I really like R, I find it a useful tool for both my personal data work and mapping along with the things I do professionally as the Data Services director for Assembly. RStudio is a nice simple IDE, it works and works well. But I have this nagging suspicion that R is not a real programming language, that it has no future, and only people who really use R for much of anything useful are academics.
I know that’s a lie, mostly told by fan boys of Python. There are tons of packages for R and new ones keep being written, and it’s a widely used language for data science. I’ve used Python, sometimes that’s the only tool for the job, but it’s really not my favorite language. I just don’t like the use of spaces and line breaks for flow control. I would much rather have more freedom to lay out my code as I see as readable and logical, how I see things and matches my work flow. I learned Python originally for writing QGIS plugins to supplement making maps for the blog, and then I learned PANDAS 1.0 which was an awesome tool for processing data, until I discovered R and the tidyverse.
I am trying to do more coding with C and Rust. And learning a bit of Java and other languages. I want to be fluent in as many programming languages and pick up skills that I can quickly transfer to whatever is the fashionable language of the day. As many of the newer programming concepts make programming faster and better. Plus I want to have marketable skills, which I am not sure if the R programming language really counts as a marketable skill. Yes, I do awesome data work with it, filtering and processing millions of records each day with it, but I hardly find it to be professional solution that is used by leading tech people for such purposes.
I am doing somewhat better this morning but not really. By the end of the day, I don’t know how I made it through it besides just being busy and working hard. Going to call in sick again today, but alas campaign data lists can’t wait so I’ll be putting in as many hours as I can while being at least somewhat conscious of data I’m processing.
I totally know it’s my fault that I got so sick. 🧼If I had only washed my hands good after going to the supermarket on Sunday night at camp, I’m sure I would have avoided the sickness. I don’t know where else I could have been exposed to the cold virus, 😵 I was wilderness camping Friday through Sunday and then riding trail alone at Partridge Run. The previous Thursday I had meetings downtown and also Tuesday, and while I got very sick starting Tuesday night, I can’t imagine it was from the lunch meeting so quickly, if it wasn’t food poisoning. 🥪I do need be careful about taking home “free” left-overs from work that have been sitting out on the table all day, especially if they are getting a bit slimy.
Going to work at Five Rivers for the bulk of the day. 💻️ They have free library wi-fi there, and it’s a beautiful day. Work from inside my truck, where I have power from the solar. 🔌If I work there, and need to take a pee, I can just find a tree, so I don’t have to worry about getting others sick with my cold. 🤒 I figure when the group by %>% summarize command is running on my laptop, I could do some bird watching. 🐦️Plus maybe enjoy some of the scenery and do a nice stroll during lunch time. 🚶♂️ Next cycle, I will re-write the code using POLARS and maybe rust so I don’t have to wait for the sometimes sluggish tidyverse to process data.
Truth is while today and tomorrow looks nice, 🌞 the almost certain rain come Sunday into Monday would have made the Columbus Day Weekend not a good one to get away. Plus the color is still somewhat limited in lower elevations. 🍁 I do want to try to do something fun on Saturday if the weather is decent – maybe riding trail and enjoying the scenery at Thacher Park – but Sunday I’ll probably stay home and read. 📚️ I also need to get shopping, probably Saturday as I had planned to shop on Thursday night before I got so sick, in preparation for the Columbus Day Weekend trip.🛒 Also want to work on my laptop on Sunday — I want to see if I can get the fan working on it or how difficult it is to replace, likewise checking the power port which also needs replacing. 💻️With those repairs, maybe I can get a few more years out of my laptop.
Next weekend, I’m thinking of doing Charles Baker. 🏕️🚴🚣 You know the Friday through Monday. Work both of those weekdays from camp, get set up before 9 AM on Friday. Probably less crowded at that point. Right now next weekend looks stunning beautiful and warmer — and there should still be good color I expect out in Madison County. At least that’s what I hope and are telling myself. At least I should be over my cold by then.
Got my latest pay stub and I can officially say I’m now paying more in monthly payroll taxes 💸then I am in rent for my apartment. I really bumped up my state and federal deductions as I’m worried with all the dividends and interest payments, plus the blog revenue, I will be chronically underpaying my taxes, and I don’t want to get fined this year, nor do I want to owe a ton of money come April like I did last year. 📈It’s been a great year in the markets so far, although I would have done better had I not decided to spend so much of the year keeping money in the high-interest savings rather then investing it, as I was thinking of buying a house. 🏠️
At least that’s what I hope and are telling myself. At least I should be over my cold by then. 
