November 20, 2020
Dear Everyone:
The easiest way to
keep track of things is to throw it all into an Excel spreadsheet.
The table is already there.
All I need to do is label the top row with fields like, “Name,
Last”, “Name, First”, “Address”, “City”, “State” and “Zip Code”.
Later, I can remember to add phone numbers.
Numbers plural because so many people have more than one phone
number: Work, Home,
Cell/Mobile. And, more
recently, (possibly multiple) email address(es).
In other words, a computer-version of the trusty old Address Book
that one kept by the phone, or in one’s purse.
Later, I might decide
to add more fields to further identify entries, things like “Family”, or
“Doctor”, or “ARMA”. In next
to no time, the table has grown so broad that trying to print it becomes
a real problem. Why print
it? Well, what if someone
asks for a quick copy of certain entries?
What if I want to keep a phone list for emergencies, when my
phone might, for some reason, be out of action?
What if I’m shipping packages and need the information to fill
out the form at the shipping counter?
Sure, all the info is
probably on my cell phone.
Ever try to fill out a form while juggling a half-dozen packages, and
your phone, which keeps going into “standby” mode at the most
inopportune time? It’s so
much easier to print out the relevant information for each package ahead
of time. It’s also a good
idea to place a copy of the printout inside the package in case the
label is rendered unreadable.
All in all, there are
lots of good reasons to put all that information inside a table inside
the computer. But there’s a
better way than using a spreadsheet.
It’s called a database.
The first databases I
used were in the Company’s mainframe computer.
That was a really long time ago.
Then came Personal Computers (PCs) in the late 1980s.
The first database application that I used then was called
Paradox. It still
exists, of course, but I was soon using the Microsoft version called “Access”.
I used Access
so much that I developed a reputation of being something of an Access
Wiz at work. Then, when I
was thrown into retirement, I figured my days of using databases were
over.
No such thing.
I discovered that Access was included in the Microsoft
Office Suite of applications.
And I discovered that I remembered a lot of the tricks and traps
that I had known before.
As in the example of
an Address Book, I could include quick fields to identify people I
usually send Christmas Cards to; what Company they work for (if any); if
I know them through the Needle Arts group that used to meet every other
Saturday at the Martinez Public Library; and so on.
One of the advantages
to a database is that I can quickly set up a way to identify only the
entries I want to see using something called a “query”.
So I can tell the system, only show me entries where the Family
field equals yes. That’s
gets me everything having to do with Family out of the 70-plus entries
in the database.
Having started with
“Contacts”, it was just a short hop to listing all the medications that
I take every day. Each time
a new medication is added, such as the prescription eye drops that I
began using a couple of weeks ago, I just pop it into the database.
Every time I visit my
dentist, one of their stock questions is:
“Any changes to your medication since the last time?”
Knowing that this will come up, I already have a report designed
and ready to print that shows only the active medications.
It impresses the hell out of the dentist staff.
More recently, I’ve
started keeping track of online purchases and when I should expect a
package to arrive. That way,
when the online merchant sends an email announcing that my purchase has
been delivered, I can quickly let them know if they are mistaken and get
a trace started right away.
I’ve already learned that waiting a week is not a good move.
And marking an order as “delivered” means it won’t show up,
clogging everything up, the next time I check on outstanding purchases.
Ain’t that grand?
Love, as always,
Pete
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