Optimization

I figured out how to simplify the procedure I’d cooked up yesterday to sanity-check my Quicken data. First, I was able to get Excel out of the path by pasting the Quicken report into Notepad instead of Kedit — I had Kedit configured to treat the tab character specially, and that was creating a problem for me.

Then I looked through the Object Rexx documentation and found out how to directly access the Windows Clipboard from Rexx, so now my program gets its data almost directly from Quicken (it would be nice if Quicken exposed some APIs to its data, though), and I don’t need to create intermediate files or run spreadsheets and text editors on the way. Much simpler. I wonder if I’ll remember how to do it next year at this time.

Oh, crap. I’m not handling split transactions correctly; I just pick up the first part of the split. This programming stuff gets complicated sometimes….

Ham Radio Outlet

I helped a new ham buy his first rig today, by accompanying him and his father to the local Ham Radio Outlet. He was torn between a Kenwood F6A and an Icom T7H and eventually decided to go with the Icom, which I thought was a good choice for him, since the T7H is simpler and less expensive. I was tempted to get an F6A for myself, but I fought off the temptation — I am not buying any new toys for myself until I get some use out of all of the ones I already have! Besides, it’s almost as much fun helping someone else spend money as it is to buy things for myself.