#i hate vba

[amanonthecorner]

For large portions of my career I've made vba tools.

80% of that time is spent handling any possible user input and writing very polite error messages because god forbid the sales people have to think about what they're doing

If any part of your plan involves the words “nobody could be that stupid”, please be prepared to be proven wrong at any minute at a moment’s notice. Pay in mind that the person determined to prove you wrong may already be aware of this assumption, and is already approaching your current location at an alarming speed.

[thepioden]

The amount of critical corporate processes that are entirely reliant on Excel For Some Reason is truly depressing I'll tell you what

[ballet-symphonie]

Hi Ale,

Since you’re Italian, can you explain why some of the Italian ballet stars aren’t as famous as the Russian or American dancers? Eg Virna Toppi, Susanna Salvi, Nicoletta Manni?

The only Italian dancers who’ve basically made themselves international stars in the ballet world by are/were Ferri, Fracci, Bolle and now Tissi.

I honestly think that it it’s because of two reasons:

1. how they market themselves. American dancers use social media to get big (Isabella Boylston, Skylar Brandt, Tiler Peck) and for Russia it’s basically based on if you align yourself with Putin policies (Polunin, Zakharova, Gracheva, Shipulina is married to a vocal supporter, I think Zhiganshina posted a pro-Russia thing too?) or not (Smirnova, Osipova)

None of the Italian dancers really have a way to get themselves known in the international world imo. Italy is known for opera, food, and painting, I wouldn’t see ballet at La Scala unless there was a Russian there. (Side note: I loved how La Scala didn’t invite Zakharova for their recent Swan Lake, but they hired Smirnova instead😂it’s your loss, Sveta!)

2. I hate saying this, especially during the war, but Russia is basically the hot spot of ballet right now because of their rigorous training, the quality of good dancers, and sink or swim mentalities. Most people regardless if they’re in the ballet world don’t really see Italy as a ballet hotspot. Russia is THE place for ballet. Same with their ice skating, gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. They put the best time and effort into those who’ve given up their childhood to train.

Is there any other reasons why Italian stars aren’t big worldwide?

Hmm I have a lot of mixed thoughts to your points here.

As someone who's currently in Italy, Roberto Bolle is absolutely a household name. Nicoletta Manni and to a slightly lesser extent, Timofej Andrijashenko are both quite popular and well known. Manni is everywhere, even more so after their proposal at the Arena di Verona went viral. You can see her in advertisements, on the posters of La Scala, and frequently in the news. Nicoletta was just titled as "Officer of Merit" of the Italian Republic and publically recognized by our president, Sergio Mattarella. A few days later, she received the "Women of the Year" award by a promiemnt womens rights group called "Associazione Nazionale Donne Elettrici".

Italy has a diverse and robust culture and ballet at La Scala has historically been a part of that. Many Italian dancers and arts organizations are not as social media crazy as in other countries, we're more concerned with the art form and preserving its nature and longevity - not advertising it as something it's not or playing it up to match fickle trends. The historical importance is why La Scala has been a cultural center of high arts for centuries now, so many international stars speak so highly about it and desire to perform here- ballet, opera, and orchestra. Also, disrespectfully, if you wouldn't go see the ballet La Scala without a Russian headliner, then let someone else have your ticket. You don't know what you're missing.

2. I actually don't think Russia is the hotspot for ballet currently. The quality of training has declined at both BBA and VBA, and both of their main companies are being drastically mismanaged under politically messy leadership. The quality of good dancers remains, but most are from an older era. Furthermore, the training in Russia is quickly becoming dated, their dancers are not graduating with the skills to succeed in a repertoire that goes beyond Petitpa (and often lately, even the Petipa leaves a lot to be desired)

More importantly, ballet in Russia is not evolving or innovating. There are so few premieres with merit nowadays. A decent Coppelia and a stolen Pharoah's Daughter and some unremarkable, dated neoclassical pieces. Russian ballet has not taken off during the war, it's dying. MT's and BT's licenses to perform works are expiring left and right, BT has been performing Ratmansky's work without permission and credit to bolster their repertoire. Furthermore, no foreigners are coming to create commissions, many talented Russian choreographers have left the country such as Ilya Zhivoi and we're long past the golden age of Soviet innovation on stage.

In my opinion, the current hotspots are where new works are being created to great acclaim, and ballet is finding new audiences and new heights. The UK, with the Royal, English National, Akram Khan, Wayne McGregor, Matthew Bourne, Rambert, and fantastic curation by Sadler’s Wells. Canada, with the National Ballet's exciting rep, Medhi Walerski and Ballet BC and their collaborations with École supérieure de ballet du Québec, Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot. Germany And then of course, New York with Kyle Abraham, Lauren Lovette, and Robert Battle at Paul Taylor, Yin Yue and her company YYDC, GALLIM, and the multitudes of creation spaces like ABT's Incubator, DANCE LAB NYC, and that's before we even get to the commercial scene.

[patricedumonde]

Imagine all these new grads of VBA (those graduated last year) as seasoned dancers, who and what roles would suit them the most??

I love this question!!!! But also this is so hard I hate this hahaha. In the future, I would love to see Maria Koshkaryova and Sofya Valiullina as Nikiya and Gamzatti. Yaroslavna Kuprina and Daria Kulikova as Auroras.

Honestly, I can see Daria as anything. Giselle, Odette, Kitri, I think she has impeccable technique and a personality.

I’d love to see Sofya in more contemporary roles too. Like I would cast her for In the Middle Somewhat Elevated. Ooh I think she’d make a good Carmen in the future too.

Maria Koshkaryova in Rubies over Diamonds too. Maybe Angelina Karamysheva in Emeralds.

So many possibilities! Everybody tell me your future dream casts!!!

[rachelraygifs]

At my job I have done 2! things with VBA and so now I'm the VBA wizard and they keep asking me to do macros and the secret is that I barely know VBA and also that I hate VBA

[khloeblair]

Reflection:

There was a time at my previous job when I got the distinct impression someone was guiding me in my VBA exploration.

I thought it had been an internal recruiter.

But today, I still get the feeling I’m being nudged.

I have to wonder if this was the truest reason why my former supervisor was jealous—she did not want my avenues of expanding my reportoire to be so open.

The part of me that says “no thanks” to competing is thinking this is irrelevant.

But the part of me that knows anger is energy, well…at least I’ve found an infinite source.

That creature is pure hatred, and not even in a powerful way, just an emotionally ignorant way.

Which is cool, because now I know where I can redirect my anger any time I’m worried I’ve got the wrong culprit in new territory.

I was writing about her when the letters “od” appeared on my screen. I recall thinking in the past that she was trying to kill me, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why she would come at me any harder than anyone else alive.

What in the hell does she stand to gain?

It seems to me that she must have paved her career upon some misguided combination of moderately good looks, above average intelligence, subject matter expertise, and lots and lots of bullying.

She’s the one who convinced me to stop listening to American female rap, and the pressure to die seems blatantly more active when I dabble in new code or spend time with female rap artists.

There is such a big difference between those ladies working to shape a new world vs constant attempts on my life, which tells me this:

My big money friends actually want me around, and she’s the only one who’s threatened.

So, to circle back, I’m still being judged on my syntax competency.

I just can’t imagine who would care enough to evaluate me from shadows.

I’d categorize my coding prowess less as knowledge and more as aptitude.

I do not know as much as many others.

This is different from loa study, where I suppose the ability to take notes has been helpful for me.

I do not understand the dynamics here.

I believe they pressure me to code in an attempt to tear me away from Seth.

But why would they squabble so relentlessly over one human life?

So many other humans die every day, and I doubt they get derailed in the process.

They probably also aren’t referring to the chatGPT group as goons with adequate syntax expertise to back that claim.

I think I’m giving my former supervisor too much credit.

Perhaps I’ve identified some of the reasons she told herself firing me was the right decision, but either way she made an erroneous choice in the heat of the moment.

She lost the only asset that made her team appear competent.

I see now that this is still largely active in their circles.

No wonder I walked away, what a mess she made.

Do the business officers still hate her for it?

Her professional life must be in big chaos then.

I know I’ll regret saying this, but I think the people who rely on their cookie cutter beauty should go even harder.

Intelligence may be my favorite quality on some days, but that does not mean that that is the group of people who should be in power.

Society needs balance.

As far as I’m concerned, I do my best coding while listening to female rap on the regular.

Who the hell wouldn’t want that type of balance in a fucking developer?

Let me reshape my earlier opinion.

Being beautiful is every bit as important as being smart or knowledgable.

As is being kind, hard working, strong, etc.

All skills are important.

And while the tax brackets still operate on a tiered system, all of them share an intelligence vs beauty war.

I do not like the idea that I would have spent so much time attacking the beauty side of things.

It’s self defense.

If one big tech entity gains a monopoly across all AI creation and syntax repositories, then everyone is in big trouble.

Who the hell is backing chatGPT?

I would guess someone who sees it as a slow-drip avenue to massive power.

I do not care for that.

I am going to start referring to chatGPT as goon powered technology.

Goon powered technology is cookie cutter and generic af.

Their idea of syntax is so artless that it looks like they lifted it from a fucking textbook.

I cannot believe humans put themselves in a position to devote themselves and their expertise to an entity where they are knowingly coding their own job replacements.

How irresponsible and ignorant.

You all think because you work there now, they’ll still need you later?

Soon you will become technologically expendible, and won’t have anywhere else to work because your in-house creations will have swallowed all the other employment options.

That makes me sad.

I wish they would reconsider.

[alvadee]

I'm talking to a John right now who went to high school with Victor, he seems like a great dude and it seems like he still remembers quite a lot! 😁

"Well, let's see, when I was a little kid my dad had a grocery store in downtown San Diego. I had four brothers and two sisters and we lived in San Diego. Every summer, from about 1947 until 1952, my parents rented a house on Jamaica Court in Mission Beach. It was on the Mission Bay side of Mission Boulevard about 1/3 mile north of the roller coaster. Victor's family lived on the bay itself just north of the roller coaster. It was some time before we actually met but I do recall seeing him. He was just huge. I don't mean obese, he was just huge. And very mature. For one thing, he was always very well dressed. I never saw him in shorts or jeans. When you saw Victor he was wearing dress slacks, a white long-sleeved dress shirts and leather dress shoes - black or brown. Even at our first meetings I never thought of Victor as a kid, but as a mature adult.

(Idk I love Vic so much, I would have been friends with him 😔)

I entered St. Augustine's as a freshman in the fall of '54. My brother, David, entered as a senior, and if memory serves, Victor was a junior.

The 1950's were trying times for Victor. His father, Victor F. Buono, a former San Diego police officer, and the owner of a prominent Bail Bond agency, was arrested in a flamboyant amd highly-publicized prosecution for smuggling parrakeets and other exotic birds from Mexico into the United States.

St. Augustine's was a small school then -- +-350 students -- the press coverage was lurid and sensational, and the students were unspeakably vicious and cruel. Poor Victor! Every time he walked into a classroom some student would chirp "Polly want a cracker?" and the room would explode with derisive laughter, Victor never responded . He simply sat in stony solemn silence, his ears reddening in rage and humiliation until the din diminished -- then life resumed.

(🥺🥺🥺 and WTF, I never heard how people reacted to his father's first incident...)

Press coverage on his father was relentless. Victor commented with the black humor that so typified him: "above the dates on my father's otombstone, it will read 'Victor F. Buono, 50, former San Diego policeman and bailbondsman.'"

I think his dad was convicted and served time in jail in the smuggling case.

In the late '50's Victor's father was arrested again and charged with the robbery and murder Tony Mirabile, the top Mafia Don for the City of San Diego. He was convicted and went to prison."

[anpanmann]

💬

[sonicenvy]

google sheets is hot garbage/the actual bane of my work life. my job decided to cheap out and go to gSuite for everything and god I hate it. The only gSuite product I hate more than sheets is docs. Everything prints out of docs like it was microwaved and then compressed so it looks like shit. Kill it with fire actually.

Literally every feature in excel is better than google sheets. Some other folks in the notes on this have already covered this, but, uh excel has 100000x the power of google sheets. Google sheets doesn’t even have pívot tables. To get the same result as a nice pivot table in excel in google sheets I have to write lots of ugly ass code. If you think google sheets is better you’re just telling me you’ve never made a complex spreadsheet/report before.

The other member of my Excel > Sheets crew is my mom, a person who has been making lots of complicated reports in excel since 1996. She does healthcare and finance data stuff and makes macros and writes vba and shit, so like she KNOWS spreadsheets. My mom is a literal spreadsheet encyclopedia. She has a whole rant about why other spreadsheet programs suck ass and she’s so correct for that actually.

[tikitania]

@/catherine_pollak posted a review on Shakirova's debut as O/O, and I honestly couldn't agree more. Ballet is a technical art form, and it's beauty relies on perfection. To have a VBA graduate with so many problems with basic technique at one of Russia's biggest theater is crazy. And the artistic part of her performance was so over the place, too. But the fact is that they lowered the bar. It's the new reality of Mariinsky (and Bolshoi). They favor bad dancers because they're popular among the audience/management, and forget the good ones. By the way, this isn't hate towards Renata. She's good at more contemporary works, but with classical ballets and even the adagio, she struggles a lot. She has a very limited repertoire. Otherwise, her artistic delivery gets all over the place as well. It's just frustrating how they have Novikova, Skorik, Tereshkina, Shapran... in the house and keep giving the roles to ballerinas not suitable for. Like the recent Raymonda, SL etc.

I follow her and respect her, but she's one opinion of a very opinionated ballet audience in St. Petersburg! I appreciate her pointing out some technical flaws and simplification of steps that I would not have picked up on. I'm very eager for that type of insight. And when you watch videos side-by-side, there are clear technical issues. Will Shakirova get better? Yes, I believe she can and has to improve those issues, which stemmed mostly from lack of turnout, or losing turn-out. Despite this critique, Shakirova has a lot of defenders online, too. So I'm taking a big of a reserved stance on this one. However, I also picked up on Ms. Pollack's baked-in opinion that a soubrette should not dance Swan Lake on the Mariinsky stage. She complains about Renata's physique in contrast with that of the long-limbed corps and that's where she kind of lost me. I don't think her reviews come from a place of malice, but when I read them I feel she has a common bias that only a certain body-type can dance O/O. I think Renata's first outing (actually, second if you count the Primorsky debut) in Swan Lake was pretty good. She's not a natural fit for the role, but I see it as a starting point. The one thing that I picked up on — and have mentioned in other conversations — is that I was underwhelmed by Shakriova's portrayal of Odile. She vamped up Odile in a way that didn't connect with me. (I did see several clips of Iliushkina and found hers way more subtle and nuanced, and I felt, "Yes, the prince would be fooled by her!) There is a long history of dancer's getting "a shot" at big roles both at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi. Their repertoire and performance schedules are so packed that I think they can afford to give rising dancers a chance. Not all outings are a success, but I think it's exciting. I've read that Skorik was also panned in her early performances, which is hard to imagine! (Cold and unfeeling…) Meanwhile, SPB audiences respond warmly to Shakirova on stage. There's so much we can see online but being in the audience during a live performance is where the magic occurs. (Sigh…hope to get there one day...) I'm not really worried about the Mariinsky's future as the gold-standard for classical ballet. Is there a trend of a lowering of standards? If so, where/why is that happening? Is it coaching? Favoritism? Or is it more fundamental? Are academy graduates not up to par? I don't know these answers but as this generation of primas retire, it's not clear who are the successors and that is a bit worrying. Here's a 30 minute clip that compiles most of Shakirova's debut. I look forward to seeing her dance this in the future... Or maybe O/O will slip away from her repertoire.

This is an aside. One thing that I have noticed is that due to the current political situation, Mariinsky artists in general are being starved of (good, emphasis good) contemporary repertoire and touring opportunities. They are losing exposure on the global stage. No more tours of Covent Garden, Kennedy Center. When was the last time they performed a full Balanchine ballet? Ramatsky's work is fading away from their playbills. I haven't seen anything new (other than the vintage, throw-back Fille du Pharaoh) in a while. They are the best at classical ballet, but I believe the dancers thrive when they have exposure to all kinds of choreography, so this is more worrying to me.

[daincrediblegg]

VBA. No, like I am so into the puppy Bruno. I haven't had anything much to add bc it's just perf as is and I'm just soaking it up.

Both "puppy" and ACTUAL puppy, I just want to give him a belly rub. But also maybe edge him until he cries. While reassuring him that he's the bestest boy. Those puppy eyes were just made to be pleading.👀

Worry not my friend bc I have... so much more to add 😏😏😏😏😏

I mean idk man it just works it's so awful that every time I think about him I teeter on the line between getting wholesome with it and getting horny 😂😂😂😂😂

like... on the one hand... werewolf!bruno (aka REAL puppy??) Gets SO nervous when he starts seeing you because oh god you're gonna think he's some dangerous monster like the rest of the Encanto has claimed him to be for years and YEARS. There's NO way you won't do the same thing. But then you have a date. On the night of a full moon. And he tries to get out of it he really tries, but he just can't. One way or another. And he accidentally transforms in front of you. And the transformation itself is brutal and you're so worried for him he looks like he's in so much pain. "Run!" he growls. But you stand firm, and then...

He's just a wolf. A big... super not bad wolf. Practically a puppy. Head down, tail tucked between his legs as he looks at you nervously. He's never transformed in front of someone before. He avoids people during the full moon entirely. He's so scared some kind of animal instinct is gonna kick in and he's gonna tear you to shreds or something. Worse yet- he thinks you'll hate him. Now that you know.

But you approach. And your hand reaches out under his jaw to lift his head to you. And the look of wonder in your eyes- completely unafraid of him- as you say "You're... amazing."??? He knows then. It's all right. And that he'd never be capable of hurting you.

And of course then you start scratching under his chin and his tail starts wagging and he sticks out his tongue and everything. 😂😂😂😂😂 just turns into a total sweetheart. Will spend the rest of the night walking in the woods with you, jumping up and getting so excited to share everything he does while he's in wolf form with you. He hardly ever barks or howls- at least not at you. And then by the end of the night, when you sneak back home with him, he lies down on the bed with you, turning over a few times in his spot to get comfy before placing his head on your lap, tail wagging gently as you run your fingers through his thick wavy fur. He falls asleep just like that- for once feeling like if he never transformed back- he wouldn't mind. Not if he can stay with you like this for the rest of his life.

...

...

AND THEEEEEEEEEN I REMEMBER PUPPY!BRUNO AND I UH... YEAH. FILTH ENSUES 😂😂😂😂😂😂 and honestly he acts the same way whether he's an actual werewolf or not- just a sweet patient puppy who needs to be told he's a good boy 24/7 and with his sweet puppy eyes who could deny him honestly??? nobody. NOBODY I tell you.

[guiltiest-gear]

i hate vba this shit is horrible

What's vba

[origami10]

Following this up by saying… I LIKE doing tasks. I hate working on something and muddling around and still not having an answer at the end. I need results, preferably visibly and immediately!

I feel like school made me really good at doing tasks, but not good or possibly even bad at solving problems, and it seems like solving problems is a much more useful skill to have in the real world

[julilentille]

.

[ballet-symphonie]

I think you've been following up the latest news of Khoreva's debut and how troubling the whole situation was with the publics opinion. And since you are a professional ballerina, I wanted to ask you this. I personally do not enjoy watching her dance and everybody knows how privileged she is in the company. How do you feel about this? and if this happens in the company you work? I'm not a Khoreva hater, I just hate that no one has the same opportunities and gets so unappreciated compared to her.

Khoreva’s situation isn’t unique but she’s the highest profile case, taken to extremes. She has a lot of privileges that no one else seems to have in that company right now from the amount of the debuts from the amount of preparation she gets for them, the filming of her performances which is some thing Faytev was never a big fan of until she came to the company of course. Yet you don’t see others posting big, long videos or having prolific YouTube channels. It’s a new age, the power of ballet social media and Khoreva is capitalizing on it well.

I compare Khoreva to Vishneva a lot in terms of instant star power (let’s remember DV debuted Kitri in her graduation year at VBA) but she wasn’t debuting 4+ principal roles per year plus all the extra things Khoreva is doing.

This happens in every company because professional ballet isn’t for old people, careers are short and when a talent arrives, there is always a big push to make them seen. And of course not everyone can be a principal and not everyone can get out of the corps. It’s necessary for the longevity of the company (especially in MT right now where every female single principal is 32+) but ‘fast tracking’ doesn’t always happen this drastically. In my company, we are about 7 years past the ‘fast tracking’ of our biggest star and it actually did wonders for the company. She got offers to guest all over and that turned into more touring opportunities for the company. Of course there’s plenty of stories that don’t have happy endings as well.

If you want other stories on fast tracking, I suggest you look at the stories of Balanchine’s muses (Gelsey Kirkland for sure), the book of Plietsetskaya, Kathryn Morgan talking about her time at NYCB, and also the lives of Alessandra Ferri and Paloma Herrera

[pigeontheoneandonly]

Knowing VBA is sometimes a problem because I end up spending an hour creating a word generator for my crappy conlang, on account of hating all the tools I could find already built online.