I've been gone... wow. Since March 31st of this year?! Let's fix that.
So what has been holding me back?
Kids? I have three! 2, 15, 18. One wants to drive, one wants to move out into the world, the other wants to rule the world.
Wife? She's always there for me... always... there... always.
Work? We get short breaks on the weekends.. I guess. Unless called, or working or...
Events? SQL Saturdays, Summit coming up, User group meetings...
Training / School? This is the training that never ends. yes it goes on and on and on and...
Well. Let's get a little more honesty here. What's been holding me back is me. It's time to fix any excuses and get moving again! I've slowed down too much.
My kids are supportive. They give me time to study and are really good at being quiet when I'm taking tests and what not. That's a lot to ask for already. My 2 year old will even happily sit in my lap and watch me work as long as school bus is playing somewhere. This kid loves her some Magic School Bus.
My wife is always there, to help make sure the house gets taken care of and I get time to work. Life happens and it's not always perfect, but there is a large amount of effort there. I truly couldn't appreciate it more.
Work is actually rather great. I get time to study and learn new things. We're making fantastic improvements in how we grow and work our business. We all get along here in IT. no one tries to pull rank on anyone and everything just works. (Weird right?)
We have so much help from the community it's awe inspiring. These events almost run them selves once you push that snow ball down a hill. It's fantastic to see this come together. I've had random attendees to our SQL Sat come up and let me know things they took care of because it needed to be done. How awesome is that?
Training. Well this one is just what it is. Training never ends. That's a good thing. I think once we stop advancing, we only start to decline. I don't honestly believe in knowledge being stagnant.
My wife even went one step further this year. I got my anniversary present from her. It still needs a bit of work... but she's committed to giving me time and ability to work, that this appeared in our backyard.
Grumpy cat is needed to keep me company though. It does get quiet in my backyard box. Furniture will update when I get the walls in.
To make things better? It even has the most requested and required tools available to your studying needs!
Yes, I realize this needs a few things... like insulation, proper lights, electricity, sheetrock... a floor? But for day one, it's usable. We turned our old storage shed spot into a place where we can work without distractions. She can come out on days that she needs some time just the same.
My biggest problems keeping up on blog posts and dedicating time to training was my own fault.
I'm fixing it with a bit of help (a lot) from the family. I'm hoping this is the start of another spring forward as well. Besides, when one node of our AG goes down on my kids birthday again, we don't have to try to find a quiet spot and interrupt the party, again. 🙂
I'm pretty excited. I hope to post more here. I think some quiet swinging in a hammock is exactly what's needed to get back to writing.
See you all soon!
