If you woke me up in the middle of the night and asked me what I’m proud of in my work life, one of the things I would say would be, “I taught myself Microsoft Access.”
I realized I needed to know how to use it to make a complex project work at my job, the one I had back in the 90’s, so I started making databases for my personal life, like The Grocery List Database.
It was so cool: after meal planning for the week was done, I used a table of every ingredient or item I ever bought at the store and entered in the amount I needed, with instructions (next to ‘ground beef’ I’d type “two pounds 97% lean, wrapped separately;” next to ‘shampoo,’ I’d type “one bottle neutrogena, one bottle suave clarifying”).
Then I’d run a report that took every thing I wanted and listed it out in the order you’d see it at the store, if you started in the produce section first. I’d print it out and give it to Dad, Interrupted, who would then run through Safeway and come home with the food, which I would cook.
It was a system!
I order my groceries now, but I use the Access skills every day. I still remember how happy I was when I would get complex reports with math in them to work. Heck, I’m STILL overjoyed when I crack a complex problem.
Yesterday I got to watch the analyst who works with me experience the same joy as she wrestled a reporting issue to the ground.
And I felt it, too.
© E. Stocking Evans 2014
Mom, Interrupted 