Entries this day: Work grrr grrr2 pre-wedding sas

Work

6:45am CDT Friday 23 June 2000

Yesterday at work seemed strange because literally I didn't have a project that needed attention. Two projects are on hold as we wait for further information from our clients. Yay!

So I began working on some generic macro type things that will hopefully allow us to code more efficiently on future projects. Since I'm beginning to get a better grasp on SAS and how it can be used (and how we use it at work), this is pretty much the first time I've been able to do this.

(nerd-babble:) SAS has no object oriented features, but I'm basically writing generic functions that do some of the basic things we do on each web-based survey. We can call these functions directly (with or without parameters), or set up a function for the particular project that calls the function, sending the parameters we usually would need for this project. At each function call in the program code, any or all the parameters may have new values given, effectively changing what the function prints.

If I remember my OOP stuff, this is a version of Inheritence, but it's all done at run time instead of compile time.

(end nerd-babble:) Oh!! Kevin loved his plate! He thanked me several distinct times for it. Karla got him a Big Mouth Billy Bass (sings "Take me to the river" and "Don't Worry, Be Happy") that is apparently hilarious after one has had very little sleep, or a couple of alcoholic beverages. I can see that it *would* be funny, but right now it just seems kinda silly.

permalink

grrr

9:50am Friday 23 June 2000

8:30am Me: at work, working on my SAS code and I get stuck. What I'm doing *should* work. Have to wait for Kevin to look and see what stupid little quirk of SAS is making this not work.

9:00am Kevin: arrives perfectly on time for a phone call that he's been on to now, which is 9:52am

Interim: Kasi's computer won't turn on. I determine it's the power supply. I swap power supplies with an older machine that is on its way out of here.

(note: I swapped the power supplies, nothing else)

Then: the mouse won't respond on Kasi's computer. Tried a couple different gyrations of BS, but nothing work. It's not a PS2 mouse, but one with a COM port connector.

Now: I think I maybe disconnected the cable from the COM port to the motherboard inside the case. But Kasi's machine has hung while powering down. Grrrr. Microsoft sucks.

permalink

grrr2

10:03am Friday 23 June 2000

I was right. The cable had been disconnected inside the case. I reconnected it and all is well. The computer didn't even complain "MicroStupid wasn't shut down properly, blah blah blah"

Yes, this error wasn't an OS problem, but I'm still mad at MS for other stupid things.

And, Kevin is still on the phone.

permalink

pre wedding

6:59am CDT Friday 23 June 2000

Today Wende doesn't have work; I'm going to leave early from work and we'll drive out of town in search of a place for our wedding ceremony. We got a room at a Bed and Breakfast and we'll drive around there tomorrow lookin' for a lovely spot.

Speaking of Spot, my cat just walked in.

permalink

sas

10:44am Friday 23 June 2000

Kevin got off the phone shortly after I finished my last entry. He said simply that the CARDS statement won't work in SAS Macro definitions. That's the SAS quirk that kept my code from working. I alterred it and Kevin was duly impressed with the coolness of my SAS code. In fact, I didn't even have to sell him on anything; he was describing ways that we can make it settle in nicely with our existing process (without detriment to the macro "inheritance" I've set up).

Super great! So now I'm going to either parse out my SAS code into different logical units, or put together Kevin's new machine. Then it's off to the Wild Blue Yonder with Wende!!

permalink