Live Snowpocalypse Webcam

Just kidding.  Here’s the real webcams:

(Update Feb 3 – now offline since the snowpocalypse is over.)

The username is operator, password operator.  Here’s shots as of 1PM so you can see if visibility drops:

Office Webcam

Living Room Webcam

I really like these little webcams for the price – under $100 from Amazon.  They’ve served me well over the last year.  We originally bought ‘em to watch our dog Ernie when we went on vacation and to make sure our dogsitter was coming at the right times.  The features include:

• WiFi or wired Ethernet support
• Motorized pan & tilt
• Automatically switches to infrared at night (and the night vision, though black & white, works surprisingly well)
• Streams live video AND works with iPhones & iPads!  We watched Ernie from the cruise ship in Alaska.
• Motion detection – can automatically upload images to an FTP server when things move in the frame

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

I’m all over the Getting Things Done philosophy, which involves setting some 50,000 foot goals to keep your overall life on track – but my GTD 50,000 foot goals aren’t “goals” in the way we usually think of goals. They are:

Goal for 2011: Improve My Poker Face

• Be very financially secure.
• Be a fantastic partner for Erika.
• Enjoy life while I can.
• Be strong and healthy.
• Be a good son and brother.
• Be a good Catholic.

None of those can be crossed off, so to speak – I’m never done enjoying life or being very financially secure. These are big-picture guidelines, more of a compass direction than a map destination. Underneath each of those 50,000 foot goals, I’ve got a series of – wait for it – 40,000 foot goals, then 30k, and so on, getting more and more tactical.

I’m not so anal-retentive that all of my day-to-day tasks are mapped up all the way through the list. Because I know my 50k goals, it’s easy for me to know at a glance whether an incoming task maps up to the big picture, or whether it might not be something I should take on. Every couple of weeks, I go through my task list just to be safe (called a GTD review), and make sure nothing snuck in when I wasn’t really thinking straight. I re-prioritize things, decide to postpone things indefinitely, and so on.

My big picture (the 50k foot goals) are very static – they haven’t changed in years – but the lower you get in altitude, the more the landscape changes from month to month. Having a really solid grasp on the direction I want to go helps me be more flexible when new opportunities arise. If someone presents me with an opportunity or if I get a wacko idea, I do a quick gut check: does this match up to my 50k foot goals, and will it skew the amount of time I spend on each goal? For example, I often turn down new clients that need help RIGHT FREAKIN’ NOW because if I took it on, I would spend less time with Erika and I would enjoy life less.

Having said all that, let’s look at what I checked off under some of the big-picture goals this year.

My SQL MCM Rotation

Be Very Financially Secure

Life threw me a curveball when Quest asked if I’d like to pursue the Microsoft Certified Master of SQL Server program. This hadn’t been part of my life’s goals, but I said hell yes because it would make me more valuable. I busted my hump studying, so saying yes to this temporarily threw my goal system way out of whack. I sacrificed some of my other goals in order to make this happen.

After I passed, life threw me another curveball when Microsoft reworked the MCM. They decided to offer it to the public without the Microsoft-based training component, which meant that I could offer MCM training myself. I looked at this as a gold mine opportunity – if I moved fast, I could write MCM training materials and make a lot more money doing training. I had absolutely zero interest in leaving Quest initially, even after I got my MCM, but the MCM program changes meant I had to think fast. Leaving Quest was tough, and leaving the security of a full-time salary job was especially tough. If I hadn’t been working on this particular GTD goal for a few years, I wouldn’t have been able to give up the salary and health insurance.

Be a Fantastic Partner for Erika

I’ve committed to Erika that I’m only going to travel one week per month on average. I struggled to keep this in 2010, and I didn’t do as well as I’d have liked when I mixed consulting and conferences. In 2011, I’ve had to say no to some really attractive events like SQLRally because I just can’t be gone all the time, and I don’t make money at those events (or SQLSaturdays). If I have only one week away per month, and I have to decide between making money at a client or losing money at an event, I gotta take care of business. (See the first GTD goal.)

Erika’s wanted new furniture for a while, so we refurnished the whole house this year. The last bits and pieces, a pair of mirrored nightstands, arrive Friday 12/31.

I did other stuff but I’m not posting that here. Mostly involved a turkey baster, a clown suit, and a videocamera.

SQLCruise 2010 Leaving Miami

Enjoy Life While I Can

This one suffered a lot during my efforts to pass the MCM program and start consulting, but I managed to sneak a few boo-yahs in.

I never would have predicted that Tim Ford and I would have launched SQLCruise. It came out of nowhere – I was so sick and tired of Seattle in the winter (seriously, PASS, what the hell are you thinking?) and was desperate to go somewhere fun at the right time of year and talk SQL Server. This was one of my most fun weeks of the year.

I’ve always wanted to learn more about photography, and this year I finally broke down and bought an interchangeable-lens camera, a couple of books, and subscribed to photography magazines. I’m slowly upping my game here, and I really enjoy this as a hobby.

Be a Good Son and Brother

Watching Bears in Alaska

By chance, I found out Dad had always wanted to go to Alaska, so I surprised Dad & Caryl (my stepmom) with their first cruise – an Alaska one out of Seattle. We had a wonderful time, saw bears and eagles and whales, oh my.

I took Mom on her first cruise this year, a 5-day one out of Miami. She had a blast (just like I hoped she would), and in 2011 I’m taking her on another cruise for her birthday.

Again this year, I made a point of telling my parents in person how much I love them, and how thankful I am for how they raised me. I’ve learned that I need to do that every single year because I learn something new every year. This year, I found out my mom feels guilty for spanking me. No, Mom, that was not a bad thing, and yes, I deserved it, and it make me a better grown-up. (I’m a big believer in spanking, although it’s easy for me to say in public because I don’t have any kids. Your kids, though, they need a swift slap across the bottom. Especially you, the lady in Oysy the other night. For crying out loud, if you can’t control your damn kids, take them to Chuck E Cheese, not a sushi restaurant. You’re not doing any of us any favors, including your kids.)

I sucked as a brother this year. My sister and her husband are hilarious, and I gotta hang out more with them.

Summary

Looking up at this list, almost none of it was predictable on 1/1/2010. I’ve done annual goals in the past and been nothing but disappointed because life changed my plans along the way. Life kept throwing me curveballs, but because of my GTD 50k foot goals, I was able to knock some of ‘em out of the park.

I do have some things at the top of my to-do list at the moment that I’ll share, though:

• Build more training material – I’m taking my game up a notch and writing sessions that really make me proud. This maps up to my financial security goal.
• Get a maid – Paul & Kim have a personal assistant, and seeing her in action, I was sold. I talked Erika into letting us get a cleaning service in for starters. This maps up to me being a better partner, plus enjoying life.
• Improve my accounting – I’ve been using a web-based accounting package, and I’m switching to Quickbooks. I hate accounting, but as an entrepreneur, you gotta do what you gotta do. Also maps up to my financial security goal.
• Start podcasting – I’m working on a new way to share my interests with you in an easier, more enjoyable way, and that maps up to me enjoying life and financial security. Stay tuned!

To learn more about GTD, check out how I use 50,000 foot goals.

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Here’s the uncompleted items on my bucket list:

Take a road racing class – I’ve always been fascinated by race cars.  Ironically, I drive really slowly on public roads, rarely getting a speeding ticket, but I still love going fast.  I want to take a multi-day course by Skip Barber or Bob Bondurant.

Crossing the Chicago Mac Sailboat Race off my bucket list

Drive a Porsche 911 on a twisty road – I don’t really wanna own a 911 because the maintenance costs are crazy, I’d rarely use the performance, and downtown Chicago parking is expensive.  Another parking spot would cost me $300-$400 per month.  I’d like to just have a great driving experience with a 911, though, and only after taking the road racing class.

Visit Tokyo – I’ve traveled the world and seen almost every city I’ve ever wanted to see, but Tokyo still calls to me.  I like the density, the strange cultural differences, and everything else I’ve learned about Tokyo.

Take everyone in our family on a cruise – not all at once, but individually.  I’ve taken Mom, Dad, and Caryl (my stepmom) so far.  Next up – my sister & crew (her husband, their son), then it’s over to Erika’s side of the family.

Have the #1 highest rated session at a conference – I’m not competitive.  It’s not about being better than anybody else – it’s just about being as good as I can possibly be.  I made the Best of the 2009 PASS Summit list with my high availability & disaster recovery session at #8, but something in me really wants to be el numero uno.

Retire while I’m young enough to enjoy it – after all, that’s what this is all about, right?  I don’t want to work until I’m dead.  I love what I do – and I mean, I really, really love it – but I could stay busy for the rest of my life doing things that aren’t on this list (but *are* on my GTD list).  I’d like to learn more about architecture, engineering, wine, writing, snorkeling, photography, and boats.  I don’t want to change the world, but I want to appreciate more of the wonderful, amazing things happening around me every day.

If you haven’t built a bucket list, go rent the movie, and start making your list.  Work can wait.  It’ll be there when you get back.

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Ayinger Celebrator and The Beer Trials

I never tasted a beer until the ripe old age of eighteen; I went to the University of Houston and someone handed me a Shiner Bock.  I said to myself, “Hey, this beer thing isn’t bad at all!  I’ve been missing out.”

So I tried a few other beers, and … wow, was I disappointed.  In the early 90s, everybody in Houston drank Corona, and more often than not, that beer left a really bad taste in my mouth.  Literally.  I couldn’t understand why sometimes it was great, but most of the time it tasted skunky.  How could there really be so much variation in the same brand of beer?

For a decade, I stuck with Shiner Bock, venturing out only when a restaurant didn’t have it or when they offered a flight of beers.  I discovered a few other good beers in different styles, and I built up a little repertoire of favorites.  I enjoyed Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (thanks to Houston beer guru, IT guru, and all around nice guy Sean Stoner, aka @MaslowBeer), Guinness, a few hefeweizens, and preferred Kirin Ichiban with my sushi.

When Alexis Herschkowitsch, one of the authors of The Wine Trials (see my review), shipped me a review copy of their new book, I gotta confess that I wasn’t expecting much.  I figured they did a file-save-as, called it The Beer Trials, and had tried – and failed – to reproduce the awesome parts of The Wine Trials.  I was very, very, very pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

Thanks to page 52 of The Beer Trials, I now know why Corona is usually skunky. The clear glass lets in unfiltered light in a way that harms the beer.  If I want to find better Corona, it’s just a matter of finding places that know how to store beer properly.  Even better, I can simply glance at a beer bottle and rule it out because it’s got clear or green glass, thereby making it more likely to be skunky.  Presto – book price saved.

Thanks to the categories on page 59, I discovered that Ayinger Celebrator is even better than Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.  I’d been trying to figure out what kinds of beers were most like 90minIPA, and I hadn’t been very successful.  I never would have gambled on Ayinger because of its fancypants packaging – I mean, really, a plastic thingamabob hanging around the beer’s neck?  What kind of jerkface drinks something like that?  Well, now, I do, because it’s unbelievably smooth, very rich and complex, and it tastes like I’m drinking warm brown velvet.  That may not sound appetizing, I admit, but that’s why I write about databases instead of beer.

I tried several 9-rated beers out of the book before etching the pixels in stone for this review.  I wanted to know that the book was more reliable than a typical bartender.  I can report that I’m completely satisfied, and the only complaint I have is that the book doesn’t come with a companion iPhone app – at least, not yet.  In the meantime, I’ve typed the list of 9 and 8 rated beers into RememberTheMilk by category so I can access ‘em from anywhere.

Authors Seamus Campbell and Robin Goldstein have pulled off a winner.  Thanks to them, I’ve found several new beers that have surprised me in a good way and made me interested in trying new beers again.  I would wholeheartedly recommend trying any beer rated highly in their trials, and because of that, the book is a downright steal at under $15.  The $15 you spend on this book will pay for itself in the first beer you try.

A few links:

• Buy The Beer Trials at Amazon
• @TheBeerTrials on Twitter
• Seamus Campbell’s blog and his other blog The Daily Wort
• Robin Goldstein’s blog BlindTaste.com and @RobinGoldstein on Twitter
• FearlessCritic.com – where I eagerly look forward to seeing Alexis & Robin’s next work.

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts