Funny how things work out in life. Such as learning that
a fault line runs directly under where you live. Or hearing that your laptop was
stolen, but then returned within the few hours you were away at work. My favorite
though is the phone call I received days after my last blog post—but from a
bank I had become convinced was a dead end (in fact, the bank I was expecting
to call me decided that a “possible temporary” leave next summer for an
internship disqualified me).
Along with that step towards adulthood, I also received
my first credit card. Awesome. Another tool to aid in the downward spiral known
as debt. So far, I’m fighting against temptation. However, my first trial in
resisting came about a few days ago when I had an epiphany.
Ever since e-readers (like the Kindle) came out on the
market, I believed it was an egregious amount of money to enjoy something I
could do for less than $5 a book (assuming of course, such books are bought
used/”previously owned” from bargain bookstores—my current favorite is
Half-Price Books). I still love
reading books in their physical format, but I’ve begun to see the value of
having everything in one place, readily accessible and easily portable
(provided one buys an appropriate size for such purpose). After having most of
my books boxed up in a storage unit over 1100 miles away, I came to the
conclusion that I needed to re-evaluate my opinion of e-readers. But because I’m
a geek who likes to dabble in a little bit of everything, an e-reader just won’t
cut it. No sir. I need something with more power and adaptability than my cell
phone, but more portable than my laptop. Answer? Tablet PCs.
Oh goody. Another toy to buy myself. I must say that I
enjoy buying toys for myself. Especially of the gadget variety (I admit that I
enjoy shopping for kitchen gadgets). And now that I have a job (finally!), I
have some extra cash to burn.
Wait for it…
Wait for it…
REALITY CHECK! I can’t just spend my (new) hard-earned
money on a spur-of-the-moment decision! (Student loans and credit card
purchases are also a detriment in my “spend cash” desire.) Well, now what? The
idea has been planted in my head, and once I become attached to an idea (or
book, movie, TV show, comfortable clothes, time off from work), it’s nearly
impossible for me to let it go. Yes, I obsess. This is something I’ve known
about myself ever since my friend labeled me as a fangirl. (I also admit that I
knew I obsessed before I was told that, but I just didn’t want to admit it.)
Okay, so I can’t splurge. Next best option? Save up the
money until I can afford it, obviously. Which led to the most ironic thing I’ve
done all year: spending my entire day off from work to dabble in Excel using
VBA in order to create a “budget calculator”. I confess that I rarely enjoyed
the programming classes I had to take for my CS minor. I believed that
programming was something I would never willingly do during my down time, let
alone enjoy. This “budget calculator” proved me wrong. I actually turned down an
opportunity for free food in order to continue working on this Excel file I had
become immersed in. It was, dare I say it, fun! Not only did I get to dabble in
math, but I also had the chance to implement some of the ideas I learned from
my OOP class. I’m quite pleased with the result, but there is still room for
improvement. Even more astonishing, I’m looking forward to improving it and
having it do so much more than calculate a budget while creating “fund tables”
for future purchases (such as a car and, of course, a tablet) and a savings
account. I haven’t geeked out this much since my weeks studying for the SOA/CAS
Exam 1/P actuary CBT. Quite a refreshing feeling I have missed in my summer of
solitude.
opportunity for free food in order to continue working on this Excel file I had
become immersed in. It was, dare I say it, fun! Not only did I get to dabble in
math, but I also had the chance to implement some of the ideas I learned from
my OOP class. I’m quite pleased with the result, but there is still room for
improvement. Even more astonishing, I’m looking forward to improving it and
having it do so much more than calculate a budget while creating “fund tables”
for future purchases (such as a car and, of course, a tablet) and a savings
account. I haven’t geeked out this much since my weeks studying for the SOA/CAS
Exam 1/P actuary CBT. Quite a refreshing feeling I have missed in my summer of
solitude.
These numbers are made up. In no way do they reflect my real-life earnings (as can be seen from the futuristic dates in the pics to the left and below). But basically, for my "budget calculator", all I need to do is enter the correct numbers in the two yellow boxes (in the pic above) and press that "Save" button. The VBA I slaved over then inserts new rows into the corresponding tables while maintaining a nice, thick outside border.
It's not as cohesive as I would like yet, nor is it quite
multi-purposeful yet. My dream would be to make this calculator such
that a user could list any number of fields, whether they are necessary
categories or "extra funds", and then their own personal calculator would automatically be
created along with corresponding tables for those "saved
funds". However, I need to dabble a bit more with VBA before I could try to accomplish that. Then again, I might be the only person who considers this endeavor 
worthwhile. Even if that's the case, I'm still happy with my effort and look forward to doing more. And maybe watching my savings grow will prevent me from buying books and $5 DVDs from Wal-mart in favor of a shiny new tab—I mean—car.
worthwhile. Even if that's the case, I'm still happy with my effort and look forward to doing more. And maybe watching my savings grow will prevent me from buying books and $5 DVDs from Wal-mart in favor of a shiny new tab—I mean—car.
I also must confess that I’m a fan of colorful things.
~Hazuki Goldair
P.S. Happy belated binary day on 11/11/11, which is when I started writing this entry. But as procrastination is one my unsavory talents, it wasn't finished for another two days.
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