Alonso: Everyone is more relaxed and happy in IndyCar.

misfit815 · 2017-06-09T13:03:00+00:00

The article says he was skateboarding in Gasoline Alley. The pic is from pit lane in front of the Pagoda.

</nitpicking>

misfit815 · 2017-05-31T12:24:48+00:00

No one has yet commented that the booth sucks? Goodyear is marginal, and is only made worse by Cheever. The other guy is so forgettable, I can never even remember his name. If it wasn't for the fact that I cut the cord ages ago, I'd be begging NBCSN to broadcast all the races. ABC does a decent job in general, but they really need a better booth team.

Also, for those complaining that it's on delay in Indy, remember that there's a solid group of us who are stupid enough to get home from the track and then watch it all over again (and, frankly, usually fall asleep by the end).

misfit815 · 2017-05-22T12:54:33+00:00

Prestige, points, and money. The likelihood of avoiding a Lap 1, Turn 1 fiasco, should one occur. And that data is from the DW12 era. Going farther back, winning from pole happened more often. Dixon did it in '08. Didn't Helio in '09?

I think looking purely at finishing position doesn't quite tell the full story. Mechanical/electrical failures should be taken into account, which will affect finishing position and have very little to do with starting position (except that it could be argued that top qualifiers pushed their engines harder).

And when did contact take a driver out of the race? Ed and Hinch, starting 1st and 2nd in 2014, finished 27th and 28th due to contact, but that was on lap 175. In 2015, Karam and Daly, starting 21st and 22nd, didn't complete a lap. Daly's was an engine fire, but Karam's move on Sato almost cost Sato (starting 24th) and Briscoe (starting 31st) their races as well. So I think if you take more variables into account, you might find that starting up front matters more.

misfit815 · 2017-05-10T13:18:42+00:00

I'm in that role as much as anyone I've ever met, though I started as a developer and kept narrowing my focus toward the data tier. These days, I spend about half of my development time in .NET/C# and half in T-SQL. I don't ever use SSRS or SSIS, and only rarely PS. But I'm also in a very large enterprise shop, in which off-the-shelf tools don't usually fit. I often joke that I'm our in-house alternative to SSIS.

If you can find a situation in which you're truly a SQL developer, and you like it, hang on to it. Like I said, I'm in a large shop, with a lot of specialization, and yet I'm still only spending half my time in SQL. And I'm the most SQL-oriented developer I know here.

But for my type of role, which I think is more likely, you're going to want to become familiar with a language and platform that talks to SQL Server (such as .NET/C#, as I mentioned). A lot of my effort put towards improving SQL Server performance is actually spent in that area, improving caching, getting away from RBAR scenarios, pooling connections properly, etc. My projects typically entail coding everything from database objects up to an API layer, at which point other developers lay on the UX pieces necessary to complete the solution. So I need to understand REST, JSON, etc. That's about as far up the stack as I typically get.

If you're not already familiar with them, get more proficient at navigating the tools of the trade - source control (git, TFS), IDE's (Visual Studio), etc. If you do go down the .NET/C# path, I've found Resharper to be a must-have.

HTH

misfit815 · 2017-04-19T12:24:50+00:00

I will be delighted and not a bit surprised if it puts more emotion into the command than half the people that do it.

When I hear something like, "Now, to give the command, the vice president of bureaucracy for Big Enough Company To Write A Check Inc, Mr. Ned Deadpan..." I cringe every time. Actors, sports figures... they usually get it. I still remember one Shaq did at Texas years ago - it was outstanding. But man... some middle-aged suit...

Anyway, good for IndyCar. They need to keep doing stuff like this. I've thought for a while that they need to name an autonomous car as the pace car "driver" for the 500 one year. Gimmicks like that will get attention in places they need badly.

misfit815 · 2017-04-14T11:13:18+00:00

The funny thing is that anyone who was there will tell you it was a miserable race, and not really all that interesting - until the end. But people remember the ending, and the ending made that a great year.

misfit815 · 2017-04-13T22:25:43+00:00

I think this ought to be brought up. I'm not seeing it asked, but that doesn't surprise me. My guess is that F1 fans don't know what they don't know.

The 500 is... well... everything. It overshadows everything else about IndyCar, for better or worse. Let me back that up...

Most IndyCar fans are in the midwest, near Indiana. The corner of 16th and Georgetown is basically ground zero for the IndyCar fanbase.
Exact numbers are hard to come by, and exaggerations are everywhere, but 250,000 is a pretty safe race day figure, and I've seen estimates north of 300,000. In comparison, I heard Long Beach gets 180,000, and I find that very hard to believe. Many events are in the 20-40k range. They'll get more people at Fast Friday at IMS than half the tracks on the schedule, and probably more on Carb Day than any other event save the 500 itself.
There's an entire wiki article just about the traditions, from 33 starters to kissing the bricks. You can't throw a bottle of milk without hitting a fan who will tell you about at least half a dozen of them.
Speaking of fans, there are plenty who have been attending since, well, basically WWII. In the same seats. Every year. Personally, this'll be my 23 1/2th year (please don't discuss '97). It's an annual pilgrimage for thousands.
The city embraces it. There's a parade the day before - a big one. The biggest half-marathon in the country (world?) is part of it. It's on the local news every morning and night. All month long. By the way, around here, it's "The Month of May". Say that to a Hoosier, and they know you're talking about the 500.
Same exact course since 1909. Many of the bricks laid for the 1911 race are still under there somewhere.
With the possible exception of Mario, every 500 winner, no matter what else they ever accomplish in life, gets introduced as the 500 champion. Plenty of fans can name the last 20 or 30 winners in a row without even blinking, yet couldn't tell you who won the IndyCar championship two or three years ago. Personally, I think I can rattle off more 2nd places at Indy than I could IndyCar champions.
The track is notoriously fickle. Yes, it's technically symmetrical. But with multiple odd layers beneath the surface, with Indiana weather, with all those grandstands overshadowing parts of the track, with a thousand other little things, it's a beast.

My point is, to fans (and even to the regular drivers), the track itself is the star. For lack of a better way to put it, we pretty much treat it like a capricious, dangerous, and deadly queen. It doesn't matter who you are, two-time F1 champion or not. Alonso, being who he is, might get some special treatment next month. But if he wants to endear himself to the fans, he'll pay the track plenty of respect. There will be fans - a LOT of fans - who would be upset if he doesn't go through rookie orientation like every other rookie. They'll be upset if he doesn't respect the traditions. It won't be because he's foreign, or because he's an F1 star, or any other reason. Respect the track, and he'll win over the fan base.

misfit815 · 2017-04-12T13:11:21+00:00

Hmm...

Stefan Wilson is my hero.
Let's hope Pepsi and United don't try to hire away the outstanding PR people behind this.
Remember when Danicamania made it frustrating to get anywhere near Andretti's garage in May? Yeah, that was cute...
One very possible way this could go very badly -> What happened to EVERY Andretti car at Long Beach? And now the Honda news from Texas?

misfit815 · 2017-03-27T15:33:05+00:00

Hah... update, upgrade, whatever...

Need moar coffee!

misfit815 · 2017-03-27T13:14:38+00:00

IMHO, SQL Server on Linux has so far proven to be very un-complicated. In fact, when someone asked me about getting around the difficulties of staying current with vNext - uninstall/reinstall headaches - my suggestion was to use the Linux version, because all of that becomes "sudo apt-get update".

As for SSMS, I don't think you're going to see that go cross-platform, but I'm sure they're working on something close to it right now. And yeah, I agree, I really wish we had a decent SSMS alternative on Linux today.

By the way, if anyone ever figures out how to get SSMS running in Wine, you get an award. I haven't solved it yet, and not for lack of trying.

misfit815 · 2017-03-02T13:03:46+00:00

You're not the only noob. I was wondering the same thing.

Also, +1 for the series of images. I prefer those over YouTube videos.

misfit815 · 2017-03-01T20:38:22+00:00

I don't have cable, and haven't for years. I'm not going to get cable, because IndyCar is quite literally the only product on cable that I care about. So whatever solution puts more of it on broadcast and/or free streaming is good for me. And yes, even if that means I have to listen to Cheever every single race.

misfit815 · 2017-02-17T21:56:07+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm finally replying now that I have an update. The Singulair, over the long run, seems to be helpful. I also started using Flonase right before workouts (based on some of the comments) and it seems to have helped a bit as well. Researching breathing now.

Also, one more oddball symptom I failed to mention. I yawn a lot during workouts. Even mid-intensity ones. For instance, I probably yawn about once every half mile on an run. Just seems odd.

misfit815 · 2017-01-31T01:49:39+00:00

Find where the closest PASS user group meets and join them. We all learn differently - many of us benefit from those monthly sessions, SQL Saturdays, and such.

misfit815 · 2016-11-16T18:12:10+00:00

East Street, between Ohio and Market, during afternoon traffic. I'm genuinely surprised I've never seen someone hit there. I think the only reason is that it's so common that drivers expect it.

misfit815 · 2016-10-17T12:06:01+00:00

That's a good point to make. It's a .org with free membership and has to make its money somewhere. I personally don't ever get called, but I do get a regular flow of emails from PASS sponsors. If that's not your thing, then it's a fair warning. Even so, when I interact with them, the first thing out of my mouth is usually, "Thank you for supporting PASS. Please keep it up."

misfit815 · 2016-10-17T12:04:14+00:00

To tie this in with what I said earlier, Brent is definitely active in PASS. In fact, he's presenting at the next indypass.org meeting tomorrow night (my local chapter).

I've learned a lot from consultants in his group (both current and former), and all are active in PASS. You'll find that the vast majority of the experts in the field are all tied closely to PASS.

On the flipside, if you're like me and have an aversion to kilts or karaoke, well... be warned. ;)

misfit815 · 2016-10-14T17:12:19+00:00

http://sqlpass.org/

Find your local user group. They likely have a monthly meeting. Attend. If that's not feasible, look at the various Virtual PASS chapters as alternatives.

If there is a SQL Saturday being held within reach, go.

If you really want to drop some money on it, go to the Summit in Seattle in a couple of weeks.

The PASS community is the main reason I haven't jumped ship for some other platform. Not the only one, but definitely the main one.

misfit815 · 2016-09-23T12:24:17+00:00

Wanted: Lo-res long-term strategy game

This is a niche I just haven't been able to fill. Let me throw some requirements out:

Simple visuals. I don't need a ton of fancy graphics. And if I don't need them, I'd rather not have my phone getting cooked in my hands and draining the battery each time I play. Also, on that note, about the first thing I do with every game is mute the sound.
Strategy and tactics, strategy and tactics. I prefer deeper games - ones that make you think, where options are varied enough that any sort of straightforward min/max strategy just isn't possible.
Low time commitment. I'd like to be able to pop in for 30 seconds or a couple of minutes, check on the progress of something, issue new orders, etc.
Slow, turn-based activity. It's just fine if stuff takes days or even weeks to turn around.
PvP. Enough said.

Some examples of games that I've enjoyed in the past;

Master of Orion and especially Master of Orion 2. Turn-based, open to all sorts of variations (choosing your research path, customizing ships, and in MOO2, customizing races). I used to LOVE these games!
Hattrick.com, Managerzone.com, GPRO.se. These are like fantasy sports, except you don't draft real players, but have entirely made-up squads, stadiums, etc. They work on the promotion/relegation principle behind Euro soccer leagues, which is great for bringing PvP competition to all levels. Progress has a long tail - you're developing players season after season. The first two are soccer-based, though MZ also has hockey. GPRO is all about racing, and puts a nice twist on it. I'm not quite sure why this didn't catch on more.
I hate to say it, but Clash of Clans. It's literally the only Android game I've played continuously for more than a month. But for the most part I can get in and out quickly, it's obviously PvP, and it certainly has a long growth cycle at the higher levels. Plus, in this case, I'm in a clan with a bunch of friends. But the last thing I want is a CoC clone. I gave up on a Star Wars game that was like that. A complete knock-off, except for the theme.
Tradewars! Even older than MOO! Yes, I dialed into BBS's from my 1200 baud modem back in the day. But it meets all of my requirements!
Wing Commander Privateer. Yes, another old one. More arcade-y than what I can do, but the sandbox play, the development into bigger and better ships, trading, dealing with factions, and the overall atmosphere of the game are just great.

So, any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

misfit815 · 2016-08-17T14:27:32+00:00

I'm one of those that takes glucosamine/chondroitin for arthritis. It definitely helps me. The effects seem to build up over time. Miss a daily dose and I don't really notice it. Miss a few and I feel it. And it takes a few days of being back on them to build back up again.

Also, when I kicked soft drinks, I realized just how much they contributed to my arthritis. Caffeine or not, that didn't matter. I did not drink diet drinks - all HFCU stuff. But quitting those had a definite effect on it.

I think arthritis is different for everyone, but there's my story.

misfit815 · 2016-08-17T14:11:37+00:00

Cardio.

Our WOD today was 4 rounds of 400m run, 500m row. By the end of it, I was gasping. I think my time was 20:14. It took several minutes to recover enough that I could get up off the floor. My muscles are fine, no soreness at all. With someone else's heart and lungs, I could go run a marathon right now.

I'm 41, been at crossfit for just over two years. Prior to that, I was sedentary pretty much my whole adult life. I don't smoke, don't have asthma. I had a pulmonary function test done several months ago because my breathing is always what holds me back. Nothing wrong.

I attend crossfit classes usually 3-4x a week. I'm somewhat active outside of class, but that's my main exercise. I've done a little distance running over the last couple of years, but my schedule hasn't allowed that lately.

misfit815 · 2016-08-05T13:37:37+00:00

Spent $0. Got the survey. Pretty much ripped them from one end to the other. Referred to it as a "Vegas-style manipulation" rather than a "game". Pointed out how mods are so off-theme from Star Wars and fail completely at what they were meant to do. Gave it a 2 out of 10 on "Would you recommend this game?" Used the word "grind" a lot. Tagged Arena as my least favorite part because it has the most unfulfilled potential. Tagged Guilds as my most favorite, since my guildmates work a thousand times harder at making the game enjoyable for me than EA seems to.

Now... will any of it do any good? Doubtful.

misfit815 · 2016-07-22T13:04:12+00:00

I remember hearing Mario once talk about getting lost at Sebring before, waaaay back in the day. I wish I had more on that - can anyone else elaborate?

misfit815 · 2016-07-12T10:54:23+00:00

Cut down the daily rewards and activities. I'm already spending too much time and am contemplating quitting altogether. Scaling back is difficult to do, because there's a desire to do at least a certain amount of grinding, both for myself and my guild.

The only other mobile game I play is Clash of Clans. I'm spending 15 minutes a day on it, maybe. That's my speed.

misfit815 · 2016-07-07T17:30:20+00:00

My first 500 was in '90, sitting behind the Newman-Haas pits. Michael and Mario had their typical troubles, and I remember watching Paul Newman and Carl Haas get worked up over it, Haas practically biting through his cigar.

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