with your own manual for yourself.

Voice of the DBA

Many of us have spent time looking through manuals or the documentation for some software or product. I know I’m on the MS docs site regularly for work, and there is no shortage of times I’ve used various manuals to help me fix something around the house. We usually use a manual when we want to learn how something is supposed to work, or how to get it to do what we want.

I saw a post on a personal user manual that I thought was a good idea for some people, maybe many people. This isn’t a manual for how you should live your life or work, but rather, how others might interact with you. This manual describes how you work, what motivates you, stimulates you, what pleases you, and even the environment in which are most productive.

Whether or not this is something you might give to co-workers…

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Make time for your art

This pic above showed up in a Facebook meme, and it spoke volumes to me. To sum up my thoughts in only a few words, I'm an artist. Okay, I suppose some context is in order; after all, I am writing this as a 'blog article. For the benefit of those of you who don't …

Going crazy (in a good way)

Every once in a while, I'll start thinking random thoughts. For whatever reason this morning, on the last day of 2021, my brain randomly started thinking about one of my favorite movies, Field Of Dreams. At the beginning of the movie, Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) said this: "And until I heard the Voice, …

Getting my music heard

As some of you may know, when I'm not coming up with ideas for professional development 'blogs, I'm a musician on the side. I'm a classically-trained pianist, and I also play the clarinet, saxophone, and mallet percussion instruments as well. I perform in a large symphonic concert band, I accompany a local church choir, I …

The #Coronavirus chronicles, part 26: The evolution of emergency services — #EMS #EMT #Paramedic #Television #COVID19

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I've been spending a lot of time -- probably too much time -- at home. As such, one of the pitfalls is that I'm probably watching way too much TV. Yes, I know, I really need to get out of the house more. With that, one of my …

The #Coronavirus chronicles, part 23: Learning songs in a new language #COVID19

Before I get into this article, I need to direct you to a few other articles that I wrote, all of which are directly relevant to what I'm about to write. You will likely not understand some of the references in this article unless you read these other ones first (or are friends with me …