Thoughts on many things

  • Excel: Finding unique values

    In complex datasets, finding the unique values can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. While you can often simply remove duplicates, if you intend to create a lookup-table, that isn’t an option, and you need to do it differently. Enter the UNIQUE-function.

  • Excel: Adding multiple axes in a chart

    One of the many things I do as a union representative, is negotiate wages with management. I argue my point using a number of tools, not least of which is the change in pay over time. I have one set of data which is what we use when negotiating, which represents the estimated change. I […]

  • Excel: Visualising pay differences

    As I’ve mentioned more than once previously, I’m a union representative. Among my many duties in this role is wage negotiations. While we negotiate collectively, I also make sure to dive into the numbers to look for the unexplained outliers, and to have them addressed.

  • More recruitment spamming

    As much as I maintain that showing the world how these spammy folks operate, they still keep trying. Here’s another example which is a mixed bag of good and bad:

  • PowerShell: Find many users using their name

    This time around, I take the basis that I created last week, add a way to catch any users that is not found, as well as a way to run it on multiple users.

  • PowerShell: Find User based on partial name

    Some time ago, I needed to look up the account names of a handful of users in Active Directory. The information I had beforehand was their names. I did not have ADUC available to me, but I did have PowerShell. This is an excellent use case for the Get-ADUser cmdlet when combined with the -Filter […]

  • Unpacking an extortion scam

    I have zero patience or compassion for people who spend their time scamming others. I usually ignore the multiple scam attempts that find their way to my inbox (or more usually spam folder), but I wanted to highlight this one to show just how inept it often is, and just how many red flags it […]

  • PowerShell: Finding host name from IP address

    In tech support, resolving IP addresses to host names can be something you do on a relatively frequent basis. While I’ve always used the CLI ping command with the -a option, I have also been working towards higher proficiency in PowerShell. Frankly, for a single IP address, I prefer sticking with CLI. When working with […]

  • The trifecta of recruitment hucksters

    Posting about recruitment hucksters doing recruitment has a number of purposes. First and foremost, I believe raising awareness about these things is important, and this is a good way to do so. Secondly, I think it’s also important to showcase how I evaluate (and how I’d suggest others evaluate) recruiting overtures. Thirdly, it’s proven to […]

  • Anatomy of an apology

    We are human, and we will make mistakes. We can hope that they don’t have disastrous consequences, but sooner or later mistakes will be made. There’s just no way around it. Sometimes we’re unlucky, sometimes we’re lazy, and sometimes we’re simply negligent. Whatever the case might be, the end result is the same; a mistake […]

  • Favorite things in 2022

    As has become my habit over the past few years, I’m once more looking back at the year that has past, and the things that have made that year. Your mileage may vary, but these have all become very useful to me.