Two years ago I intended to learn Python. Then I never did. And there’s a story to that. What brings this up is an article I saw online a few days ago, “VBA vs. Python: Which is the best tool for Excel automation.” It began, as many such things do, with a work problem. WeContinue reading “When I Thought About Learning Python”
Tag Archives: Diamond Comic Distributors
A Last Anniversary
Facebook memories reminded me this morning that today, February 1st, is the anniversary of the founding of Diamond Comic Distributors in 1982. I hadn’t yet turned nine. There were photos in my memories of the 40th-anniversary in 2022, when the office was essentially closed due to COVID… …and of the gift we received for theContinue reading “A Last Anniversary”
Two Weeks into Bankruptcy Life
“This business will get out of control. It will get out of control, and we’ll be lucky to live through it.” I’ve been quoting this bit of dialogue from The Hunt for Red October like a mantra recently. No, not in regards to the second Trump administration, which finds new and even more depraved waysContinue reading “Two Weeks into Bankruptcy Life”
Diamond’s Bankruptcy and My Future
Tuesday, Diamond Comic Distributors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections. For almost eighteen years–212 issues, counting the unpublished (though finished) May 2020 COVID issue–I’ve been the copywriter on Diamond’s monthly PREVIEWS catalog, though that only scratches the surface of what I do. I wear many, many hats at Diamond, and I have joked my businessContinue reading “Diamond’s Bankruptcy and My Future”
An Unexpected (Partial) Work-from-Home Day
Four and a half years after going work from home, yesterday, for the first time, I executed one of my key job duties remotely. Each month I run a process called the “Page & MCBA Number Update.” To describe it briefly, I load all the items in the month’s PREVIEWS catalog (typically about 3,000, plusContinue reading “An Unexpected (Partial) Work-from-Home Day”
Coding Myself a VPN Toggle
At fifty, I am becoming the Linux nerd I feel I should have been at twenty-five. I had a problem. I wanted an easy way to connect and disconnect from Diamond’s VPN. Yes, I could use the Network Connections interface in Linux Mint, but sometimes it expands while I was navigating to the VPN toggleContinue reading “Coding Myself a VPN Toggle”
New Office Decorations
Sunday was the Harrisburg Senators’ “Fan Appreciation” game. Even without a game–it was rained out–they did a “Fan Appreciation” giveaway. Basically, they opened up a storage room and pulled out whatever giveaway items from the past they had left over, put them on tables, and fans could get in a line and pick something. IContinue reading “New Office Decorations”
So Smart I’m Dumb
Let’s begin with this: Windows XP, running in a virtual machine on Linux Mint. Hell, I even configured the Quick Launch toolbar, and the single screenshot I have of my XP days shows I never used the Quick Launch toolbar. So, why do I have a Windows XP virtual machine running under Linux? Yesterday morning,Continue reading “So Smart I’m Dumb”
Office Space, Three Years On
Last week, Diamond entered the fourth year of work-from-home. I work out of the offices two or three days a week — it depends on the kind of work I’m doing and the projects I’m working on — and have, honestly, since the end of March 2020, but full time in the office, for mostContinue reading “Office Space, Three Years On”
Victory at Last!
It has been my dream since Diamond went WFH two and a half years ago — March 18, 2020 — to connect my Linux Mint install to the work VPN. I have tilted at this windmill for two and a half years, and for two and a half years its arms have thrown me andContinue reading “Victory at Last!”