The Data Warrior

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

17 May 2012
3 Comments

Work is Killing You and 10 Ways to Stop It From Happening!

This has been a hot button for me for some time – if we don’t find a way to fit exercise, fitness, and some healthy eating into our sedentary lives (like we in IT tend have), we will not live as long as we hope. And life will not be as enjoyable as it could be.

This article really speaks to this all-to-common issue:

Every morning, you awaken to a new day and you launch into your familiar routines as you hustle to meet your daily obligations.

Ideally, your work excites you, energizes you, and brings joy to your life. If your work brings you more stress and fatigue than joy then now is the time to make some changes. You can introduce a renewed vigor into your work and upgrade your attitude.

You know that taking care of yourself should be your number one priority. Yet you often let your health and fitness levels fall by the wayside if you are consistently working 50 or more hours a week.

As a society, at what point did we take the wrong turn by focusing on work place productivity and relentless goal setting at the expense of our happiness and well-being?

Productivity does not have to be measured solely by the number of hours logged at work. Happiness will not be attainable when consistently working 50 hours a week. Furthermore, our choice, as a culture, to sacrifice fitness or physical play for other goals has had an impact on every part of our lives, including our fitness level and our overall happiness at work and outside of work.

The article goes on to detail 10 things you can do – today – to become more fit and healthy (and it is not just joining a health club). Check it out at  Work is Killing You and 10 Ways to Stop It From Happening! | Work Happy Now.

Get up and get moving! (after you read the article that is…)

If you want to get notified when I post articles like this, don’t forget to hit the Follow button at the top of the column to the right.

– Kent

P.S. If you are attending this years KScope conference next month in San Antonio, you can work on your fitness level by joining me each morning for some calming and energizing Chi Gung. We will meet on the lawn each morning at 7 AM.

Posted in Chi Gung, Fitness, ODTUG, Work-Life Balance and tagged , , , , ,
09 May 2012

The Data Warehouse Journal

The Data Warehouse Journal

My good friend Dan Linstedt has begun publication of a new online journal that aggregates articles, video, and tweets from across the data warehouse world.

Check it out!

– Kent

Posted in Data Modeling, Data Vault, Data Warehouse and tagged , | Leave a comment
29 Apr 2012

A Data Architect’s Initial View of Data Vault

Wow this is really cool! A long time, experienced, Kimball-style architect had this to say (and more!) about the Data Vault:

The more I thought about it, the more I began thinking a traditional staging area and its complexities are a huge headache!  The simpler design using the data vault methodology as the persistent staging area offers huge benefits over the traditional Kimball style data warehouse staging area.  This includes repeatable code use in building and populating the data vault as well as the ability to easily account and validate the data.

(see more at A Data Architect’s Initial View of Data Vault | Making Data Meaningful.)

That pretty much says it all.

Ready to learn Data Vault now?

Well then get to it! Go to the learning portal and sign up or at least go buy the book!

Later.

Kent

Posted in Data Modeling, Data Vault, Data Warehouse and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
23 Apr 2012
2 Comments

Alert would-be Oracle Warriors: Chi Gung in San Antonio

As many of you now by now I will be presenting several sessions at the ODTUG annual conference, KScope, this coming June in San Antonio, Texas.

What you may not know is that I will also be conducting 30-minute Chi Gung sessions in the morning before the events of the day start as part of the KScope12 Fun Factor activities.

Why you may ask?

In short, because even geeks need to exercise to live long (and prosper).

Plus this type of moving meditation is just what the doctor ordered to help you de-stress and (mentally) get away from your daily IT routine. (I have written a bit more on this here and here)

So as some motivation for you to join me doing Chi Gung (in the cool part of the day!) check out this video of a guy Exercising Around the World.

If you like that video and a really motivated, check out his web site at NerdFitness.

At KScope11 in Long Beach, we did it everyday and had at least 20 people each morning. It was a lot of fun.

Here are a few of the comments I received about the sessions:

“Kent organized the Chi Gung class at this years ODTUG KScope 2011 event, which was very enjoyable. A very relaxing way to start the day. Kent explained the exercises very clear, which made it easier to follow for first time practitioners.” 

“Kent proivided Chi Gung sessions to supplement an IT conference. It was a great way to set us up for the day and it was great fun. Ken was patient and yet educational, repeating the main concepts each day for new people. I attended for 5 consecutive days and would have loved to have done more” 

No previous martial arts or meditation experience required!

Let’s join the revolution and become fit and healthy Oracle Nerds and Geeks!

Tell me in the comments how you are becoming a fitter, healthier Oracle geek.

Then meet me in San Antonio for some moving meditation, relaxation, and fun.

Kent

Posted in Chi Gung, Fitness, Martial Arts, ODTUG, Oracle, User Groups and tagged , , , ,
19 Apr 2012
6 Comments

How’s your surfing?

I read this today on one of my favorite blogs – Zenhabits, and it definitely spoke to me:

We are not walking a path, but surfing a sea.

Most people look at goal setting as picking a destination, then figuring out a path to get there. That assumes you’re walking on land that will change very little, and that while you will have unforeseen obstacles, you’ll be on stable ground and the destination won’t move. That’s not at all true — life is more like the sea, ever changing with no fixed paths or destinations, with swells and currents and waves that change everything at every moment. The ultimate skill, then, isn’t setting a destination (goal) or a path (plan), but surfing. In surfing, you take whatever waves come, learn to judge the waves as they come, learn to ride the wave as it changes, not as you planned. It’s going with the flow (literally), and changing what you do depending on how the flow changes. (via » Why We Overplan :zenhabits.)

For years, every time someone asked about how I got to where I am in my career, I often found myself at a loss to give them a seemingly satisfactory answer.

What Leo wrote above articulates really well what I have been doing (unconsciously) most of my life – going with the flow. I have only been on surfboard once (yes, even data warriors surf) but the analogy fits really well in my mind. (BTW – A good downhill ski run or shooting some white water fits too)

It “feels” like the right answer.

Oddly (or not?) it fits with a classic quote from my martial arts hero Bruce Lee: “Be water”

Pretty Zen, right?

So what does this have to do with data modeling, data warehousing, etc?

Mostly I have found in doing agile (or agile-like) projects, the team needs to be like water, or really like a surfer on the water, and go with the flow through the sprints and iterations.

Changing directions at a moments notice as the users needs and priorities change.

Embrace the change.

Doing so without judgment or expectation.

Flow around the obstacles and blockages – or risk crashing on the reef!

So, let go of all the goals and set-in-stone project plans. Embrace the flow and see where you might go.

Who knows, you might hang 10 on the biggest wave of your life!

Aloha.

Kent

P.S. If you want to learn to be a better data surfer check out the Data Vault Learning Portal and learn how to implement the most agile data modeling technique around – Data Vault.

Posted in Data Modeling, Data Vault, Data Warehouse, Martial Arts and tagged , , , , , ,

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