This is Where Mike Gets Cranky About Writing a Document Someone Else’s Way
In the past couple of days, I’ve been forced to use an application that I really absolutely detest. I cringe every time I have to use it and every time it just frustrates the heck out of me. That application is Microsoft Word.
If I just have to write something short and sweet, Word gives me little problems. But, then again, I rarely use it for that kind of thing. I do get forced to use it when I have to write “standard documentation” because that standard is MS Word. When I tell people that I can’t stand Word they are usually shocked. They say, “Oh I like it a lot. It’s so easy to use!”
My answer is always something like, “Really? So you like it when you need to end a bulleted list and Word keeps the list going?” or “Or you want two paragraphs in a list item, but Word stubbornly makes them into two items?” or something with a Table of Contents, section headings or etc. etc.
The answer is generally, “Oh, I hate that.” Well, amen. I guess I just can’t accept that behavior as a fact of life and find something else to use.
I think the problem is that I care a lot about my content and care little about the formatting. I want a list item to be a list item and that only. I mostly don’t care what it looks like, as long as my reader agrees that it is a list item. I shouldn’t have to think about renumbering headings — that should happen automatically. In my dream world, I would write all my important documents in the highly-nerdy yet completely satisfying [LaTeX markup,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX) render it to a PDF, and let people gasp in it’s simplistic glory. It’s easy to make a [Table of Contents](http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/LaTeX/ltxxref.html#Table) in LaTeX and then [make it clickable.](http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/LaTeX/ltxxref.html#Hypertext) With a little more work, you can [create a Bibliography](http://www.duke.edu/~hpgavin/tutref.tex.html) that will impress all kinds of people. Especially professors and other academics.
Well, anyway, yesterday and today I was forced to use Word. I worked around it the best I could. I installed [MikTex](http://www.miktex.org/)[1] and then [latex2rtf](http://latex2rtf.sourceforge.net/). Latex2rtf annoys me sometimes, because you have to use just basic LaTeX packages and it doesn’t generate a Table of Contents. It can also be a pain to setup. But once you get it working and stay in it’s boundaries, it works wonderfully. And I happily wrote my technical spec in Emacs and it looked fine as an RTF. I opened it up in Word, saved it as a Word Document, and then send it to my manager as my first rough draft. He came back with a few suggestions, and then said that he put an example of a spec on our shared drive. “That’s how it should look.”
So I made the changes my LaTeX source, loaded them in Word, and started the formatting changes. These are the things I had trouble with:
* Headers and Footers. Who was the idiot that came up with Word’s method of doing it that way? I never did figure out how to put one thing on the left side and another thing on the right. I just hit the space bar until it was where I thought it should be.
* Default font. The RTF converted nicely [using styles](http://addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm#Overview) but Word didn’t really want to change it. I usually don’t worry about it (Times is fine with me) but the example used something like “Old Book Modern”. So I played the corporate game. Bah.
* Table of Contents. What a joke! It’s a good thing I saved this until last, because then I didn’t have to do that refresh crap. I never did get the style changed to be bolded. Why? Only Bill Gates knows. . .
* The Stupid Paper clip. Help was actually pretty helpful, but the paper clip that bounced around didn’t help my cranky disposition.
[1] I would prefer a LaTeX distro that doesn’t require any registry edits — just unzip and go. Anyone know any?
More Life with Leah
This is how we learned that Leah has a stash of magic markers in her room. And we also learned that just because she’s quiet after we put her to bed doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s sleeping.
Oh, and we are thankful that Crayola markers are just as washable as they advertise.
No One Belongs Here More Than You
Let me give you one of the strangest websites I’ve seen in a while: the promo website for the book No One Belongs Here More Than You.
It’s strange in a good way. Highly creative, it took everything everyone has said about creating a good website, folded it into a neat little ball, and dropped kicked it into oblivion.
As Jason Kottke puts it: “If you think the site sucks and quickly click away, chances are you’re not going to like the book either…it’s the perfect self-selection mechanism.”
Why is this Friday so Good?
[Dave's comment on the Lord's Supper ](http://covenanters.wordpress.com/2007/04/01/potpourii/) echoed my own during the [Maundy Thursday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday) service at our church. And still does, as I contemplate it. Our pastor always does a fine job in all his services, but he does it up even better on reflexive days such as Maundy Thursday. Last night, he made us face the fact on why Jesus had to die. He died for me, for my sins, because there was no other way I could be forgiven.
Why is this Friday so Good? For the same reason it’s so Bad. Because it’s my sins that put Christ on the cross. From the one of the songs we sang during the service:
> Who was the guilty?
> Who brought this upon you?
> It is my treason, Lord,
> That has undone you.
> ‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied you;
> I crucified you.
>
> Dear Jesus,
> Since I cannot pay you,
> I do adore you and will every pray you,
> Think on you pity and love unswerving,
> Not my deserving
Early U.S. Daylight Savings a bust in power savings
From Reuters: Early U.S. Daylight Savings a bust in power savings
Gina and I have always said that the people who invented Daily Savings Time must not have ever been parents of small children, for the wreck it causes to them. Leah has just gotten adjusted to it.
So if the Energy Department has always said that the savings would be modest, if at all, why did we do it? Why did we waste money and resources making sure our systems were going to be up-to-date from the change? Was all this really a good use of our nations research?
