today, I was asked for advice on how to make a wedding guest list. I was told that they didn't know Excel.
do you ever feel like there are things in your life that are so ingrained that you find it hard to believe the rest of the world doesn't know about them? I had to explain who Tom Waits was not too long ago. it was actually painful to me that this is a person that needs to be explained. and of course, that made me feel really pretentious. I mean, who am I to say that you should know who Tom Waits is? (I mean, you're totally missing out if you don't. but that's beside the point.) if you aren't familiar with Joss Whedon, you probably miss a lot of my humor and references. but it's you that's missing out. just because these things enhance my life so much doesn't mean that you need them to do the same for yours.
which brings me to my relationship with Excel. it is as much a part of me as JP is. in fact, I spend more time with Excel than my husband. on average, I'd say 6 hours a day. unlike JP and I, Excel and I have had a rocky road. I believe it has to do with the large-ness of the files I want it to deal with. my largest Excel file that I need to alter/use constantly has about 60,000 lines of text. I know, that's a lot. Excel's max is 66,000 (at least until I get Office 07). so, it is very close to being maxed out and it gets angry when I ask it to do more complicated things. like, filtering. Excel has a very great filter that gets rid of duplicates in a file. this is incredibly useful to me. but only if it actually works. and it doesn't work when you have 60,000 lines. it freezes and doesn't auto recover the file. you're definitely out of luck if you haven't saved in a while! yet, it does some really amazing things for me. global search and replace is killer, and VLOOKUP is by far my favorite function, although TRIM and LEN give it a run for its money. and who doesn't like auto sum?
if only you would filter my file, Excel. if only...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Microsoft Excel and pretentiousness
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9 comments:
The only time I was ever required to use Excel was in 11th grade in environmental science. I never had to use it in college, and then Zack knew how to do all that stuff. He uses it in his job almost as much as you do. So, when explaining it to me would take lots of time and effort, and Zack just doing it for me would take all of 5 minutes, we go with that option. Occasionally while using Excel, I remember random things about charts and making them pretty, but since I have little use for it, I just don't committ it to memory. And I don't know who Tom Waits is. It does make you pretentious to look down on others who don't share your knowledge, but at least you realize it. You just have to also realize that there are probably other places that people focus their attention and they know more about something than you do. Important things are different to everyone, they may know more about cars, or hunting, or things that you and your family have no interest in, so you've never indulged in learning about them. If you think about that, then you can share your knowledge with others (without judging them) and you can learn things in return.
First of all, it's ok to be pretentious sometimes. If we didn't think that we were better than other people in some ways, we wouldn't be Americans.
Second, Tom Waits is fantastic, and I pity the fool who doesn't know about him.
Third, I'd much rather take an hour to learn something and do it myself than be helpless.
So I think I'll go make an excel spreadsheet while listening to Tom Waits.
Who's coming with me?
Well, I truly wouldn't call myself "helpless" for not taking the time to learn something I may use 3 times in my life. I wouldn't call you helpless if you couldn't fix your own car, or make your own clothes. We all use the skills of others to make our lives easier.
And instead of "pitying the fool" (wonderful Mr. T reference by the way) you could have typed who the piss Tom Waits is. But you would rather feel snobby and full of yourself. So you don't share information, you horde it. Then you sit around with other pompous ass people and feel like you are better and smarter than others.
I don't think it's ok to be pretentious. If I ever find myself acting like I'm better than someone else, I regret it and feel guilty. I may be different than someone, but I'm not any better or worse. Didn't we learn that when we were in kindergarten or so? I guess some people skipped that lesson.
You must be more American than I am.
Seems you've missed the point of Freya's post, Kathleen. The whole idea, and the point at which pretentiousness comes into the picture, is that we all have these things we take for granted, as they play such a major role in our lives/professions/identites (such as the knowledge of Excel or who Tom Waits is). Once we encounter someone who doesn't share the same intimacy with these presumed fundamental things, we must reexamine our perception of these things relative to ourselves and others. I'm sure even you, on your high horse, have behaved along these lines. Now, at no point in Freya's post (which I've read and reread) does she pass judgment on those whom she has recently encountered who have never heard of Tom Waits, or have no knowledge of Excel. Rather, you inferred some judgment on her part, got defensive and reacted badly. In so doing, you have painted Freya as haughty and snobbish. Do you actually believe one of your oldest friends is like this?
I had only a small problem with freya's post jp. Mainly that it started with something I asked her, and moved on to her "painful" reaction to another person not knowing something that she did. As I said, I don't know who Tom Waits or the other guy she was talking about was, so therefore is it "painful" for freya to talk to me since I obviously don't share her level of knowledge about these things? I may be reading a bit into that, but I have run into people in the past who have rude and hurtful reactions to me not knowing certain information. So I commented on it, defended myself and gave my opinion on being pretentious in general. I basically made the same point she did in her post "who am i to say..." the moral being, try to be nice to people and teach them and learn from them.
My only problem was with shannon's post which was obviously a reply to mine. It was incredibly rude and unnecessary. At no point did I mention Freya in that post, it actually had nothing to do with her at all. If Shannon was joking, well I didn't get it. And I actually asked a few other people to read it to see if I was reading something that wasn't there, but they all agreed it was quite bitchy. So I replied to it. If freya has a problem with the way I reacted to one of her friends, that's fine. She and I can talk about it. If her friends disagree with me and would like to comment, also fine, it's an open forum, anyone can.
But I must disagree with you. I was treated rudely and acted. You may think I acted badly, but I suppose that's your prerogative.
ah, but see, I never said anything about the other person causing the pain. the exact quote was "it was actually painful to me that this is a person that needs to be explained." meaning that I happen to believe (which is simply my belief, and you DO NOT have to believe this to be my friend or even someone that I don't look down on) that Tom Waits is so awesome that I think everyone should know about him (Tom Waits is the singer/songwriter that JP and I danced our "first dance" to). it's like saying "it's painful to think that other countries don't have free speech". now, while Tom Waits may not quite be comparable to what I consider to be a fundamental human right, I hope you see what I'm trying to say.
Yes, my comment was bitchy, but that was only in defense of my friend. I was upset because Freya was upset.
Kathleen, Freya did not write about you in her blog. She used an anonymous reference that could have been anyone. I'm quite sure that she has spoken to many people in her life that do not know excel or Tom Waits. I am quite sure that her blog was really about her, and not you.
In my many years of friendship with Freya, pretentious would be the last word I would use to describe her. She's never been anything less than kind, caring, honest, and a good friend.
I hope you can see that.
Damn...I forget to check your blog for a week, and miss a total bitchcakes throwdown. Just my luck.
::gets popcorn::
is this over already?
and since when did pretention become a negative quality? Being self-rightously better than all other human beings and most animals and vegetables is all I've got going for me.
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