Data Vices

  • Thanks and hopefully all the SSC isn't too big a vice. I'd like to think it has some positive benefits in there as well.

    I'll concur on the DVR. I rarely watch live TV, even sports. I'll usually hit record on the football/baseball games, and then start watching the recording immediately. Let's me get behind when the kids need something, I need food, run, etc., and then catch up by skipping commercials, timeouts, punts, etc.

  • Never let anyone, not even yourself, put you down for what you are still doing. People think that they are being helpful. "Your still a smoker, right?" "Still having weight issues?" "Still using cursors are we?" "No. I'm sure that EAV tables are useful somewhere." GET OFF MY BUS!

    Thanks for this. I already feel better now. We should maybe just do everything in moderation (as well as using cursors :P:P).

    My other vice I would say is also SSC. The thing is this place have the feel of a family and here I get to chat about SQL which all the other people in my life know nothing about. Sometimes I catch myself sitting on SSC for two hours in work time.;);)

    :-PManie Verster
    Developer
    Johannesburg
    South Africa

    I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
    I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)

  • I'd be interested to see whether any contributors have noticed much change in their vices over the last 6 years! I did not contribute but would say that my vices such as they may be are in stasis.

    I love calorific food, wine and beer in moderation (well, mostly!) and balance these adequately with a heavy exercise schedule. Sure I could lose a few pounds but I'm not going to starve myself. For me what I may struggle to control is my patience with others - perhaps mainly if slightly tired or hungry but nevertheless, this is what life often deals.

  • Chocolate. I rarely drink soda and don't drink coffee. I have a fairly balanced diet. I do 30 minutes on the exercise bike 5-6 days a week.

    But I have chocolate at least once a day, every day.

    Of course, that is just if we are talking about food. I have plenty of other vices. Games of all shapes and sizes. Reading. Anime. But I am not sure I could/would cut back on any of those. Even if crack would be cheaper. 😀

  • Vices are what make life exciting. Depending on the nature of the vices, they can also make life shorter.

    My two are cigars and rum; in moderation, of course. :Whistling:

    Tom

  • Like many others, my vice is food. I am a lifetime Weight Watcher so that keeps it in check and has for over a dozen years. However, lately, I've been eating outside of the lines more. Struggling a bit. Hopefully, this too shall pass. I highly recommend Weight Watchers to anyone who needs to lose weight. It is so sensible and flexible. You get a nutrition education there.

    I also have a tendency for great laziness. The veg muse sings to me daily. This is a constant battle.

    I'm not giving up coffee.

  • weight management in general - I think we all know the answer. Eat less, exercise more, don't run to excess in anything. Why do we pay these diet people money? 😉

    It is not that simple or people who actually follow that advice would not struggle so much. I would highly recommend anyone who believes they should "eat less and exercise more" to check out the work of Jonathon Bailor, whose latest book is The Calorie Myth. He actually works for Microsoft so his technical background makes him great at relating to the type of people on this forum - practical breakdown of years of scientific research using lots of analogies and numbers. 🙂

    There is SO much information out there on the topic of health/nutrition/fitness/weight/etc. that is conflicting and overwhelming. My vice is probably constantly reading and listening to podcasts about this stuff...so much so that I'm now concerned that I went into the wrong field of work. =/

    I think what broke my addiction to soda and sugar-laden foods was more of a mindset shift. The more I educated myself, the angrier I got at the companies and "food" industry itself. They want you to think it is simply calories in-calories out so that you will still consume their food-like, chemical-laden products as part of a "balanced" diet and are profiting from our addictions and health issues. I could obviously go on and on about the political side, but I now think of it more as "voting with my dollars" and trying to support more genuine companies, local farmer's markets, etc.

    No judgment to others as I was there too for years, and it is very hard to change as the lifestyle is so embedded into American culture. It is just a sad reality we are in today and I know completely off topic of the post. My vice is kind of obvious. 😉

  • 1. Buying books.

    2. Donuts.

    I won't add Oreos because that is one vice I refuse to control. 🙂

    - webrunner

    -------------------
    A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
    Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html

  • Seattle Seahawks!

    I love to watch them play and have ever since the team formed in 1976. Many years they performed poorly and I was still there. For almost five years I lived in Arkansas where there was no cable and I traveled to the Walmart Store across the border in Oklahoma and convinced the management to dial up the Seahawk game on the televisions that were for sale so I could watch.

    I do not paint my face team colors, nor wear a jersey on game day, but I am one of the 12th man, I have been since the beginning, and will be for the rest of my born days and beyond. If God will let me I would wear a robe of Seahawk colors in heaven. And yes I cried when they beat Denver to win the Super Bowl last year, I could not help it.

    🙂

    Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!

  • I guess I'm too cynical. The world is going to end soon, so why bother changing.

    Aigle de Guerre!

  • Chocolate (sweets) and food are my vices 😉

  • Manie Verster (12/5/2008)


    Smoking is my problem. I have tried numerous times already and after say 3 months I start again. The problem is that it smells repulsive and I can smell myself sometimes. Not pot, hell no! Just normal cigarettes. Caffeine not so much although I must at least have one cup a day in the mornings at a coffee shop. Give me some nice tips on quitting smoking.:cool::cool::cool::hehe::hehe:

    I have been quit from smoking for 28 years. Before I quit, i had several failed attempts.

    First thing you have to do, is completely rid yourself of anything related to smoking; ash trays, pictures, butts, other people that smoke, etc..

    But, the absolute needed ingredient, is look up these verses:

    Psalm 83:18

    Prov 18:10

    Isa:43 9-11

    (John 14:13, 14)

    13?Also, whatever you ask in my name, I will do this, so that the Father may be glorified in connection with the Son.

    14?If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

    John 14:28

    John 17:3

    You have absolutely got to become a true worshiper of the only True God.

    Then he will help you rid yourself of that demon inspired habit.

  • Manie Verster (12/5/2008)


    Smoking is my problem. I have tried numerous times already and after say 3 months I start again. The problem is that it smells repulsive and I can smell myself sometimes. Not pot, hell no! Just normal cigarettes. Caffeine not so much although I must at least have one cup a day in the mornings at a coffee shop. Give me some nice tips on quitting smoking.:cool::cool::cool::hehe::hehe:

    I have been quit from smoking for 28 years. Before I quit, i had several failed attempts.

    First thing you have to do, is completely rid yourself of anything related to smoking; ash trays, pictures, butts, other people that smoke, etc..

    But, the absolute needed ingredient, is look up these verses:

    Psalm 83:18

    Prov 18:10

    Isa:43 9-11

    (John 14:13, 14)

    13?Also, whatever you ask in my name, I will do this, so that the Father may be glorified in connection with the Son.

    14?If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

    John 14:28

    John 17:3

    You have absolutely got to become a true worshiper of the only True God.

    Then he will help you rid yourself of that demon inspired habit.

  • Smoking - I used to smoke 60 a day, stopped after I go the flu (couldn't smoke for days!) for two years and then celebrated our new house with a cigar. Went up to 25 small cigars a day and then discovered vaping. Haven't smoked a cigar or cigarette for 18 months. No smell, tar or bad things (so they say) and you can gradually reduce the nicotine to zero. You get the hand to mouth thing, something to share with other smokers (or non-smokers, they don't seem to mind vaping). The figures suggest that 75% of people who start vaping quit real cigarettes. Give it a try, it may work for those smokers who have trouble giving up.

  • StarNamer (12/8/2008)


    With regard to smoking, I beleive there are 3 groups:

    Non-smokers: Either never smoked or tried it and didn't like it so never got the habit.

    Smokers: Currently smoke.

    Ex-smokers: Used to be smokers and managed to quit.

    A large part of the 3rd group have trouble staying out of the 2nd group; you can never rejoin the first group.

    Ex-smokers are usually also the most vocal that people should stay in the first group 🙂 since the easiest way to give up smoking is not to start.

    When I gave up 18 years ago (after 15 years of smoking) I was determined not to become an ex-smoker i.e. I smoked so what grounds did I have to complain when others are smokers!!! I believed then, as I do now, that there are inappropriate times to smoke e.g. kids playgrounds in the park etc. We all have to make social acceptability judgements all the time so this is nothing new.

    For those looking to give up I will share the technique I used which I created for myself (but probably has a name and was created decades before.

    1) Simply set a time when you are allowed your first smoke and your last (no smoking outside these times). Initially set these to your standard first and last smoke.

    2) You can smoke as much as you want between these two times.

    3) Gradually move the times towards each other. I found it easier to move the first smoke time quicker than the last smoke time as it caters for socials. Move it at your own pace. I had a weekly self-assessment.

    4) Don't make it too hard on yourself but don't be too soft either. Not moving the times for a while is valid if you need to. Moving them in the wrong direction is not allowed.

    5) Make no exceptions. You managed it yesterday!!!

    Eventually, I found that the smell and taste of smoking were becoming unattractive, that I needed them less and that the gradual process weaned me off the need to do something with my hands.

    Good luck people!!!

    Gaz

    -- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

Viewing 15 posts - 91 through 104 (of 104 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply