2010 liner notes and my theme for 2011

The MorningNews asked the following question recently:

Who you would recognize in your 2010 liner notes?

To all the people in your lives (maybe you know them, maybe you don’t) who deserve shout-outs, a la the album’s notes, the book’s acknowledgments, the piece’s title, the award’s dedication. Who would you include in your 2010 acceptance speech? Maybe your fifth grade teacher, the buddy who got you through a brutal summer, the musician who had you walking tall during a particular slog.

My grandparents

A lot changed in 2010

I don’t write much about my personal life on this blog, but in short: I changed jobs, moved house, and I’m in a new relationship. My last grandparent passed away. I remembered that life is finite.

2010 – The liner notes

To My Mamaw:

You not only taught me how to draw, you taught me how to love it, and how to be patient and thoughtful when it doesn’t turn out exactly like I planned. When I create art, I’ll always think of you. You also showed me what it is to love someone more than anything else, and how to live gracefully with loss. I love that about you.

Me with Crys in West Palm Beach

To Crys Manson ( b / t ):

Thanks for convincing me to do things which I fear will make me:
a) exhausted, b) terrified, c) nauseous d) all of the above.
You’re a fantastic friend a the BEST DBA co-pilot ever. You make me a better person.
I’ll fly into West Palm Beach with  you anytime.

To Organizers of SQL Saturday Nashville, Iowa City, and Washington DC ( b ):

Thanks for putting on a great show, and for the speaking opportunities. It’s been crazy good. I’ve loved the chance to travel to places I’ve never been and meet all sorts of smart people. Thanks for letting me figure out how to get up and talk in front of a group of strangers, and for letting me learn from other people’s presentations.

To Brent Ozar ( b / t ) and Tim Ford ( b / t ):

SQL Clown Car

Thanks for not just throwing an awesome party, but for really making friends.
I still owe you guys a ride to Tacoma.

To Richard Kim:

Thanks for believing in me so much, and for understanding me better than I know myself, sometimes.

To Len Cozza and Richard Fried:

Thanks for the honest, thoughtful, sane conversations, in a crazy place and time.

To Dev Nambi ( t ):

I love how passionate and good you are at what you do. I’m sure I’ll still think of calling you if I have crazy new performance issues to talk about. Except that’s probably not really appropriate now.

To My Former Employer, Whom I Have Not Explicitly Named Herein:

Thanks for bringing me in touch with smart and interesting people from so many different places. I don’t really miss you because, let’s face it, we still spend a lot of time together in so many ways, and that’s a good thing.

To My New Employer:

We’re going to do some really awesome stuff.
And way to go for having the gym onsite and offering free physical training sessions. Seriously awesome.

To Carl, the Giant Rabbit ( t ):

Carl, who wants nothing to do with ramps.

Thanks for all the headbutts, and for dancing on your hind feet in greedy mango-lust.
Sorry about those litter box shavings you didn’t like. I won’t do that EVER again.

To Kevin Kline ( b / t ):

I’m not sure if you’re aware that I owe you an ice cream cone.

To Jeremiah Peschka ( b / t ):

Good choice asking me to be on your SQL PASS Quiz Bowl team!
Thanks for helping me remember the books I love to read, and for helping me think about things differently sometimes. For getting me to listen to new music, and teaching me to talk in dinosaur. And for creating your own datatype. Let’s go get some tacos and I’ll tell you the rest.

2011: Theme for next year

My theme for next year comes from a blog post by Penelope Trunk from 2007:

Here’s some practical advice: Do not what you love; do what you are. …

Relationships make your life great, not jobs.  But a job can ruin your life – make you feel out of control in terms of your time or your ability to accomplish goals –  but no job will make your life complete. It’s a myth mostly propagated by people who tell you to do what you love. Doing what you love will make you feel fulfilled. But you don’t need to get paid for it.

A conversation about cheesecake and President Clinton

In many ways, I’m lucky, because I love nerding out on SQL Server and talking about it. But I don’t love all the responsibilities and trappings of work. This next year I want to devote to respecting my job and being a great contributor (and my new job is interesting and exciting), but also separating out and making plenty of time for what I love.

In 2011 I want to become a better speaker, because I love doing it. I want to develop more presentations and think through creating training materials around RDBMses, because I enjoy it.  I’ll probably learn plenty of things in doing this that make me better at  my job, and that’s icing.

Which leads me to my most important goal for 2011: take time to have fun with people I love outside of work. Schedule it. Stick with it. Do it unless the world is on fire. And if the world’s truly on fire, take the time back within a week.

I’m going to learn to be a better partner, to make plenty of time for zombie movies, and to sometimes think nothing at all about SQL.

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