Extreme Spacing

At my job, there come times when the computer side of me really comes through in heavy doses, and for the profession I'm in, it's completely appropriate. Maybe some people aren't cut out for it, or maybe they just need a little guidance. Here's one thing that normal people don't think about.

Someone was hitting what we refer to as an "edit," which is basically a warning that tells a biller that a claim has an error that needs to be addressed, and there is text with this to tell the person what the problem is. One such edit dealt with information in a field required to be alphanumeric data only. I don't remember the data there, but let's say it was "43A 766892". A true geek will notice the problem right away. Normal people will not. Can you see it?

If I said ASCII character 32, you might look at me funny, but character 32 is neither alpha nor numeric. Character 32, however, is between those quotes up there. What is this character? Why this, of course: " ". It's a space. The info above is "43A(space)766892". Depending on your programming language, spaces are equally acknowledged and ignored. In BASIC, C++, JavaScript, HTML, and lots of others, you can put in spaces till your heart's content, and it won't care in the least. But in our internal language, and the one the edits use, spaces are significant and acknowledged. This means that that non-alphanumeric character cannot be used.

Bored yet? I'm moving on.

Had a lot of fun yesterday in that it was a very good day, and I felt very vaidated at work. Optimus Prime and his wife are puttnig down an offer on a house, and he's become absolutel impossible at work. I've already warned the boss that he'll be completely unproductive for at least a month, and the validation? She said, "Well, it's a good thing we have you then." Ah, it's nice to be loved.

Then again, she did warn that he better be productive. After all, he has debt now.

Moving away from work, though, maybe Poopy Pants...er, I mean Sassy Pants has come to a euphoric realization. The other night, I'd had it with the poop and told her that if she continued to do this, we'd have to go back to diapers. She was heart broken at the prospect, and lo and behold, the very next day, I got a joyful call at work that she's pooped in the potty. Yeah, weird thing to blog, but dang it, that's some seriously good news. Really tired of those stinky skid marks.

Rock Girl is improving on Guitar Hero. I worked with her a few nights ago on the game and getting her rhythm down, and she not only completed the song she was working on, but completed the encore and got out of Tier 1 on the easy level. I was very excited for her. She tried one of the Tier 2 songs that she'd heard before, and got 57% through it, which is really good for having only just started playing it. She still has her moments of frustration with it, but she's getting the game down, and more importantly, feeling that rhythm.

The Queen went shopping the other day for Easter dresses for the girls and was able to get the younger two covered, but Rock Girl was more difficult, since the only dress she liked wasn't in her size. One thing we've noticed about her is that her taste in clothes will differ from The Queen's as she gets older. She seems to be less and less about the "pretty" aspect of clothing choices and going for more of the trim varieties of dresses. I can't think of another term for it; hopefully, the Queen will comment and clear up the confusion... I know what's in my head, but let's face it -- I'm still a guy and have no clue about these things.

I would be remiss not to say SOMETHING about The Socialite, but right now, she's just growing in knowledge more than size. She's still very little and can curl up in our arms when she wants to be cuddled (and she's the only one who wants to be cuddled, really). She loves, loves, loves to watch movies, so our movie nights are just a thrill to her, and when it's her turn to pick a movie from Blockbuster, she's just on cloud nine. But don't get me wrong, she also loves watching Tom and Jerry.

Last night was really nice. We had a movie night with everyone to watch Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. I love being able to watch movies with them for the first time. It's fun to see their wonder at some parts and have them jump into our laps in other parts -- sometimes they just get "scary" at the movie. The film was rated G, but it was actually really good. Quite cute in some places, but very much a Willy Wonka of toy stores film. Lots of fun to watch and follow along with.

The Queen enjoys reading another blog out there about a Pioneer Woman, who she and her friends term "P-Dub." P-Dub apparently likes posting recipes and such, and last night we had a lasagna that stemmed from one of this woman's recipes. It was very good. It was spiced just right, the cheese portion was realy good, and The Queen put it all together really well. After all, the maker has more to do with the product than the recipe writer, so credit to the Queen on a dinner well done. We ate it during the movie; gotta love that too.

I skipped out on my weekend job last week due to my being ill, but I know it's looming for this weekend. I'm not looking forward to it. I tried to get some extra overtime at my main job to not have to go back to doing "someone else's job," but the boss said I couldn't get that much, so I'm taking what I can to get out of there a bit quicker. Of course, like a klutz, on Sunday when the manager at the world's largest retailer called me and asked if I should be working on Sundays, instead of saying "well, that's really inconvenient for me," I said "I can work Sundays, but it's easier not to, but I can if I'm needed." Dumb, dumb, dumb!

I'm counting down the work nights though, figuring it on a 3-day weekend basis, and including this weekend, I'm down to 23 nights. It would be 24, but I'm not scheduled for the upcoming Sunday. I know the The Queen isn't likely looking forward to this weekend either since she prefers I be home with her and active on the weekends (instead of sleeping, as I need to when I work nights). Frankly, I'd rather be spending time with them too, but you do what you gotta do (a principle in total deference to the work avoidance people).

As always, though, we'll make it through, and come out with flying colors. Everything is actually going so well that I'm a little afraid of what's going to break. Something almost always breaks when things start going this well. I'm almost all caught up on the bills and such to where I can cut back to one job. My relationship with the family is awesome. I enjoy the main job I'm doing and it pays well enough. I'm not looking to jinx anything, but clear sailing is not something I'm used to. I pray for it all the time, and I would love to have some clear sailing for a little while to allow me some time to rest. Maybe God is finally smiling on me and setting the trials aside to let me enjoy what I've been given for a time.

There are other trials out there for me, but they are more or less waiting to be accessed and are more like dreams to me than trials. I can't get into them until all the life trials calm down, so don't be thinking that I will be idle once everything calms down. The drama will continue, but in a different way. I can't wait.