Geek Dad DBA

Do something uncomfortable

2011-02-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

We all know that when we are challenged we grow even if it makes us uncomfortable. The Lord puts us in situations to learn and grow all the time, but do we really learn anything or continue in the same bad habits?

Years ago when I played High School football (Go Tempe Buffalos!) I learned to lift weights. Coach taught us proper technique, but I did what I wanted (t-shirt muscles) and only gave the minimum on those exercises I didn't like. Years went by and I began college and I continued to lift weights the same way I had "learned" in High School only now I was going to be a bodybuilder so I exercised even harder doing the same old things.

I pretty much continued this way for many years, then life caught up with me. I found that I would do yard work and wondered why my back hurt, I had neck problems, I couldn't do normal "man" tasks as well as I would have liked. I thought "What is wrong with me? I work out all the time and read fitness magazines, but I can't do this?".

Then I discovered Crossfit (www.crossfit.com). Crossfit totally changed the way I looked at fitness and weightlifting. In a nutshell, Crossfit is about functional fitness, overall total body fitness. It works you out like nothing else I have ever done and I can say that I am stronger now than I was in High School, and coach was right. All those exercises I should have done and didn't want to are incorporated in Crossfit. I learned my lesson quickly and am never going back.

I think many of us get caught in the same "thinking habits" on many issues. One that I used to have is my relationship with the Lord. I thought I was doing the "steps" I needed to do to be in relationship. I prayed (irregularly) I never fasted, I went to church, I volunteered and I studied many books, however my relationship with the Lord and consequently my life was not in sync with God. After much prayer and talking to some great people who cared enough to challenge my way of doing things, I changed my habits. I spend regular time with the Lord now in prayer and even just listening and I have a dedicated study time for the word.

What a difference changing your way of thinking makes! I am so much more fulfilled and happy in my relationship and consequently in my life! Just like my coach in high school, I should have listened to those that told me how to live a fulfilled Christian life earlier!

Now I am well on the road to fundamental physical and more importantly spiritual fitness!

How about you? Do you have any negative thought patterns? Does your life continue to disappoint in specific areas or in general? What could you change to get you to the next level? I challenge you to spend some time seriously considering your life and then push forward and make changes.

Cleaning out "My Oracle Library"

2010-09-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

I have been an Oracle DBA now for over 14 years. Over the years, I have seen many changes in I.T. and of course the Oracle database. When I started this journey the Internet was in it's infancy and access to Metalink documentation(Oracle Support) & whitepapers from experts in the field were hard to find, much less access. I developed survival habits early on to succeed as a DBA. One of the habits I developed was that I began a "library" of sorts for all things Oracle. Anything I found that I thought might be useful as a DBA, I kept in my "library" .

At this time, I still had a PRINTED set of Oracle 7 manuals and I thought I had all the documentation I would ever need. Boy was I wrong. I found great value in storing all of the soft copy documentation that I could related to Oracle/UNIX. For years I added to this "library" and it served me well. I became a little obsessed always having the latest and greatest documentation . I would spend hours every week looking for documentation to give me an edge. I backed it up to multiple CD's and took great care to make sure my "library" was safe. My thinking was, "I will have the answer for that one time that no one else has". I developed a bad habit of obtaining some documentation , not actually reading it but still storing it. I began to have a false sense of confidence that somehow if I had the documentation(even though I had not read it) I was "better" than other DBA's. Nothing could have been further from the truth in Oracle or in life.

Having the documentation or books on a subject are great for reference, but without reading them and discerning the good from the bad and weeding out the useless, they are of little value. I realized several years ago that I needed to weed out my "library" and only keep what I thought was valuable. I have recently completed that process and while my "Oracle Library" was at one time almost 6GB of documentation it is now down to ~3.

Furthermore, I have changed my habits and now read what is important and if I don't use it regularly or feel that I might need it in the next year, I delete it. This forces me to learn more, retain more and read more. All three are good things.

In addition, I would say this is a a great example for our lives. Do you store up things(books) to give you a false sense of security? Please don't misunderstand, I think that having a great library on any or all subjects is a great idea, but when you put it ahead of who you are or what you are capable of , then you are deceiving yourself.

Trust yourself, take control and delete the books in your "library" that are holding you back.

Triumph and the power of music

2010-07-01T10:06:00.027-07:00

I am a Christian. I have been for many years now.

I love all types of music(except for rap).

Music is a lot like people. you may enjoy having some people around you all the time, some you like in short bursts or others only in passing conversations. However, in all cases you can find something good in a person. Music is simply music, just like any other form of art it can be interpreted many ways. You can always find something good in any song or any person for that matter.

I try to see the world as Christ sees it and teaches us to see it. I think that God is love, truth (and so much more). So anything that conveys either of these things to me, I interpret as good and from God.

Having said all of that I wanted to let you in on an experience I had today. I am 46 and so I was a teen during the 80's and listened to a lot of different bands, one of them was Triumph.

I am certain that Triumph had a different meaning for the songs that I am going to talk about than what I interpret from them. However, I consistently see themes in them that make me think about my life and how to live as Christian.

As I said, these are my interpretations of songs (or art). Two of their songs make my point.

The first song is "Fight The Good Fight"

Here is an excerpt the lyrics:
Every day it seems much harder tellin' right from wrong
You got to read between the lines
Don't get discouraged, don't be afraid, we can
Make it through another day
Make it worth the price we pay
The Good Book says it's better to give than to receive
I do my best to do my part
Nothin' in my pockets I got nothin' up my sleeve
I keep my magic in my heart
Keep up your spirit, keep up your faith, baby
I am counting on you
You know what you've got to do
CHORUS:
Fight the good fight every moment
Every minute every day
Fight the good fight every moment
It's your only way

My general interpretation: Continue striving when difficulties arise in your life. God is there, have faith. You know what to do, trust Him.

The second song is "Never Surrender"

Here is an excerpt the lyrics:
Modern apathetics; you got plenty of nothing to say
some are born to follow: some will make their own way
Today you found a hero tomorrow you'll forget
You're lookin' for convenient truth you haven't found it yet
You don't make commitments no time for regrets
Easy come and easy go and easy to forget
You don't ever take responsibility
Don't you know that part of you is part of me
CHORUS
Never surrender, it's easier said than done
but you go to finish what's already begun
Never, that's forever, seems like such a long time
but i only got one life to live - it's gonna be mine
Never surrender - we cannot be denied
Never surrender - spread your wings and fly

My general interpretation: Live consistently in accordance with your faith. Don't compromise. If your a Christian, then strive to be the best Christian you can be, no matter what the cost.

These are just two examples of songs that inspire me. What inspires you? A song? A movie? A poem? A work of art?

Whatever it is be open to it, allow God to work through it. See the truth and the love that God has placed in your heart as a result of experiencing it.

When you do see it, be sure to share it with others.

Having my little girl home for awhile....

2010-06-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

So my Son-in-law is away traveling for a few days and my daughter has taken the opportunity to stay with us. I am so happy. The family dynamic is enriched by her presence and I have missed that. Don't get me wrong we love her husband very much and could not be happier that she is married, but I do miss having her around.

The fact that she is pregnant and I can get a little "baby time" is great as well!

Boy was I wrong...

2010-05-28T09:01:00.002-07:00

Wow the Suns win the WCF games 3 & 4? Just wow. Both very nice games and won in different ways. Now they barely lose game 5 on a put back? Hmmm maybe their is something to these Suns after all. I still think that it is time to re-tool if we don't win a championship, but everything should be put on hold for now.

End of an era...

2010-05-20T09:00:00.003-07:00

When determining whether it is time to put a dog down due to illness the owner asks himself a few questions:
1. Does "Spot" still act like himself or is he lethargic and not eating etc..
2. Is "Spot" in pain and no amount of medication/treatment can help him?
3. Is "Spot" having spells or times when he just checks out and drools etc?
4. As much as you love them you have to consider the worth of the dog and how much a
new one will cost vs. the treatment (if any) to keep "Spot" healthy.

Let's use that same approach when dealing with the current state of the Phoenix Suns.
1. Does "Spot" still act like himself or is he lethargic and not eating etc..
- The Suns have not been the Suns for a while now. We could not get to the Finals when this team and Nash were younger, we do not have the players to do it now. We are too old the style of basketball we play (high speed) cannot accomplish anything with these aging players.
2. Is "Spot" in pain and no amount of medication/treatment can help him?
- Only a major trade involving Nash/Amare or both would help this current team. This needs to happen as both of them are not the players they once were and if we trade them the culture of the team changes.
3. Is "Spot" having spells or times when he just checks out and drools etc?
- Nash is aging quickly and can no longer take the punishment that the game requires. I do not doubt his toughness, it is just that while he may be able to play his effectiveness is dropping quickly due to physical play, lack of speed etc.
Amare is a shadow of his former self. Whether he decides to play or not you can never tell and I dont have much patience for a player who does not continually at least TRY to compete. You cannot check-out every other game or only play hard when you want to, this is WHAT YOU WERE DESTINED TO DO and you shrug and only play hard when you want. Sickening.
4. As much as you love them you have to consider the worth of the dog and how much a
new one will cost vs. the treatment (if any) to keep "Spot" healthy.
- Ask anyone who knows me, I have been a loyal Suns fan since the pre-Barkley days. I will continue to be a Suns fan, but the current roster will not get it done. I love the Suns and respect what they have done, but tt is time to make the following changes:
1. Trade Amare (if he doesn't opt out) for a decent(does not have to be a "star" PF.
2. Trade Nash (love the guy but seriously it is time) for a great project PG.
3. Sign Lou,Duds and get rid of Channing Frye.
4. Coach Gentry must then re-tool and re-train his team how to play defense. Defense wins championships.

The Nash era Suns have been amazing and fun to watch and they almost made it all the way, but it its definitely time to put this "dog" out of it's misery.

Life is like riding the bus, it requires change...

2010-05-17T15:43:00.002-07:00

Thanks Dennis Miller for the title of this blog post.

Seriously, life is changing so fast right now all I can do is hold on an enjoy the ride. In the last 3 weeks or so I have had the following changes/events in my life:

1. My beloved daughter and her wonderful husband are having a baby boy! We are in awe of what God is doing and so happy for them and for us. What a great thing it is going be - grandparents!
2. My youngest son Jacob is graduating from High School. I am so proud of him! He has worked so hard and done so much. HE designed the H.S. Yearbook cover! He is so gifted. What a blessing to everyone he knows.
3. Mother's Day - Thank God for all the Mothers in my life especially my Mom - Carolyn.
4. My oldest son Jared had his CD release party for the first CD from his band "Good Night Darling". I am also immensely proud of him! For the longest time we thought he would go to college and play basketball, but God had other plans! So glad he is not doing that and chose music!!!
5. A million other less important things...:)

As you can see I have been very blessed and very busy. So happy. Life moves so fast it seems like just yesterday I was building a "blanket fort" with my 3 kids after serving spaghetti for the umpteenth time while my wife was getting her masters!

Where does the time go?!

Nikki & Brandon's Baby's Heartbeat!!!

2010-03-23T16:23:00.006-07:00

We are so excited to be grandparents! Here is the heartbeat!

Here is a link to their blog:

Victor Davis Hanson..

2009-06-28T18:29:00.001-07:00

I usually follow Victor Davis Hanson and this one does not disappoint..

It is well worth a read..

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/thoughts-on-a-schizophrenic-society/?print=1

Certification..

2009-05-11T08:10:00.003-07:00

Sorry I have not updated this blog very much, I have been very busy. I have been working recently on some Oracle DataGuard solutions for D/R. Great product..

Recently, I have been thinking about getting certified, what do you all think?

My thoughts are :
1 - Oracle certification is a great way to keep my skill current.
2 - Oracle certification is respected in the industry.
3- Was thinking about Linux or MySQL certification as well. I am not sure what the status of MySQL is now that Oracle owns them, but I wanted to check it out just the same.

Thoughts?

Chris Cornell continued...

2009-03-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

So I listened to "Scream" today and I was not too impressed. It is catchy, but not really what I expect from Chris. So I will try to listen to the rest of the album, but so far I am not liking it.

Chris Cornell - What happened??

2008-12-17T20:31:00.002-07:00

To those who care, I am a huge Chris Cornell fan. For those that don't know who Chris is, he was the lead singer of SoundGarden and AudioSlave as well as putting out several solo albums. He is an awesome talent and has a voice that can peel that paint off the walls...He is known most recently for a new arrangement of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean, which to my ears never sounded so good. For those into the latest American Idol singers, David Cook basically won the contest this year by singing it on the show and absolutely killing the judges.

Now to my point.. I just found out that Chris is putting out a new album. My first thought was GREAT! a new CC (Chris Cornell) album. Then I see that it was done in partnership with someone named Timbaland. All I know about Timbaland is that he worked with some Pop band named New Republic, I guess they are the current flavor of the day, idk. In any case if you like that stuff and or Timbaland more power to you. However, as far as I can tell from the early release stuff on CC's new album, this collaboration stinks.

This new album removes all the roughness and downright Rock and Roll from CC's voice and usualy talent. I am all for exploring new areas musically and stuff, but this seems ridiculous. It doesn't even sound like a CC song. It is not even the same type of music.. Gah I can't stand it. I guess I will have to listen to my old CC and wait for him to return to his senses and start peeling some paint. Sigh..

Fireproof

2008-10-19T20:30:00.002-07:00

Saw the movie Fireproof today and it was very good. Story was good and believable, characters were good, acting was not great, but better than average. I recommend that you see it.

Correction In The Public Square..

2008-09-07T20:29:00.003-07:00

I incorrectly listed www.inthepublicsquare.com in a prior post. I sincerely apologize. Please check them out!

Some scripting..

2008-09-07T20:05:00.005-07:00

Scripting in any environment is a necessary skill when supporting Oracle databases. I can usually cobble together anything I need very quickly in UNIX/Linux using bash,ksh,csh etc. But since I work in a Windows environment now, I needed to use DOS scripts.

I needed to create a routine to determine day of the week so that I could perform a certain action only on Saturdays. I didn't care about dates, leap years etc.. just that it was a Saturday. In UNIX/Linux you can use the ` command to wrap another UNIX command and execute it and put the results in a variable. Like this:
DATE=`date %d`
However in DOS, I am not aware of a way to do this. If I had the time and the proper motivation I suppose I could just use PERL and be done with it on any platform, but I usually go with the lowest common denominator for small project needs such as this. My philosophy on this subject is that a DOS script will run natively on almost any Windows version and PERL need not be installed.

So on to DOS ..

I started with this:

FOR /F "tokens=1-3 delims=, " %%i in ('date/t') DO SET DAYOFWEEK=%%i
echo %DAYOFWEEK%
IF '%DAYOFWEEK%' EQU 'Sun' (
echo it's Sunday
)

While this works fine, I found it a bit clumsy and truthfully while I was searching I found this command

set DAYOFTHEWEEK=%MYDATE:~0,3

Basically the ~ and positions given after it can perform a substring on a variable.
The website I found it on had this example:

date /t >c:\lastbackup.txt ;lastbackup.txt now has Mon 11/26/2007
set /p mydate=
set mydate=%mydate:~4% ;mydate now equals 11/26/2007

I did not want to create a file, so I tried a UNIX "type" pipe command to obtain what I wanted:

set DAYOFTHEWEEK=%MYDATE:~0,3|set MYDATE=| date /t
IF '%DAYOFWEEK%' EQU 'Sun' (
echo it's Sunday
)
This works perfectly. : ) on my laptop (WinXP), but NOT on Windows 2k3 on my server. I had to change it to :
date /t >c:\lastbackup.txt ;lastbackup.txt now has Mon 11/26/2007
set /p mydate=
set mydate=%mydate:~4% ;mydate now equals 11/26/2007
I guess the post above was correct all along. I hate to create the date.txt file, but at least it works.

2008-08-26T16:15:00.003-07:00

New site from www.inthepublicsquare.com - http://www.publicsquarenetwork.com/
Check it out!

It sort of a combination of several Apologetics sites and some great scientists all streaming live!

If you like to discuss the culture, politics etc you have to check this site out!

All the best,

Geek Dad DBA

Apologetics and the Public Square

2008-08-20T16:34:00.004-07:00

I have been a novice apologist(sp?) for some time now. I am a Christian and I enjoy studying why I believe what I believe. It is always interesting to see other viewpoints and learn about your worldview. To that end I have been a long time subscriber to www.apologetics.com. They are a great source of apologetic information, check them out. Make sure that you review all the whitepapers and join the message board.

Also, a former host of apologetics.com - John Snyder has started his own show called "In the Public Square" at inthepublicsqaure.com. This is also another great site for apologetics, law and current issues discussion and education for a christian worldview. Check it out and even donate if you can!

2008-08-09T09:29:00.003-07:00

Hello all, long time no update. Sorry.

I have been listening to authors who podcast their stories regularly for several years. I love getting lost in a good book, but podcasts of books are even better if they are done well. I don't need all the sound effects(though they are nice), just a good story and a chair or a drive or even working in the yard.

Some of my favorites authors are Scott Sigler, Nathan Lowell, Mur Lafferty, J.C. Hutchins and Matthew Wayne Selznick. I am a subscriber to Escape Pod, Pseudopod and many other sites as well. If you love good stories you need to check them out. You can find all of thier work at www.podiobooks.com and all the stories are free! However, I do recommend a donation!

You can find out much more about the authors and stories with a google search.

Well, I am off to do my yardwork and listen to some of my new stories. Have a great day!

2008-05-11T09:15:00.003-07:00

Well this a big week for me. Today is Mother's Day and all that it entails. Today we celebrate our wives who gave us our children and of course our mothers who gave us life. Hopefully you have had a great relationship with your mother, but the reality is that your relationship has had it's ups and downs. No matter where you are in an "up" or "down" section of your relationship we need to love our wives and mothers. My Great Aunt Marie may have said it the best, she said "No matter what she is still your mother".

Thanks Aunt Marie. So I say no matter what your relationship is with yout mother good,bad or otherwise, show them you love them!

Goodnight Darling

2008-04-12T23:46:00.001-07:00

Hello all it has been a little while. Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been very busy.

However today's post is about watching "Good Night Darling" , a band my son is in. What a great treat as a father to watch your son do something that he loves and it good at!

I have not felt so much pride as father since the days or Jr. Suns basketball or Little League Baseball.

I encourage you to lookup GoodNight Darling on Myspace.com and listen to their music, they are great!

Fine Arts Festival & Misc Thoughts...

2008-04-01T12:39:00.003-07:00

Well another year at Fine Arts and another great time!
My family attended the 2008 Fine Arts Festival and both of my boys competed in songwriting, worship band and Christian Band also 1 boy competed in graphic arts! I have very talented children!

In any case we had a great time and the competition was good this year. We won some awards and did not win others, but overall a great experience for all.

My daughter moved out this weekend and I am a mixed bag of emotions. It's funny how you worry about your kids, but you are also proud of them and want them to "spread their wings" at the same time. We are so proud of her and she is doing great!

Hope you had a great weekend as well.

What a cool day

2008-03-27T21:23:00.002-07:00

I had a great day today. Many other people would disagree with me, but I enjoy taking care of sick children. My son was home sick today and I was able to work from home and care for him. I guess it's the dad in me, but their is comfort in cooking and providing for someone you care for. I made chicken soup(from a can) and brought him drinks and sometimes I just watch him a little while he slept. He is 16 so I can't be too close to him it would not be cool, but I got a chance today. How great it was to see the young man he is becoming.

To top it off we both sat down this evening and watched "The Andromeda Strain". What a cool movie! We both enjoyed the plot twists and turns and the intelligent dialogue etc.. I should not be surprised that it was good since it was based on a Michael Crichton story, his are always good.

On an Oracle note, I was able to completely test my backup procedures today completely in our new database configuration. I tested disk to tape (backup), tape to disk (restore) using RMAN and Veritas and I am happy to say it all worked well.

I am also writing a quick script to delete my older or applied archive logs on my Oracle Standby servers. I am designing it to query the v$archived_log view and only delete logs that are applied and are some margin of safety in sequence numbers away from the current sequence that has been applied( just to be careful).

So it was a good day. Hope your was the same.

CrossFit

2008-03-26T12:08:00.002-07:00

I love to lift weights and I have had some great accomplishments with them. At one time I was benching 300lbs regularly and could squat ~ 500lbs. I loved working my upper body and hated doing lower body. It showed. As I have gotten older I have noticed that it takes longer to recover and that 300 lb bench press thing... well it's no big deal. It doesn't help me in sports or life, so why am I doing it? I changed direction about 3 months ago and became a Crossfitter!

What is CrossFit ?( www.crossfit.com) well the best way I can explain it is olympic lifts based program for overall body strength and agility. It emphasizes muscle confusion and sometimes no -wieght exercises. You build strength through complex movements(more natually) not isolation movements. It is great for cardio training as wel since most workout are done for time or to try and compete against other crossfitters. You can post you results on their forums and compare how you are doing.

Thier is a great online community in the forum with extra help and support. But most of all IT IS FREE. They post a Workout of the Day(WOD) evey day. Simply warm up and follow the WOD and add/subtract/substitute as you see fit. The workouts are varied and will definately work you HARD.

I have already noticed much more overall strength in areas where it matters to me. One example is pullups. I could not do ANY pullups when I started, but now I can do a couple. When I started I would get winded doing high-rep, no weight squats and VERY sore. Now I can do as many as 100 with no effort. My back is stronger and my overal strength is improved in many areas. I am still working on it, but I love this workout program.

Now if I could just give up with chicken wings.....: )

Try Crossfit you wont regret it.

Suns Vs. Detroit "It's hard to play 5 on 8" - Grant Hill

2008-03-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the Suns played a great game last night against Detroit. It is a shame that they had to play against the referees as well as the Pistons. A clear charge on Chauncey Billups was not called and a clear foul on Shaq by McDyess ( who at least admitted it) was not called as well.

Who knows if the Suns would have won the game, but when you are in final minute of an OT game the referees should do a better job. Sigh...nothing is perfect. It's a shame, perhaps we should have instant replay for the final minutes, limit it to 1 call per coach to object to.. idk something needs to change.

In an case, great effort Suns!

On another topic, I am working on some fun Veritas Netbackup and RMAN problems today..Yipee!

Hope your day goes as well as mine.

Scott Sigler!

2008-03-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of podcasting fiction and Scott Sigler has been doing it VERY well now for a number of years. Check him out here -http://www.scottsigler.com/.

My first post...

2008-03-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

Well here I am on the net! My very own blog for discussing all the wacky, fun and engaging stuff that whips through my mind. As I get older it seems to whip faster than I can track it, but that is a different story for another day on the new blog.

I guess the best place to start is about me. I am a middle aged father of three( two boys and a girl), happily married and I work as an Oracle DBA. I enjoy many things in life, most notably and in no specific order, God, my family, Oracle, UNIX and most sports. I am a huge Phoenix Suns fan and I also enjoy watching the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I love to study Apologetics, Culture, Philosophy and Computer Science. I love to watch movies of any kind though I favor action, horror( not too gross) and mystery.

I hope to be posting about all of these things and many others as time goes on.

If your interested, please comment I would love to hear from you.

Frank