2022 was a hot mess
The last year has been full of incredible changes. I was hopeful 2021 would get off to a better start than 2020, but alas, that doesn’t seem to the case. So many things have changed in the last year, it’s almost impossible to keep track of them all.
Changes
Just some of the things I have experienced in the last year:
- Transitioned to working from home fulltime (like so many others)
- Experienced the difficulty of not taking enough breaks
- Failing to completely unplug on days off and vacation
- My exercise routine was destroyed and remains in shambles
- Have not made the time to work on professional training
- Rode the emotional waves of the pandemic - from hopeful to despair
- Spent way too much time watching tv
- Have not blogged in a while
- Thanks to losing the commute, podcast, and audiobook consumption have flatlined
- Lost one of my best friends suddenly
Most of these things are just the result of working through a new normal. I haven’t made the time or put in the effort, to work on training. I’ve had a number of projects at work that I have allowed to manipulate my time. I haven’t defined a schedule and kept to it to exercise or take breaks during the day. I freely admit that I have fallen into the trap of sitting down on the couch to unwind, turn the tv on….and hours later I realize it’s time to go to bed.
Then there are other things I have just flat out missed. In September I was thrilled to become a Pass Pro member, only to hear the news in late December that Pass was ceasing operations. Somewhere about early October, I stopped paying attention to the news and social media, way too much negativity. I occasionally poke my head up like a groundhog to see if anything has changed, then go back into my hole until the next check.
Some of the changes got harder
One of the hardest things I have had to endure in 2020 was losing one of my best friends to pneumonia and blood clots. Sadly, he wasn’t in a good mental place the last time I talked to him and it ended in an argument. Which, given enough time it would have blown over, but before that happened, he died suddenly. So not only did I grieve the loss of my brother, I carry the guilt for our last talk being an argument.
And well, then there was the election. Ya. I don’t do political sides, I look at the issue. Like others, I have my opinions, but at the end of the day, I always try to remember we’re all in this together. Sadly, I don’t think others see it the same way anymore.
There is hope
It hasn’t been all bad though. I’ve taken the time to move this blog to AWS, which was trying and definitely a learning opportunity. At work, I have finally convinced the powers that be to purchase SQLSentry, so there is lots of learning going on there. I am now looking towards possibly shifting our SQL Server implementations to Windows Core. I am hoping to get an IaC approach to SQL Server deployments in place in the next 12-18 months. I’m also thinking interested in making encrypted connections the default connection method to SQL Servers. Finally, I hope to get better with AWS this year.
Now that I have the blog moved over to AWS, I will be working on getting it optimized and everything working as it should. So many things. Finally, I hope 2021 shifts from being the ongoing dumpster fire that was 2020 to something more positive.