Raincharm’s Weblog

Was today a Monday?! It sure seemed like it. At least from a work perspective. WARNING this is a brain download of my work day. Feel free to skip it, as it is mostly to empty my brain without boring Carl to death.

A rollercoaster of discovery. Working on a project I do every month.

• Finally had the data downloaded
• Got through 2 initial sets of data manipulation
• Onto the 3rd set of instructions to do my sewer metrics
• In the second or third step a query gave me an error I had never seen before.
  • This query was one that kept getting longer every month.
  • After poking around, comparing this month’s query with last month’s query, including looking at the sequel statement, I checked Google and discovered that you can only have 16 joins in an Access query. And it has been 16 months.
• Time to rethink the query and what I am really using the results for now. When I started this we were trying to figure out how we were going to present and use the data. Since then we have developed our presentation style, and the graphs are developed by exporting the data to Excel, and making charts there. So I don’t need to have all of the data in one Access table.
• Excitement
  • I had figured out the problem.
  • Now to re-do the query to only look at the current and previous month in the query. This is to allow catching any anomalies in the results, and then adding the results from the latest month into Excel to update the charts.
  • The update to the query was also going to make it into a template, to reuse without as much rework each month
• Get the first draft of new query completed, and look at the data.
  • And it seems off. It showed no new sewer customers, and in fact there were 5 fewer.
• Frustration- a new problem to figure out.
  • Try to figure out which records had disappeared
  • A few unmatched queries later I could find no missing records.
  • What’s the opposite of missing data? Duplicate data, that comes and goes.
• Confusion
  • Looked at several earlier months and found 3 different accounts that had duplicate accounts.
  • Identified a field in the duplicate record that was different
  • Checked around to understand what this field was. Not one I use. And based on the answer I got, a little more work to figure out why this account has two location IDs.
• This is impacting about 8 out of 20,000 records. Diminimus? If I were looking at just changes over each year, maybe. But looking at customer additions each month means small numbers matter.

I guess I know what I’ll be working on this weekend.

Yesterday I got a bug under my butt, and decided to look for an Airbnb for Carl and the boys for Spring Training, in case the staying with a friend option fell through. So I found a reasonably priced centrally located house with separate beds for just about everyone. And a generous cancellation date.

A good move as it turns out the friend could only put up a few of the boys for a few of the days. I feel good that part of the trip is under control. Now for a rental car.

More work.

3 pre-apps, 1 Developer Extension Agreement initiated on a rush request, chatted with a property owner who has a failing septic system about potential sewer extensions, and finally got some time to work on last month’s sewer metrics.

In other activities, we lent our Prius to a neighbor so they could get to their piano lesson. A few days ago a nefarious sort cut the catalytic converters off of both of their Priui. I spent money on a Cat Shield a few years ago so I wouldn’t constantly worry. And our car is parked on a slope, making jacking it up more difficult.

And I put one piece into the jigsaw puzzle.

And did a few puzzles on my phone.

Excitement everywhere

Work continues to be busy in an all over the place way. That means I was working on many different things for short periods of time, rather than working for a good period on one of the bigger projects.

So let’s think about vacation planning.

February to March = Spring Training. Not for me, but for my husband and his baseball buddies. And I serve as the travel agent. So far we have plane flights and tickets to 4 of 5 planned games. What we don’t have firmed up is a place to stay. There is a chance they may be able to stay with a friend. But said friend needed to clear it with his wife. So I may look for an Airbnb as a backup.

On the baseball theme, we need to figure out what games we want to go to, and what games we share with friends (for a price, but face value). People want to make plans, so we need to make decisions. Usually we start by offering games when we will be on vacation. So what are we doing for vacation?

There is the All Star game in July. That’s a vacation at home.

When else and where else to go.

This should be a fun thing, and yet this evening it feels like another chore. Maybe something to work on this weekend.

Two days in a row.

Not much to report. A hectic day at work. Most folks are back from breaks, including customers who want service. Nothing too astronomical, well there’s always one.

Comments on my BIG project over the last few years were due last Friday. And we got a few on Friday. Including 3 from one person, the last sent at 11:45 PM. These are just not the straightforward type comments, so they will take time….. Hoping to get through reviewing all of the comments and developing responses, and any required responses in a month.

New employee today too. Seems like a nice person.

Found some of the data I use on a monthly basis has a new format. That’s not bad in itself, but it would be helpful to know in advance. And I probably spent half of my work day verifying that I understood some additional fields, which I do, but I think it points out the need for some data cleanup. I couldn’t tell you the number of records out of the almost 20,000 that need modifying.

Aren’t you’ll enthralled about this insight into my work day?

On the home front, one of our neighbors had their catalytic converter stolen in the wee morning hours from not 1, but 2 of their cars. It completely stinks. They estimate from the time the car alarm sounded until the thieves got into their getaway van was about 3 minutes.

And the year begins.

2023 is here.

I generally don’t do resolutions, but here’s one. I will try to post more often.

Because the city was shut down on the 23rd by ice, all of the pre-Christmas food shopping that might have happened on the 23rd, joined the pre-Christmas shopping planned for the 24th, resulting in gridlocked grocery stores. We entered 3, and got no new food.

For those who waited, and waded through this so far, here is a reward. The seldom seen…

Hopefully I will “see” you again soon.

Sad – baseball season is over, and the bad guys won. Evil Astros if you didn’t know.

Happy – Grandson number one is 3 today. Three at last, three at last! Thank God Almighty, three at last.

Thankful – I have now been gainfully employed at the same place for 35 years. The anniversary was noted at our Board meeting last night. It’s nice to be appreciated, but can be a bit much. For a while it sounded like I was retiring. (Not quite yet.)

Anxious – and avoiding. Probably watch Only Murders in the Building, and stay away from your regularly scheduled programs tonight.

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

I feel like I have a hangover. And all I drank yesterday was coffee and water.

We left our house around 9:15 AM, to enjoy a day at the ballpark. We finally returned just about 9 PM. The house was dark, no lights had been left on, inside or outside.

What we did not expect was 18 innings of baseball, 2 full games. 6 hours and 22 minutes from first pitch to last. And the packed stadium stayed packed to the bitter end.

Although I am not sure bitter is the correct word. Yes, it was not a happy ending, and my hope to have to struggle to get up and head to the park again today was not to be, there was still a sense of accomplishment. The team made it to the ALDS series. One of the last 8 teams standing.

Not for 21 years had we been invited to spend money for extra baseball. The next few VISA bills should be exciting with payments and then refunds.

And for 17 innings the Astros were held scoreless. Of course, so were the Mariners.

The light rail down was only modestly full. Others going for the opening of the gates, and some workers. The Husky football crowd was not yet packing for their game.

Post game we decided to walk up into downtown and catch the train further along its route. This was not a bad idea, but we should have walked one more stop, to Westlake, instead of stopping at University Street. We just missed one train, and couldn’t find a place to squeeze into the next. We decided we were going to get onto the next, no matter what. One of our group got into one car, and we went to the next, which was ever so slightly like a sardine can. We could see some spaces that hadn’t filled in, and at the Westlake stop were able to get to a better standing location. I am still glad that we walked, it helped to mentally sort what had happened.

Which brings us to today. The body is creaky and the voice is rough. Maybe from the smoke, but also from the innings of cheering. And just tired. And waiting for next year.

We went to T-Mobile Park again today. Per baseball superstitions we sat in the same place, with most of the same people. That’s about where the similarity ended.

Yesterday we were in the happy position of being in the lead from the first inning. Not a laugher, but comfortable.

Today the Mariners didn’t have the lead until the 9th. And it was very uncomfortable. Until the end. At which point it was jubilant.

To try and manage the energy and angst we decided to walk to the game. We used to do this regularly, but light rail has made it easier to transit. With about 6 miles under our belt we were ready to sit back and enjoy the game.

But this game had to be earned. Including the moments when we were sure we were going to be back in the stadium tomorrow. And there are other tasks that shouldn’t be completely ignored.

And rally shoes?! I like it if only because it was created by a fan, and not MLB. They showed it on ESPN, but I don’t think the announcers understood its small start at a point in the game where the Mariners showed they intended to make it a game.

And I also discovered that clapping your hands gives you steps. I had a lot of steps from the walk. Currently at 17,735. I think about 2,000 are from clapping.

Most important outcome from today is that we will have a home game next Saturday!

As Mark opined during the game. I hate baseball! I love baseball!

The last time the Mariners were in the playoffs we were pulling the kids out of school to attend games. Now they have kids of their own.

We went to the viewing party at T-Mobile Park yesterday. It was nice, warm and just fun. I expect today’s to be significantly more crowded because it’s the weekend. Only the real diehards are willing to take vacation. And the Mariners WON!

I tried to capture the crowd leaving the park, and failed. But luckily, a friend succeeded.

Too soon.

One of our end of the regular season plans was to get our friend of several decades up from Portland to watch a few more Mariner games. Carl met Dennis in the Kingdome during batting practice in 1984, when Dennis stepped in front of Carl to catch a ball. All’s fair in love and war, was the explanation. And a friendship began.

Dennis was around, although there were a few years when he was elsewhere, like NYC. And frequently overseas for film shows that he put on. His main avocation was as a film archivist, and he would put together a thematic show of old films on request.

Our particular connection included summers when he would stay at our house, and at other times as well. Dennis knew how to live simply. Use of our house as a base of operations was what Carl considered our contribution to supporting the arts. We were one of his Seattle residences, including using our residence as his voting location. I finally insisted he tell the powers that be that he had moved (to Portland). He had been called for jury duty and they were threatening with some action. I was sure they were going to show up at our door with a warrant.

The backyard film shows, popcorn ceiling removal, jambalaya for Thanksgiving, and other memories keep popping up.

We did not succeed in our quest for one more game. His condition had been changing daily, and we were up to about Plan G in how to manage the trip. Dennis decided to leave us on Sunday, two days before we were to gather him for the game. I fully believe he made his own decision, having found his way home.

There is so much more to Dennis though. Check out his wikipedia page, or Facebook page for others stories. They are legend, and span the world.