| Topic: |
Sociology > Depression |
| User: |
"Janithor" |
| Date: |
05 May 2007 03:32:21 AM |
| Object: |
Hail victory! - meandering stream of consciousness, long |
x-no-archive: yes
I got my first computer (as in, MY computer) in February, 1996. I had
worked with Excel, I still use Excel a lot. But I've always known
Access would have some use, I just didn't know WHAT for sure. When I
got my PC, I got some books too, one of which was how to learn about
Access 95. I've been sitting on that book ever since. I read a few
pages into it, got intimidated, and it's been sitting in my pile of
"must read" books ever since.
This past year, controlling inventory has been a real pain in the *****, I
sell toilet paper, etc...but it's a very tiny part of what I do. But
I've tracked it very poorly, and it's hard to manage in an Excel sheet I
created. The amount I sell is still small enough to track this way, but
my gut tells me this is the kind of thing Access was created for.
wombn can't help me with this kind of thing anymore. The knowledge is
still in her brain, somewhere, but she can't access (pardon the pun) it
very well and it's even harder getting it out.
Well, the past 2 days I decided to push myself through this book, roll
up my sleeves, do the exercise sample database, and plod through it
until I get a rudimentary understanding to get me started.
Academic learning is another lifelong problem, I don't know how to learn
things efficiently, I get bogged down quickly, it's like pushing myself
through quicksand, which is why the book sat on a shelf for 11 years.
The first chapter, I literally outlined in a Word file. I read it,
highlighted it in marker, and made notes in a Word file. The second
chapter I skipped the marker but made notes. The third chapter, I just
read in the tub, and I don't think I even need to make notes, really,
because I think I got the gist (sp?) of it enough that if/when I start
using an actual database, it will sink in. The 4th & 5th chapters I
quickly skimmed, it was about data entry, lots of it seemed similar to
Excel or other Windows conventions, so I just scanned it quickly.
Chapter 6 was explained the concept of a relational database. I skimmed
it to get the basic understanding. I think this chapter I will need to
go back over to have it sink in a little better and capture some of the
finer points that I skipped. The later chapters are about formatting,
advanced features, etc...stuff that would probably be useful, but I'll
go to them later when needed.
Well, I'm just happy I bust open this book that I've been carting around
for 11 years, and in 3 days I've got a good understanding of it. I had
the same pattern with Spanish, although there's more involved there than
in learning the basics of a database application. But when I started
studying Spanish, I went back to my English grammar, reviewed all of
that, and outlined the crap out of the 2 textbooks I bought, I did the
exercises too. Once I finished them, I felt like I had enough of a feel
for it to just jump out and start trying to use it - I knew the basic
grammar, all I needed to do was start translating and absorbing the new
vocabulary. It hasn't played out like that though, partly why I'm
frustrated with this and not doing much other than downloading more
songs that I'll never translate but will tell myself I'll translate for
the next 3 years. It's hard to jump that gap between the theory and the
real world daily use.
.
|
|
| User: "used2be" |
|
| Title: Re: Hail victory! - meandering stream of consciousness, long |
05 May 2007 10:05:38 AM |
|
|
"Janithor" <Janithor@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:463C4115.30303@comcast.net...
x-no-archive: yes
I got my first computer (as in, MY computer) in February, 1996. I had
worked with Excel, I still use Excel a lot. But I've always known Access
would have some use, I just didn't know WHAT for sure. When I got my PC,
I got some books too, one of which was how to learn about Access 95. I've
been sitting on that book ever since. I read a few pages into it, got
intimidated, and it's been sitting in my pile of "must read" books ever
since.
This past year, controlling inventory has been a real pain in the *****, I
sell toilet paper, etc...but it's a very tiny part of what I do. But I've
tracked it very poorly, and it's hard to manage in an Excel sheet I
created. The amount I sell is still small enough to track this way, but
my gut tells me this is the kind of thing Access was created for. wombn
can't help me with this kind of thing anymore. The knowledge is still in
her brain, somewhere, but she can't access (pardon the pun) it very well
and it's even harder getting it out.
Well, the past 2 days I decided to push myself through this book, roll up
my sleeves, do the exercise sample database, and plod through it until I
get a rudimentary understanding to get me started.
Academic learning is another lifelong problem, I don't know how to learn
things efficiently, I get bogged down quickly, it's like pushing myself
through quicksand, which is why the book sat on a shelf for 11 years.
The first chapter, I literally outlined in a Word file. I read it,
highlighted it in marker, and made notes in a Word file. The second
chapter I skipped the marker but made notes. The third chapter, I just
read in the tub, and I don't think I even need to make notes, really,
because I think I got the gist (sp?) of it enough that if/when I start
using an actual database, it will sink in. The 4th & 5th chapters I
quickly skimmed, it was about data entry, lots of it seemed similar to
Excel or other Windows conventions, so I just scanned it quickly. Chapter
6 was explained the concept of a relational database. I skimmed it to get
the basic understanding. I think this chapter I will need to go back over
to have it sink in a little better and capture some of the finer points
that I skipped. The later chapters are about formatting, advanced
features, etc...stuff that would probably be useful, but I'll go to them
later when needed.
Well, I'm just happy I bust open this book that I've been carting around
for 11 years, and in 3 days I've got a good understanding of it.
that's awesome thor!!!
.
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