The Data Warrior

Changing the world, one data model at a time. How can I help you?

21 Jul 2012
2 Comments

Being Part of the Solution: This Tech Company Got it Right!

Last week I posted an infographic about how many Americans are working more that 40 hours weeks and ranted a bit about how crazy we all are and asked are you part of the problem or the solution.

Well here is a tech company, FullContact, in Denver, Colorado, that decided to be part of the solution.

Well, actually one of the founders (and CEO), Bart Lorang, had this wild idea:

The past few years I’ve had this totally insane idea that just wouldn’t go away. It kept gnawing at me.

Last week, I finally decided to do something about it.

At our all-hands we announced the idea: something I like to call Paid, Paid Vacation. You can view the presentation in its entirety here.

In essence, not only do we provide employees minimum 15 days paid vacation plus the standard Federal holidays, but WE ALSO PAY FOR VACATIONS!

Here’s how it works: once per year, we give each employee $7500 to go on vacation.

There are a few rules:

  1. You have to go on vacation, or you don’t get the money.
  2. You must disconnect.
  3. You can’t work while on vacation.

via Paid Vacation? Not Cool. You Know What’s Cool? Paid, PAID Vacation. – FullContact.

I for one applaud his idea and love his rules to make sure people actually do take the time off.

We all need time away to relax and refresh but way too many people just don’t do it.

I know people who put in for vacation, took the time “off” and then worked through most of it!

Crazy right?

Well Bart’s move surprised many people. He even got a spot on Good Morning America to talk about it.

And…they are hiring.

Let’s hope a few more companies take a cue from Bart and follow suit.

Cheers.

Kent

Posted in Fitness, Work-Life Balance and tagged , ,
13 Jul 2012
3 Comments

TGIF – Are you part of the problem or the solution?

Yes, it is Friday and like many, you may be really looking forward to the weekend.

Relaxing with family and friends.

Eating some good food. Drinking some adult beverages.<wink, wink>

Watching some TV or a movie.

Maybe a little exercise perhaps? (50 pushups out to do it)

Ahh…the good life.

Then comes Sunday evening.

The black cloud of doom forms. <insert ominous music here>

Why?

Tomorrow is Monday.

Monday = Back to WORK

Why do so many people (at least in the USA) dread going back to work on Monday? Well there are tons of reasons  for sure but one may be that we are feeling burned out or overworked.

Below is a great infographic from OnlineMBA.com that gives us real stats on what is happening in the work place in the US of A.

We should all be appalled at these numbers and what they say about us as nation. As I stated before, this is a hot button for me.

My question to you is:

Are you part of the problem?

If you are an employer or manager, do you explicitly or implicitly encourage (and condone) this behavior?

If you are an employee, do you allow yourself to be treated this way?

Read the numbers and ponder your role in all this.

If it is not you, great! You can help others by your example.

If it is you, well….

Stay tuned. I will be posting some followups on this in a few days.

Let the campaign to bring back the 40 hour work week begin!

Enjoy your weekend.

Kent
Bring Back the 40 Hour Work Week Infographic
Source: OnlineMBA.com

Posted in Fitness and tagged , ,
09 Jul 2012
1 Comment

Learn a Little Chi Gung with my KScope Morning Chi Gung Video

A little background…

Last year for the ODTUG Kscope conference, then-president Mike Riley asked me if there was something from my martial arts training that I could offer to Kscope attendees that would enhance their conference experience.

I proposed doing some Chi Gung moving mediation exercises in the morning, something I had started teaching at summer martial arts camps about 20 years ago.

The ODTUG Board accepted the proposal and the rest, as they say, is history.

We introduced Morning Chi Gung at Kscope11 in Long Beach, California with great success and reviews.

We did it again for Kscope12 at the beautiful JW Marriott in San Antonio, Texas, with another great turn out. I lead sessions every day, Sunday through Thursday at 7 AM. (It went so well a few folks even joined me on Friday morning after the conference for one more session.)

This year we also added organized running groups and a running meet-up sign up board to encourage attendees to network in a new way.

Fitness activities are fast becoming a ODTUG tradition, so we plan to do them again at Kscope13 in New Orleans.

As far as I know, ODTUG is the first, and maybe only, Oracle user event to offer organized fitness activities for attendees. It may be the only technology conference doing so.

Pretty cool. Hopefully we will inspire other events to add similar activities.

Morning Chi Gung at Kscope12

My morning Chi Gung group

Chi Gung – The Video

Several of the attendees this year wanted to be sure they could continue to practice the meditations after the conference was over. So they asked if I had any videos of the routines available. There are a few clips from KScope11 but none with audio instructions.

Thanks to Lori (ODTUG Social Media Maven) and her digital video camera, we have a brand new instructional video to share with everyone. Now I had to work around having a microphone with a short cord attached to my jacket, but the audio is really good so you will have no problem hearing my instructions and descriptions of the various exercises.

The video is now live online on the ODTUG YouTube Channel over here.

In the video you will see me give detailed instructions and explanations of several Chi Gung “still stance” breathing meditations. I lead the group in doing Upward-Downward, Inward-Outward, Raised Hands Stance, Tai Chi Ball, Four Forms, and the Warrior Energy Form. Each of these moving meditative sets can be done individually or in the series as demonstrated, depending on your available time and fitness level.

So if you were in my classes, I hope you find the video useful to help you continue your practice.

If you weren’t there, I hope the video will inspire you to start a new practice.

Either way I hope you will all join me at KScope13 next year in New Orleans.

Until then…Peace

Kent

P.S. If you have not done so already, please consider subscribing to this blog, or follow me on Twitter @KentGraziano

Posted in Chi Gung, Fitness and tagged , , , , , , ,
03 Jul 2012

Happy 4th of July!

To all my readers, friends, and colleagues in the USA, I wish you a happy and relaxing 4th of July!

Fly your American flag with pride!

Remember all the members of our armed forces, at home and abroad, who fight to protect our freedom.

Remember those who gave their lives in service of our country. They made the ultimate sacrifice for us and our children.

Enjoy a parade and the fireworks.

And remember.

Be thankful for all you have and that you live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Honor Guard at 4th of July parade, The Woodlands, TX

Later.

Kent

P.S. It is an election year so be sure you are registered to vote. It is your right and your duty. Many have died to insure you have that right. Don’t waste it.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged | Leave a comment
28 Jun 2012
2 Comments

ODTUG KScope: Day 5 – Happy Trails

Well the final day of KScope12 finally arrived and it was another hot one with the final sessions and the Texas heat. Another bright red sunrise greeted us as it has all week.

image

Today I managed to get a picture of the group that showed up for Chi Gung every day at 7 AM. We even had some new people today (officially the last day). They all enjoyed the sessions and learned (hopefully) enough to practice a bit once they return home.

I am grateful to all the participants for showing up early each morning with enthusiasm and a willingness to try something new. It made my job to lead them much easier. (There will be a You Tube video sometime next week for people to review, so stay tuned)

The first order of business for the day (after Chi Gung) was the official KScope closing session. Even though there were still two sessions to go afterward we had the closing at 9:45 AM. We were entertained, yet again, with some photo and video footage taken throughout the week, including one interview with me! We also learned who got the presenter awards for each track and for the entire event.

Then we all got beads to remind us to go to KScope13 in New Orleans.

Next was my final session for the event: Reverse Engineering (and Re-Engineering) an Existing Database with Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler.

I had a surprising number of people for the last day after the closing session. I think there was about 70 people wanting to learn more about SDDM. Apparently most people are unaware of the features of the tool (which I have written about on several posts).

So, that was nice.

Finally I went to JP Dicjks talk about Big Data and Predicting the Future.

His basic premise is that we should now never throw away any data as it all can be used to extend the depth of analytics. We can react to events in real time and proactively change outcomes of those events.

The diagram above shows the basics of one way that data moves through the world and into the Hadoop file systems. I am oversimplifying but it is a cool diagram.

Part of the challenge is uncovering un-modeled data. I guess that is where the recent Oracle acquisition, Endeca, comes in with their Data Discovery tool (again oversimplifying) .

And that was pretty much it for the show. It was a great week with lots of learning and networking (and tweeting). We all had a good time and learned enough to make our heads explode.

I look forward to meeting folks again next year at KScope13 in New Orleans.

Kent

Posted in Chi Gung, Data Warehouse, ODTUG, Oracle, SQL Developer Data Modeler and tagged , , , , , , , ,

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