Computer crash and deadline teaches naked SAS woman R
Back to the computer. I had some troubles with it 15 months ago, but after repairs it worked well for another year. But a few months ago it started acting up again. The screen started turning black at random.
But during the trip back from Canada last week messed up something internally so power supply doesn't work properly, some connection must've come loose. I have managed to start it by gently tilting it back and forth to regain the connection and it has worked relatively well every day. Until Friday morning. It took about 15 minutes before I managed to start it.
So as I packed up for the day I thought I better be careful now so it doesn't get any worse. Gently put it into my computer bag and started to pack up other stuff. In the corner of my eye I see my computer bag fall off the table and down on the floor. Merde.
It's been in a coma ever since. No way I have been able to bring it back to life. Time to get it to a hospital. With the experience from last time it will take about three weeks. Which is VERY close to the end of my contract. Putain de merde.
I was however smart enough to bring a spare laptop from work and of course I have back-up. I have a lot of analyses to do, some really urgent ones. It wouldn't really have been a problem if I had just started using R a little earlier (like I've been thinking about it for 2+ years). But. I've used SAS so far and the license is from my PhD uni back in Sweden. So I can't really install it on the spare computer RIGHT NOW. But as the Norway way of saying "necessity is the mother of invention" goes "Need teaches naked woman to spin [wool]". So I guess this is a really good opportunity to teach myself R in 21 hours or so. And since la Parisienne is -of course - in Paris I can even be naked. Especially if I close the shutters.
Sucky suck suck. But won't it feel good to replace that exorbitant software license with something free?
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of switching to R for a while now too. I guess it will take a similar disaster to make it happen.
yes it would be good to avoid the license trouble even if it's NOT a good time right now.
ReplyDeleteBut then again I guess it's like finding the best time to have kids, there is none really, and you just have to wait for the accident to happen!
HG, you are so rude, but indeed this is really la merde.
ReplyDeleteHope you figure out R. Make sure you work with a connection, so you can access all the info online, and use the forums. That's my brilliant advice from two afternoons of using it. Because it does loads of crap SAS doesn't!
I'd like to hear about it. Good luck!
stepwise, thanks for the advice, I'll try to keep people posted on progress (if there is any)!
ReplyDeleteHow's it going? I actually did a bit of it this afternoon. I checked the functions I needed previously but had to go through the whole thing again today. Very proud of my 5 lines of R code. Now back to SAS with that additional variable! :-D
ReplyDelete