Month: February 2016

We just watched this.

Good stuff. It sure makes me not want to climb Everest.

There’s something satisfying about seeing a particularly complicated database query’s execution time go from 0.7 seconds to 0.02 seconds. I’m working on a tricky report for a client whose database has tens of millions of rows, and I was becoming frustrated with the sluggish queries. So I sat down and started looking at the query, testing its performance, until I saw a couple of fields that I could index. I ran a few commands to do so, and BAM, it sped up by a factor of almost 40.

A wise man (I think it was Brian) once told me that the solution to most database query performance problems is to “index the crap out of it”. So true.

I couldn’t let a sunny 60-degree day in February go to waste. I joined five die-hard friends in a game of Durango boot (a variation on ultimate) at lunchtime today. We played on a slushy, snowy field, and 15 minutes into the game none of us could feel our toes any more. But we were slipping and sliding and having a great time. Ahh, February in Colorado…

I thought there was some kind of law that says the only people who can call me “hun” are women over the age of 60. Coming from a matronly older woman, it’s kind of an endearing term. Coming from the 20-something sandwich artist at Subway today, it somehow seemed wrong.

Today I was driving and my tire pressure light came on. Sigh. It does this about every two weeks, and I drive over to the nearest gas station and fill up the tire again. It costs a dollar in quarters every time, but I figure it’s cheaper than buying a new tire.

I returned home, parked in the garage, and as I was heading into the house I heard a hissing sound. Looking more closely, it was that same tire… hissing as the air escaped at a steady rate. Sigh.

So I drove over to the local Tires Plus and asked them to plug it. They told me they’d call me with an update. A few minutes after I returned home, they called to say there was a huge nail in the tire and it wasn’t reparable. I’d have to replace the tire. Sigh.

Well, you never replace just one tire– you need to do at least a pair. I asked about that, and he said, “All of your tires are pretty much bald. You should replace all of them.” Since it’s winter, and in fact snowing pretty heavily today, I suppose it makes sense. So sure, go ahead and replace all four tires. Sigh.

“Oh, and by the way, your alignment is way off.” How much is that? Another $150 for an alignment today and for the rest of the lifetime of the car (actually not a bad deal). Without the alignment, the tires will wear unevenly and all sorts of other bad things. I suppose I also won’t be able to drive on I-70 through Kansas without touching the steering wheel. So sure, let’s align everything too. Sigh.

$800 later, I walked out of the shop. All because of a nail.

On a humorous note, “that escalated quickly” reminded me of the old “I saw a spider” meme: