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Full Speed

I’ve been heads down in a handful of projects that have been serving as a logjam for most of the work I’m currently involved in. Sure, I can do all-nighters like I was half my age. Suuuurrrrreeeee…

10,000 Ways

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ~Thomas A. Edison

Man, one of my projects is using a piece of freeware from a major data software vendor. It’s supposed to act just like the high priced stuff.

Yuh, sher.

It works great except you can’t import data without going through this tortuous process. It actually took me most of the day last Friday AND Saturday to work out how to do this very simple, common, everyday practice.

Seriously, just like Edison. I found out a zillion ways NOT to be able to import data to this software package.

Just damn…

The real problem is that this thing that database software is supposed to do was only part of the puzzle. I also had to write a script that would build several tables to import the data into.

Okay, this is old hat. The syntax is standard SQL. There were only a handful of tables to create.

The hitch?

Well, one of the tables in the list happens to have a mere 238 columns in it.

!¡!238 MFing Columns!¡!

Needless to say, it took a bit of typing to get those all laid out. I got 8 tables scripted in 2 hours and the big honkin’ table took an additional 2 hours to get all transcribed in the scripting syntax.

Come on, y’all. I exported that table to MS Excel and the rightmost column was HI.

🌴 THIS TABLE STRETCHED ALL THE DAMNED WAY TO HAWAII 🌴

Well, at least it’s done now. My QuickBooks data conversion utility repairs are nearly complete as well.

As I said before, once it’s done it’s done.

I like that about my current position. The stuff I do is typically once and done. It provides me the variety I enjoy.

Despite the occasional crunch, it’s been pretty great the whole time along. Even when it’s tight, it’s still interesting. This helps to keep me on task. So much the better…

The Partition

How The Rich Use Debt & Taxes To Get Richer

Jaspreet Singh has an interesting and relatable way of talking about something I’ve always found rather boring.

💵 Money. 💸

I certainly like having it, but all the peripheral info on how to invest and build wealth has always escaped me.

However, as I said, Jaspreet makes it easier to understand for those of us who missed the basics. It’s still not that interesting to me, but it is something I need to get better at. I find that Jaspreet, Myron Golden and others online do an excellent job of making the topic easily digestible.

What’s also marginally comprehensible to me is just what the heck is going on in Ms Marvel.

MS Marvel Episode 6 Breakdown | Easter Eggs, Post Credits Ending Explained, Review & More!

I mean, it’s not that hard to follow the basic plot. The character development is great for the core characters. They’re pretty shaky on the peripheral characters like her brother and her friend, Nakia.

They’re there and they serve some Muslim community tropes, I suppose, but they’re not getting as much development as they ought to. I feel like they started some of these tangential story angles and then let them fall off.

I still enjoy the show thoroughly, but I think a lot of the criticism of Marvel’s Phase Four is well justified. It seems like they’re building up to something as big as the Infinity War arc, but it feels like they’re just milking the franchise.

I appreciate that you can only put so much stuff into 6 episodes, but people are noticing that some of these Phase Four projects are kind of iffy. Hopefully, they’ll get their act together before they ruin the genre.

Mightier Than The Sword

The pen is the tongue of the mind. ~Horace

Now that I’ve nearly powered through some of the major logjams at work, I may actually have a quiet moment to get back to The Sentinels.

I still need to get the plot structured so I can stay on task while writing it. Writing as a pantser gives you a lot of freedom but it also leads you down a variety of fruitless branches.

There are still a few Christmas All The Time articles to be completed before I get to this year’s Holiday Season Serial Romance, but it looks like I’m actually in a good place to get it started in August or September instead of November this time.