Volunteer For Something

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Volunteer For Something

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Hi Grant

    Nice post and Thanks

    By the way, what is your call sign?

  • Grant, you are a busy man!  What timely post, b/c I was just thinking that I might have stop my volunteer work with the PA Master Naturalist group because I have little time to do so anymore.  Part of the reason is that I am getting older and feel like I have to spend more time attending to my health (i.e., exercising) and learning new tech outside of work hours.  I often combine the two, by listening to podcasts and YouTube videos while I hike the stairs for heart health.  Do you get your exercise in?  It is really important.  Especially as we get older.  The heart naturally stiffens as we get older, but they are finding that if you do HIIT workouts a few times a week, you can actually reverse that trend and gain the heart elasticity of a younger person.  But, only if you do this before about age 70, as they find the benefits of HIIT are less then, if you start the exercise program then.  So, for those of us in our 50's, now is NOT the time to stop exercising!  I am finding that as I get older, I am definitely feeling the negative effects of sitting at this desk so much.  I so enjoy the work I do and learning the technology, but I just can't spend that much time in front of a computer anymore -- so my body tells me, in addition to the things I am reading (that HIIT article).  In sum, I hear you on the volunteering front, but in order to stay current in tech and keep my health, I find little time to do much else these days.  I am certainly having to prioritize.  So frustrating.  I just want to encourage everyone in the SQL community to not forget to attend to their health!  Thanks for listening.  🙂

  • meelan wrote:

    Hi Grant

    Nice post and Thanks

    By the way, what is your call sign?

    KC1KCE

    And thanks.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • zintp wrote:

    Grant, you are a busy man!  What timely post, b/c I was just thinking that I might have stop my volunteer work with the PA Master Naturalist group because I have little time to do so anymore.  Part of the reason is that I am getting older and feel like I have to spend more time attending to my health (i.e., exercising) and learning new tech outside of work hours.  I often combine the two, by listening to podcasts and YouTube videos while I hike the stairs for heart health.  Do you get your exercise in?  It is really important.  Especially as we get older.  The heart naturally stiffens as we get older, but they are finding that if you do HIIT workouts a few times a week, you can actually reverse that trend and gain the heart elasticity of a younger person.  But, only if you do this before about age 70, as they find the benefits of HIIT are less then, if you start the exercise program then.  So, for those of us in our 50's, now is NOT the time to stop exercising!  I am finding that as I get older, I am definitely feeling the negative effects of sitting at this desk so much.  I so enjoy the work I do and learning the technology, but I just can't spend that much time in front of a computer anymore -- so my body tells me, in addition to the things I am reading (that HIIT article).  In sum, I hear you on the volunteering front, but in order to stay current in tech and keep my health, I find little time to do much else these days.  I am certainly having to prioritize.  So frustrating.  I just want to encourage everyone in the SQL community to not forget to attend to their health!  Thanks for listening.  🙂

    I probably don't work out as much as I should, but yes. I belong to a... well, I used to say box, but I'll just say, fitness club, and I do structured workouts there. It's supposed to be three days a week, but it's been much more variable the last couple of months (moving house really messes up your schedule). However, yes, try to eat right and exercise on top of it all.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Grant Fritchey wrote:

    meelan wrote:

    Hi Grant

    Nice post and Thanks

    By the way, what is your call sign?

    KC1KCE

    And thanks.

     

    At home, apparently my call sign is "DINNER!" 😀

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • I used to do a lot of volunteering when I was a child but I have since lost that charitable spirit. I do have much less free time but I also must get back into it.

    On a second note, Freemasons? Do the Freemasons need help? Aren't they a secret organisation pledged to benefit only their own members, fight the constant threat of popery (and not pot pourri), occasionally found new countries and, in general, have rich, white guys as members. Don't you have to be invited to join the Freemasons? Is this akin to going down to the local country club and asking whether they need help picking leaves of the fairway?

  • Strangely, during the first lockdown, when I (a DBA, mind) was furloughed (but not for long - they realised their mistake quickly enough) I went looking for things to do: Places I might be able to volunteer to help.

    As it happens, certain organisations were recruiting volunteers to help with the pandemic. I got lucky, and was accepted, and from there I got to volunteer for a program that's kept me busy most weekends this year (more if I have holiday - can't really go anywhere so... that's another shift signed up for!).

    Probably the best part of the volunteering is meeting new people, chatting to them and getting them laughing (can't say they're smiling as masks tend to hide that bit), and people seem happy to socialise a little, even if they are there to get vaccinated. It's also quite the experience being around professional nurses and doctors, mixed in with the other volunteers: They're a remarkably friendly, welcoming and overall nice group.

    It's this side that people overlook normally - it's only when you're there, standing along side them and taking a little bit of the pressure away that it's all that obvious. Well worth the time, just for that, but knowing you're helping others: That's the icing on the cake.

  • sean redmond wrote:

    I used to do a lot of volunteering when I was a child but I have since lost that charitable spirit. I do have much less free time but I also must get back into it.

    On a second note, Freemasons? Do the Freemasons need help? Aren't they a secret organisation pledged to benefit only their own members, fight the constant threat of popery (and not pot pourri), occasionally found new countries and, in general, have rich, white guys as members. Don't you have to be invited to join the Freemasons? Is this akin to going down to the local country club and asking whether they need help picking leaves of the fairway?

    Ha! Well, none of that is true in the US. We do tons and tons of charity work (one giant example would be the Shriners Childrens Hospitals all over the country, but that's just the big one, there are lots more). And to get in, ask. The quote is: To be one, ask one. But yeah, you will have to wear a funny looking apron.

    For full disclosure, I've moved and haven't connected with the local lodge, so I'm actually kind of out of Freemasons at the moment.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • steve.powell 14027 wrote:

    Strangely, during the first lockdown, when I (a DBA, mind) was furloughed (but not for long - they realised their mistake quickly enough) I went looking for things to do: Places I might be able to volunteer to help.

    As it happens, certain organisations were recruiting volunteers to help with the pandemic. I got lucky, and was accepted, and from there I got to volunteer for a program that's kept me busy most weekends this year (more if I have holiday - can't really go anywhere so... that's another shift signed up for!).

    Probably the best part of the volunteering is meeting new people, chatting to them and getting them laughing (can't say they're smiling as masks tend to hide that bit), and people seem happy to socialise a little, even if they are there to get vaccinated. It's also quite the experience being around professional nurses and doctors, mixed in with the other volunteers: They're a remarkably friendly, welcoming and overall nice group.

    It's this side that people overlook normally - it's only when you're there, standing along side them and taking a little bit of the pressure away that it's all that obvious. Well worth the time, just for that, but knowing you're helping others: That's the icing on the cake.

    Excellent! That's honestly WAY better than I've been doing, especially lately. Thanks for sharing.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Grant Fritchey wrote:

    meelan wrote:

    Hi Grant

    Nice post and Thanks

    By the way, what is your call sign?

    KC1KCE

    And thanks.

    Every time I read you posting about amateur radio makes me nostalgic and miss the days when I had my ticket. If only I had 12 more hours in a day. Too many hobbies I guess.

  • Just take up 3d printing and laser engraving. Then you can print parts for the radio and engrave all the parts. It's a never ending loop.

    HA!

     

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

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