Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Dark Time, The West Wing, and Anne Boleyn

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Anne Boleyn, Curiosity Stream, Dark Time, Learning, MS Excel, Reading, The West Wing, Udemy, Watching

I’m still enjoying Dark Time. The crew of America has just sent three ships through a wormhole with the alien ship to their home world. Admiral Gray (the main character) is waiting to here back from them to make sure this was not an ambush by the aliens. It’s getting exciting!

The West Wing has the President delivering his third State of the Union. The conflict is between President Bartlett and his wife over reelection. The staff is also reeling from the news that the President has MS and has begun working on how to overcome this problem as they work on the reelection campaign.

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry the VIII. The documentary explains in detail how King Henry the VIII got rid of his 2nd wife because she could not produce a male heir. The intrigue and how things were in that time period is absolutely chilling. The series is presented on Curiosity Stream and is in three parts. I just started the 2nd part which details her trial.

I’m also plugging through the MS Excel course. I just started learning about Macros. From what I’ve seen so far, this is going to be really powerful. There is also a part about Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). I love learning this stuff!

Well, that’s it for now. Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Star Carrier, The West Wing, and MS Excel

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Access, Excel, Kyle Pew, Office Newb, PowerPoint, Star Carrier, The West Wing, Word

I’m still reading Star Carrier. An interesting twist has arrived. It appears that the recently discovered aliens know how to travel through time. Boy, the story is getting good.

My sister came back home and I bought season 4 of the West Wing. Sis and I started watching it this last weekend. I really love this show!

Now that I’ve finished Kyle Pew’s (Office Newb) PowerPoint course, it’s back to his MS Excel course. Now that I have one of his courses under my belt, I’ll be taking all of his other courses. MS Word, MS Access, and all the rest. I really like this guy. Not to mention, each course I buy, is mine forever. So, they are great reference for future work.

I hope all of you have a terrific Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Dark Time, The First American, MS Excel, and The West Wing

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Amazon Prime, Dark Time, George Washington, MS Excel, Star Carrier Series, The Revolutionary War, The West Wing, Udemy

Dark Time has the Star Carrier America closing with an alien ship and getting ready to board her with a contingent of marines. This is after the alien ship “swallowed” a USNA ship that got too close. It’ll be interesting to learn what happens next!

All, I just finished the Civil War series I’ve been watching. Now, I’m learning about George Washington, in “The First American” on Amazon Prime. It’s one long movie, so I watch about 10 minutes a day. So far, they are describing the difficulty with writing about a man like this, who was very quiet and did not say too much, compared to the others like Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison.

I learned about auditing an Excel worksheet. It’s pretty cool. You can see all the formulas, you can see which cells are impacted, and you can even use what is called a watch window to validate that a formula is actually working the way you want. Good stuff!

I am purchasing the West Wing season by season. In August, I’ll be watching season 4. I finished season 3 this month. My sister’s arrangement for work changed, so she is not living with us during the week. She started a new role at her company and this move required her to work onsite. I’m not sure if she’ll be fully remote like she was, but at some point, she may be back here during the week. Who knows? Anyway, I’m watching the series myself, and I just love the story. Season 4 will continue with the President’s reelection bid, and the fall out from assassinating the defense minister of another country who attacked America.

That’s it this week, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, Learning – Dark Time, The West Wing, and The Civil War

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CJ Cregg, Dark Time, Ian Douglas, Josh Lyman, Josia Bartlett, Leo McGarry, Sam Seaborn, Star Carrier Series, The Civil War, The West Wing, Toby Ziegler

I’m still reading Dark Time, Book 6 of the Star Carrier series. Wow, what a ride. Currently, America, the central ship in the series is pursuing an alien ship that has just left earth, to try and figure out what this ship is and how it got to earth without being picked up by any of the security satellites and other protocols used to prevent this type of thing.

West Wing Season 3 has President Bartlett working on getting reelected. Leo McGarry just testified in front of congress, Donna got involved with the wrong Republican, and Josh is starting to get involved with Amy Gardner a woman’s advocate who is a big political player in Washington.

The Civil War series is talking through Grant and Sherman’s actions to get the victory Lincoln needs to get reelected. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” is highlighted, along with some other battles that occurred during 1864-1865.

I hope some of you find these to be good recommendations. I’m a huge war buff, so you’ll see plenty of documentaries about war, history, and sprinkled with some science. West Wing is my favorite show ever. I could watch and re-watch this series over and over again. I enjoy reading scifi and also action-adventure books. Every once and a while I’ll read a mystery novel or thriller, but typically stick with scifi.

Well, that’s it for now. Have a great Thursday, folks.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning

Tags

Civil War, Dark Time, Ian Douglas, Learning, MS Excel, The West Wing, Udemy

I’m really enjoying the Dark Time book. The main plot has just begun to take off and it’s great. I enjoy well-written sci-fi books, particularly the ones written by this author. He presents a technical background to the story, explaining concepts like near-light travel, and is also really good at breaking his story down into bite-size chunks. It makes it easy to read, and it is a great way to describe multiple stories, which overlap each other from different sides of multiple galaxies.

Sis and I are still enjoying the West Wing. We’re in season 3. This is a show I’ve watched about 8 times. I just can’t get enough of it. The acting, the writing, and all the rest is just superb.

West Wing Episode 10 – Bartlett for America

This week I learned the Left(), Right(), Mid(), Search(), and Len() functions. These are really helpful functions in Excel. Particularly if you are trying to break up an entry in a cell to accommodate setting your data up for sorting. The example the instructor provided involved a cell with first and last name. If you’ve ever tried to search through a list with first and last name combined, it can be problematic because searching is ineffective if your data is not configured well.

The civil war documentary I’m watching is also fascinating. We are at the part of the war, where Grant and Lee are going at it. Interestingly, the battles that were fought were named after landmarks or farms where the battles took place. Names like Spotsylvania, The Wilderness, and Shiloh are all familiar now. Great documentary!

Well, that’s it for today, folks. Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning

Tags

Ian Douglas, Learning, MS Excel, Reading, Star Carrier, The West Wing, Udemy, Watching

Well I’ve done it. I’ve decided to focus a gaming post on the weekend, and pull it from this posting. That way, those of you who are interested in hearing about the games I am playing can get some exclusive content. The new posting will be on either Saturday or Sunday (I’m leaving that option open), and will start out with what I’m doing in the games I’m playing, and then add in some pointers and things I’ve learned playing them.

I’m still reading Dark Time. It’s in the sci-fi genre and is about a space carrier called America and a whole host of characters that have developed over the previous 5 books. I don’t like giving away the story, but if you enjoy the sci-fi genre, you will enjoy the Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas.

My sister and I are on Season 3 of The West Wing. What a great show. I can’t speak enough about it. I’m also watching a great Civil War series on Amazon Prime.

Daily Ramblings – Gaming, Reading, Watching, and Learning

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CODM, Dark Time, Discord, Gaming, Learning, Reading, Reddit, Season 6, The West Wing, Watching

Call of Duty Mobile start season 6 today. There are new guns, the KSP-45 and L-Car. A submachine gun and machine pistol respectively. I completed the challenge last night for the L-Car and got the KSP-45 as part of the season’s battle pass. We’ve got a new map, new weapons, new character skins, and all kinds of challenges coming up. Oh, and did I mention they are adding jet aircraft to battle royale? HA!!! It’s going to be great fun!

For those of you doing the “Too Close for Comfort” Challenge, there is a slight glitch in the task list. The task of using The Purifier flamethrower 5 times wouldn’t work when I first started playing it. The key is to use the generic version of the Purifier, not the H20 version or even using a camouflage. You need to use the plain, generic Purifier and the task will count the games you use. This threw me for a bit, but I visited Reddit and the solution was there. I’d also like to pass on my thanks to CODM’s folks on their Discord channel. They directed me to Reddit, updated me that the glitch was fixed, and were terrific.

I’m reading Star Carrier: Dark Time. It’s a great read so far. I’m also reading my bible daily. I love a good story. Reading is what I call one of my “critical tasks” because it keeps the creative juices flowing. Each time you read, you are invoking your inner creativity, so that the scenes, characters, and story come alive. At least that’s what I do. I truly enjoy the escape that reading provides.

My sister and I are still watching season 2 of The West Wing. She’s been busy lately with her friends, going out and such, so we haven’t watched too much this week, but that’s ok. I’ve watched the entire show about 9 times. I just love this show. This time around, since it is no longer on Netflix, I am buying each season as we go, just like I did with The Sopranos. For those shows I really enjoy, I buy them, so I always have access to them everywhere. I don’t buy DVDs anymore. I really try to minimize the things I own, because there’s nothing like having access to everything I need digitally. I joke from time-to-time that I can literally survive with what’s in a backpack.

I’m watching a great documentary on the Civil War on Amazon Prime. I’m also continuing my studies on Udemy. This week I learned about the Index() and Match() functions. Today, the instructor is going to use both to show how powerful a combination these two functions are in Excel. I enjoy learning something new each day. It’s a real rush when you learn something you didn’t know the day before.

Well, that’s it for this week’s installment of gaming, reading, watching, and learning. I hope you all enjoy this posting. I’m thinking of separating gaming into a separate day, like Saturday, but haven’t decided yet. What do you think? Put your comments in the section below. I’ll listen.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Gaming, Reading, Watching and Learning

Tags

Amazon Prime, Call of Duty, Civil War, CODM, Dark Time, Diablo Immortal, Grand Master, Ian Douglas, Star Carrier Series, The West Wing, Udemy

The Call of Duty Mobile saga continues. I am currently at the Grand Master level in both Battle Royal and Multiplayer and have a few more levels before I hit legendary. It’s a real grind. For those of you who do not know what grind means in this context, it is the literally playing and playing and playing until your objectives have been met. I grind to get ranked and I grind to get my diamond camouflages for my weapons.

I have also started a game called Diablo Immortal. Boy, that is a great game. All kinds of things to do, all kinds of weapons, gear, gems, and gold to collect. I am really enjoying the Role Playing Game (RPG) genre again. These guys at Blizzard really know how to create great games.

I’m started reading Dark Time, another book in the Star Carrier series. It’s another great read so far. The way Ian Douglas writes is terrific. The characters are awesome. The weapons and military craft descriptions are the best. I highly recommend this series if you are a SF fan.

My sister and I are in season 2 of The West Wing. It’s terrific. I never grow tired of The West Wing. The characters are so terrific! Sam, Toby, Josh, Donna, CJ Craig, Danny, President Bartlet and Leo are terrific. I won’t give away any spoilers, in case any of you are interested. The entire show is on Amazon Prime Video, but you’ll have to pay. It’s about $25 US per season.

I’m watching a new documentary on the Civil War and continuing with my Excel class on Udemy. Yesterday I learned about HLOOKUP. Today it will be INDEX(). I enjoy this class because of the short session lengths and the easy example files to work with.

Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Gaming, Reading, Watching, and Learning

Tags

Book 6, Call of Duty Mobile, Deep Time, Diablo Immortal, FPS, Ian Douglas, RPG, Star Carrier, The West Wing, Udemy

Believe it or not, I found another game to play. It’s called Diablo Immortal. It is a mobile RPG game produced by Blizzard. Wow, what a game. The stories are so detailed and the world is really immersive. What is really cool, is that you have other players who you can see that are all logged in and doing their thing. Call of Duty is still my favorite First Person Shooter (FPS), but Diablo Immortal is great fun! Another game I highly recommend if you are looking for a good one to play and keep you busy for a while.

I finished book 5 of the Star Carrier series and will start book 6 today. It has been a great series for sure.

My sister and I are still watching The West Wing. I also finished the history of Quantum Physics and need to find another documentary to start watching today.

My EXCEL course just covered some more conditionals like the many IF functions in EXCEL. It is great learning all this stuff. I use EXCEL quite a bit and this course will prove to be helpful for years to come.

Well, that’s it for now. Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – The West Wing

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Enjoyable, Entertaining, Great show, Martin Sheen, Netflix, The West Wing, TV Series

I don’t know about you, but there are a few shows I enjoy watching repeatedly. The West Wing is mine. It’s been on Netflix for years. I never tire of watching it. If you’ve never watched this show and you enjoy political drama, give this show a watch. It doesn’t disappoint.

 

Here’s a link if you’d like to get a look at the cast and read about it: The West Wing

I wanted to share this with you because it has entertained me for years.

Until next time…

Dave