The Doldrums

I like to call this time of year (the period of time between the holiday season and waiting for the weather to realize it is really springtime) the "Doldrums". The "Doldrums" as defined by the columbia encyclopedia (yes, not Wikipedia here) is "the area around the earth centered slightly north of the equator between the two belts of trade winds...The doldrums are also noted for calms, periods when the winds disappear, trapping sailing vessels for days or weeks.". There are a few reasons I call this time of year the "Doldrums", they include:

• The weather being lousy
• No workdays off from January until Memorial Day (yes I don't get prez or MLK day off)
  
• Everyone just seems a bit more groggy and grumpy
• Nothing really crummy happens, but usually there is really nothing to get excited about either
  

This year's "Doldrums" bring a twist to my family, a new addition: Sara Danielle was born on February 24th and is doing her best to keep Tina (my wife) and I from getting a good nights rest. Her arrival has also seemed to throw off her older sister's (Katie) wonderful sleeping habits. I really can't complain since Tina is taking 90% of the beating and everyone is healthy, but sleep deprivation does tend to ware on any of us.

For us data/database folks out there, a few more indicators that the "Doldrums" are in full effect:

• Tom Kyte was sick and took a week off from his blog
• Before Tom was "off", he had a couple real downer type posts.
  
• Alf Pedersen has stopped posing to his blog
• This guy seems grumpy (or grumpier then normal)
• Mark Rittman's talking about how he used to be cool
• iSQL*Plus is going to be desupported
• This one is thinking users are giving up
  

The good news is that the "Doldrums" don't last forever. Typically for me it's the St. Patrick's Day holiday that pulls me out of the rut. If any of you data folks out there are also sailors, you'll know that when your in the "Doldrums" at one point or another you'll be out of them with a vengence. Perhaps something along the lines of "in like a lion, out like a lamb"?.

So cheer up...Until next time...Rich