Graduation, Shed Building, Cincinnati Zoo

Ted’s Graduation

We have one off to middle school! It’s crazy, I dropped him off for the last time and watched him walk up the steps for his last day of school. I dropped him off at day/care, kindergarten, and two different elementary schools over the past decade and finally that is over. Next year he will go to middle school with his mom. I will still make this trek for four more years though as Ben makes his way through elementary school now. Graduation was nice, a teacher there, Mr. Hendrix, retired and we heard his farewell speech. He will be missed by all.

Shed Building

We finally started our shed project in the backyard – it’s only been 18 months! I originally bought it on a post holiday sale from Costco and it sat in our garage for 18 months. My original plan blew up when the week I took off work received its standard Kentucky spring torrential downfall the entire 7 days I set aside to complete it, and it was not until now when I could finally finish construction. So far the work’s not been overly complicated, there is a comprehensive instruction sheet on it, but since I do not have much construction experience, work is slow going. I do think I set too ambitious of a construction goal, but we did get all four walls up and tarped so we can finish it next week. Luckily a friend called me the week before I scheduled to start construction and offered to come over and help. He was a tremendous life saver. I didn’t account for unpacking the material crate and how everything in there was out of order, and how carrying all of that to the back yard from the garage would wear me out. He stepped in and helped organize the pieces, and my wife who is pretty handy herself, worked on the more complicated pieces while I knocked out the heavier, easier stuff. It was nice having two teams work through the project.

Cincinnati Zoo and Factory 52

Memorial Day Weekend came and I felt like it was time to leave our home and venture out, mostly because I was physically exhausted from two days of shed building. I knew just walking and stretching would help out and it did. It was a beautiful day, however, we skipped the Memorial Day Parade to go to the zoo and then to Factory 52 for lunch. I feel a little regret for it, we always do that parade, but honestly I just needed something low key to blow off steam. We did see the new exhibits at the Cincinnati Zoo and they were wonderful, modern, and well thought out. We ate lunch at Factory 52 in Norwood and I had an amazing banh-mi sandwich, that I would order again if given the chance. Very tasty.

Other Updates

Apple TV’s “Murderbot” is certainly enjoyable. I’ve also started reading the book as well and so far the show is very much following it, except of course for a few small details. I am also watching “Firefly” just so I can see what the fuss was all about. I do think the characters and world building in this show is good. My understanding is that Fox showed this series on Friday night out of order and advertised it as a comedy. Perhaps I too will be disappointed when I finally reach the last episode.

I am now publishing the tech courses I’ve completed on the blog as well. I just realized there are too many half finished items I would like to complete. I am very thankful for these resources to accomplish my career goals and satisfy my personal curiosity. As of right now I will split my personal study time between the MBA coursework and tech courses.

Question – is Python in Excel actually Python or Python like? I’ve seen it use Pandas but is it actually using Python code or is Excel just mimicking what Python can do? I am intrigued by this tool but I’m not sure what exactly it can do.