On the job or on the beach, data warehousing offers new perspectives.
by Elizabeth Millard
Q If you were stuck on a deserted island, what three things would you want with you?
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Jim Blair, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
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A My wife, snorkel gear and a case of cold beer. They're all connected, too, since
I'd use the snorkeling stuff to find a deep, cool place to keep the beer at the right
temperature, and when my wife and I felt like having a few, I could go diving for them.
My wife and I are pretty outdoorsy and go to places like the Bahamas often, so a
deserted island might suit us pretty nicely.
Q Who would you want to rescue you and why?
A Jimmy Buffett, because you might as well have a star, right? And he's got a great,
carefree attitude, and loves islands and beaches. So, if no one else showed up for a
while to rescue all of us, we'd be fine with that.
Q What makes you laugh at work?
A The same types of things that make me laugh outside of work, like good jokes and happy people.
At work, I'm not the office jokester, but I'd say I'm one of the more upbeat people,
so I tend to have a good time.
Q What was your strangest day on the job?
| Word Association |
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BOOK > "First Break All the Rules," a
book on leadership
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MOVIE > "The Perfect Storm"
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MUSIC > Maroon 5
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CUSTOMER > Number one
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WORK > Retire
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DATA WAREHOUSING > Cool work
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CIRCUS > Clowns in funny cars
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ANALYTICS > Economics
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ACTIVE > Sports
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A There was a morning that I showed up and I couldn't understand why no one was
coming into the office. Another hour went by, and still no one was there even though it
was the middle of the morning. That's when I realized it wasn't Friday, like
I'd thought, but Saturday.
Q What's the most surprising thing your data warehouse has ever done for you?
A Probably the data warehouse conferences. They have given me the opportunity
to speak about the real-life experiences in running a corporate data warehouse and
meet others in the industry, even internationally. I took a trip to Australia to
the Great Barrier Reef and then had the chance to speak at a Teradata conference
in Sydney on data warehousing. I'm a scuba kind of guy and I'd always wanted to
go to Australia. My wife and I spent a week up by the Great Barrier Reef, which
was amazing. I then spent a week in Sydney at the conference and was able to
network and learn a great deal about data warehousing from another perspective.
T
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NAME
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Jim Blair
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TITLE
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Manager, warehouse operations
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COMPANY
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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
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YEARS ON THE JOB
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Nine
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Photography by Curt Tony Pearce
Teradata Magazine-September 2008
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