My Stats Sheet Vs. G's Stats Sheet
November 15, 2020
So I was a bad girl. I got through G's explanation of how she used her rating system, downloaded the file and went to town. I didn't bother to finish watching the video where she explains how to use the Google Drive file.
Meaning, that when I downloaded it to use in Excel, I broke it. I broke the stats sheet. Bad girl.
This is why the sheet wasn't populating like others said it did, let alone how G intended it to work. Ooops! My bad.
But, again, while I think the graphs are really cool to look at and I may see how I can get those to work in Excel, I also like my data charts.
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| Left side with my added columns |
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| Right side with my added color coding |
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| My Excel Stats Sheet |
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| Book Roast's Google Drive version of Stats Sheet w/my stats |
A Few Days Later...
November 21, 2020
Or closer to a week... Right after I got to a wonderful point where I was ready to post all of this to the blog, all hell broke loose. We will not go into how or why, but my HP19 All-in-One Touchscreen desktop computer's screen shattered.
Needless to say, this particular desktop computer was actually a hand-me-down from my stepdaughter because she had moved to a laptop 3 years previously, and the desktop was already 6 years old. I had completely rebooted/reset/reloaded the thing to factory plus what I wanted, the screen had a chip in it so the touchscreen capability had already been turned off... So you get the point if you are any kind of tech nerd like me. It's not like it was the bestest computer on the planet. But it shattered and was unusable. I was devastated.
Now at the same time I originally ordered this desktop for my stepdaughter 6 years ago, I ordered an identical HP19 All-in-One Touchscreen desktop for my son. He used his the full 6 years since purchased and actually just upgraded to a somewhat lower end Lenovo gaming computer and monitor before the start of the 2020-21 school year. I had taken his HP19 over to Pop's garage as a "Shop Computer" after rebooting/resetting/reloading it a couple months ago.
Despite my intense grief over the loss of my desktop that had all of my built up data and spreads and genealogy and and and... I remembered the "Shop Computer" and had a light bulb moment.
In Which I Cry... "She's Alive!"
I didn't really need the computer in the shop, but I was going to use it for YouTube HowTo videos and listening to Spotify while working in the garage to save my iPhone battery and SkullCandy wireless earbud batteries. It is also easier to hear Pop from the porch if I don't have earbuds plugging my ears.
Since the desktops ARE IDENTICAL in every way, I thought, "Why not swap out the hard drives?!?!" And it could not have been easier. You do not have to have a computer building background to do this at all. It was literally laying the computer on the top of the desk face down, half turning the two screws so that the back popped up, gently unlatching them and pulling the back off the computer. From there it was a single screw holding the hard drive cage in place and popping it out.
Then I returned the back panel to its place on the broken computer, laid the "Shop Computer" down and followed the same steps, swapped out the hard drive cages, put the back panel in place, set it back upright, and plugged it in. A few setup things as the hard drive recognized a different serial number on the motherboard... And Voila! SHE'S ALIVE!!!!! Her name is Ubasti, by the way.
I literally pulled up my Excel document and kept right on chugging away with very little lost data!
A Little Lost Data
So I literally saved everything just fine prior to the shatter except a couple lines of updated CAWPILE stats, but that was no big deal as I had it all written in my reading journal. I got it in my head that I could recreate G's Google Drive charts in Excel. I learned better, because, no. No, I can't. I lost my previously shared charts as a result of my attempts.
But I took the opportunity to educate myself a bit more on PivotTables and Charts. Now the only downside that I have seen so far with this setup is that the tables and charts do not update as you add data into the CAWPILE sheet. You have to go into the tables and select the refresh button in the ribbon.
The goal is that at the end of the year, I will print out the charts and graphs and paste them into the year's reading journal at the end of my year's reading notes. It will be unnecessary to print the massive chart listing all the books as they will already be written in the journal along with my notes and thoughts and the ratings.
I am still creating various tables and charts on additional sheets, particularly to visually break down the subgenres I read in each genre. I had edited the dropdowns and added columns specifically to track this subset of data. The goal here is to get this document set up how I want to use it for 2021 with 2020's data so that I can see how it will be displayed. Once completed on December 31st, I will be able to save it as a template to use in future years.
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| PivotTable Sheet, overall stats |
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| PivotChart Sheet, and yes, I'm aware that I listen far more than I visually read... |
CAWPILE Rating Aids
As I was going through the 59 books that I have read thus far this year, re-rating them according to the CAWPILE system, I noted that I was starting to have some issues remembering what would help me use the 0-10 rating for each category. I watched the newer of the two explanation videos again, and took notes.
I had previously downloaded some freebie printable dot grid inserts that I had found at Linou's Pots and had nothing to put into them. I used this beautiful green travel one to break things down. This was also before I had purchased a higher thickness of printer paper and thus why you can see the printing and writing from the other side of the page.
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| Category Notes |
While this did help having a reference booklet, flipping back and forth between the two TN inserts was problematic. Plus, I seriously don't like my handwriting. So I took the opportunity to type them up, print them out, and slide them into the inside pockets of my insert covers that I use to section out my Book, TV, and Movie collections in my A5 Wide Windrose Custom TN. The font is called Amano and I have no memory of where I picked it up.
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| CAW Side |
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| PILE Side |
I set the orientation to landscape with two columns and printed. From there I simply cut it down to fit into my insert covers. If you would like the text for yourself, snag the text document here and edit as you see fit to get it to work for you.
That's pretty much all for now folks. I'm tired, this post has already taken a week, and frankly, I've still got chores to do tomorr... er TODAY, and I still have to start the post where I share the design/plan, process/progress, and final product of my new Paper/Binder Storage shelf unit that I built with my husband's help after my uncle helped me with the table saw, Pop helped me with design, and my grandfather provided inspiration from beyond the grave...
With all that being said...
Until next time, Keep Reading!!
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