November 17, 1988
Dear Everyone:
That damned computer keeps doing what I TELL it to do instead of what I WANT it to! And it’s laughing at me. I know it is.
Select on Owner such-and-such, I told it. Sort by Series Number. And, since it would be helpful, sort the boxes in each Series by the last date in each box.
OK, says the computer (chuckling to itself), and the next day I get a report listing the Owner, Series Number, Boxes… but the last date is no longer affiliated with the box. The last dates are sorted by date with no regard to which box it belongs to.
I found boxes that supposedly started in 1985 and ended in 1977. A big no-no. Fortunately, I caught this before sending the report out. The computer doesn’t win as many points if you catch the error before sending the report out. On the other hand, since I had used this report for 15 owners and had to make the corrections in all 15 programs, the computer gets to multiply its points by 15.
Moral: always start with one report and clean out all of the bugs BEFORE you copy it 15 times.
Well, I spent most of my mornings cleaning bugs out of reports. And running the reports in order to find more bugs. Ad hoc reporting is such an adventure. Sort of like playing Dungeons & Dragons.
(“Open the door.” “There’s a dragon on the other side of the door.” “Close the door!”)
On the other hand, PEP Codes are tedious. Everything has to be looked up twice, since a code can be in Owner History and not in Schedules; or it can be in Schedules and not in Owner History.
At least this is a short week. I have counted and I have exactly 18 working days until the end of the year. Because of vacation time and holidays, next week is the last week that I will work a full 5 days.
Ain’t life tough?
ASHLAND UPDATE!!!
“Alice”, having got her check in first, had decided that we will go to Ashland in August. Also, “Kelly” is still in school in July.
I will reiterate the schedule:
|
Thursday |
8/3/89 2:00 |
Bowmer Theatre |
|
|
|
8/3/89 8:30 |
Elizabethan Stage |
|
|
Friday |
8/4/89 2:00 |
Bowmer Theatre |
Breaking the Silence OR |
|
|
|
Black Swan Theatre |
|
|
|
8/4/89 8:30 |
Elizabethan Stage |
|
|
Saturday |
8/5/89 2:00 |
Bowmer Theatre |
|
|
|
8/5/89 8:30 |
Elizabethan
Stage |
Ticket prices have gone up from last year. Bowmer and Elizabethan are $19, $15, $11. Black Swan are $19 only.
(“Alice”, if you really don’t want to see either Breaking the Silence or the Road to Mecca, you’ll get a rebate.)
In other news…
“Jeannie” and I went to see Chita Rivera (and the Rockettes) last Saturday. I couldn’t place the star until I read her bio in the playbill and realized that she played Dick Van Dyke’s girlfriend in Bye Bye Birdie . It was OK, although the male lead, an opera singer, had such a powerful voice that he more or less blew the others off the stage. He could even drown out the orchestra!
“Marshall” is coming up from Fresno for Thanksgiving dinner. We have a cute little hen, named Jenny, just shy of 11 pounds; and this year I’m going to break with tradition and serve broccoli instead of peas. “Jeannie” is into broccoli. Someone told her it prevents cancer. That may be so, but the question remains: Is it worth avoiding cancer if it means that you have to eat broccoli?
Everybody pray for rain and lots of snow in the mountains.
Love, as always,
Pete
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