The Whine thread.

[Alelou]

You still need your family to be informed and onboard with it, though, and willing to push back for you.

I have a whine: I've spent hours today setting up a Word mail merge from Excel so that I could run individual grade reports with their percentage absent and all that stuff for my students. I'm taking an Excel class at college so this is also a way to practice using some of my new skills, and it's also a way of illustrating to some students who are failing miserably why they should probably consider withdrawing before the withdrawal deadline.

But once I get to Word all the percentages come out practically to infinity. (Well, not really, but 10 or 11 decimal points or so looks ridiculous enough.) The instructions online for fixing it must refer to an older Word, because nothing they suggest even begins to work for me. And fussing around formatting the merge field gives me the right format but the wrong data.

So I'd frankly be better off just writing the damned information down in pen, and I would have been done hours ago.

Hey. I wonder if I just need to refresh the data.

Oh man. I just want it to be over!

[WarpGirl]

Oh if only my brother was here he'd tell you what to do.

[Alelou]

I just got the pencil out and filled in the sheets by hand. It annoys me, but it went a lot faster. I still used my spreadsheet to do the math, at least. And I DID successfully merge the data -- it just wasn't looking like anything I'd want to show a student.

I need to get Access and figure out how to use it, and then this will all be easier.

[mjimeyg]

But once I get to Word all the percentages come out practically to infinity. (Well, not really, but 10 or 11 decimal points or so looks ridiculous enough.) The instructions online for fixing it must refer to an older Word, because nothing they suggest even begins to work for me. And fussing around formatting the merge field gives me the right format but the wrong data.

Sounds like the formatting is being lost, try this page, just a simple set of instructions and a way around it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320473

Your best bet on this like this is to do a google search on your problem.

Some thing like:

Mail merge Word 200X with Excel 200X

You'll get a list of turorials and solutions, but they might not be exactly what you want.

So add an additional word that explains what your experiencing:

Mail merge Word 200X with Excel 200X percentages

When in doubt just type out a correct english question:

How do I mail merge percentage values in Excel to Word?

More often than not google will find better results for you with that sort of query.

[Alelou]

Thanks for the advice. I did actually go to Google and found a fair number of sites with the same instructions. But I can't even find the "tools menu" in Word 2007. (Could be I'm just blind.) I did manage to get to "Edit Field Code" anyway but when I edited the code per instructions, I ended up losing my data connection. So I'd just get beautifully formatted number 1 or 0. Refreshing the data didn't help, either.

I have one more Excel class so maybe my teacher will explain it to me, but she already said when they did Office 2007 they 'broke' a lot of routines that used to work better between Excel and Word. Maybe they're trying to drive people into Access. Since I'm told I can buy the professional version of Office ridiculously cheap as a SUNY employee, that's not a big deal ... it's just one more thing on my list of things to do. I guess I'll take the Access class next semester.

Any rate, today is too incredibly gorgeous for computer work. Lunch is done, so off I go.

[enterprikayak]

<test>

[Aquarius]

Whine: raging migraine, out of meds, can't get more til Saturday.

Hope I make it through work okay.

[Aquarius]

Okay this is really starting to blow.

Still have a migraine. Getting worse. Still no pills.

About a month ago my friend asked if she could buy one off of me, she was out and hurting, much like my situation now. I explained that I don't have a prescription because I didn't have the money for the doctor or the money to fill it any way, so I've been relying on the generosity of my friend who works at a doctor's office--so the money doesn't help when I can't exactly turn around and buy another pill to replace it. At the time I had quite a few so rather than let her suffer, I gave her one, telling her all of this, so instead of giving me money, just give me a pill when I'm the one who's out and hurting.

So guess who's NOT coughing up a pill because she's supposedly had no money to fill her scrip?

I get it, I do. I'm broke, too...but I also don't take things if I don't think I can replace them. Further more, she spent fifty bucks building a shelter for neighborhood stray cats last week...seems to me that would've been good for a couple of pills at the generic price. I applaud her compassion for the strays, but she also owes me money from the hair show a couple weeks ago. I'd be more understanding if it was her own cats who needed something, you know?

Point being, she owes me, and I NEED to collect, and I can't, so in addition to being in a lot of pain and very nauseous, I'm pissed.

[Alelou]

And understandably so.

You don't have a doc's office you can beg for a sample?

[Alelou]

Sorry for the double post, but this has helped me when I'm stuck without medicine:
1. caffeine and plenty of it, if I can keep it down
2. Advil
3. Slow, deep breathing. Very slowly inflate your lungs as far as they can go, and very slowly let the breath out. You can count to 10 or whatever works for you (I find even the counting distracting since I suck at numbers). This alone can keep the worst pain at bay for me, as long as I can concentrate on it. Kind of hard when you're in public, if only because it looks and sounds really weird.

[Aquarius]

Nope.

My own doctor is through Henry Ford Health System, and HF doesn't allow samples. Plus, it's been a coupla years since I've been to him so he'd probably want to examine me before he prescribed anything.

If I was on campus today I'd just go to the university health center and have it all billed to my student account and pay for it later...but I'm not on campus, and I have to be to work in an hour and a half, so taking the hour trip to school and the hour trip back isn't doable right now.

[Aquarius]

Sorry for the double post, but this has helped me when I'm stuck without medicine:
1. caffeine and plenty of it, if I can keep it down
2. Advil
3. Slow, deep breathing. Very slowly inflate your lungs as far as they can go, and very slowly let the breath out. You can count to 10 or whatever works for you (I find even the counting distracting since I suck at numbers). This alone can keep the worst pain at bay for me, as long as I can concentrate on it. Kind of hard when you're in public, if only because it looks and sounds really weird.

Been there, done that, left side of head still threatening to rupture and/or come out my eye.

[Distracted]

My suggestions as a concerned friend (and not to be confused with the advice of your actual doctor, yada, yada, yada...):
1. Call in sick at work. Nobody wants to work with someone who's in excruciating pain. Your coworkers will thank you.
2. Eat something if you can and then take 4 Advil at once. A maximal strength antiinflammatory might dull the pain enough so you can drive safely.
3. Drive to the student health center if it's safe to drive. If not, and you're sure it's a migraine and not an intracranial aneurysm or something, take 2 Benadryl and try to sleep it off.
4. If that doesn't work, go to a walk-in clinic tonight and see if they have samples there.

Good luck. I hope you feel better soon.

[enterprikayak]

Man, Aquarius, the universe is really chuckin' it at ya these days, hey? I'd say keep your chin up, but that'd probably make your migraine worse. Curl up in a fetal ball then, I suppose. This too shall pass.

________________________

There's lots of H1N1 around these parts these days. My sister had the H1N1 flu the other day and felt awful, but is fine now. But the guy across the street has H1N1 and pneumonia and diabetes. He's only in his 30's and doing not so hot. He's a coworker of Lee's and we hope he gets better fast. Yikes, hey?

[Alelou]

I've had a lot of students out with it. It's definitely hopping around.

My son FINALLY gets his shot this Friday.