Ensign’s Log, Entry 11: Pi Day Number Crunch, or the Post That Almost Wasn’t

Ensign’s Log, Entry 11: Pi Day Number Crunch, or the Post That Almost Wasn’t

Yeah, the post title’s a bit of a long one. But necessary, today. Because unlike other days when posts have been late (or completely forgotten to be posted on another day), this post was already partially planned (in my head anyways), but almost didn’t get made because a certain author was not careful about her drink placement this morning.

Yes, I finally spilled something on my laptop keyboard. Cue repeated head-desking and face-palming.

It’s just water, though, so should be fine, but I’m not taking any chances and given it a good long time to dry out before I put it back together. Thankfully, I have a good friend who is loaning me his laptop so I can write this post.

So, without further ado, on to the Pi Day Number Crunching!

vintage calculator

This is my first Number Crunch post. Not entirely sure what I’m doing, but let’s just jump right in! Mostly, this will be a list of different things, with a corresponding number to it, and hopefully understandable as is.

2016 March 14th Number Crunch
(numbers are from January 1st to March 14th, 2016)

Writing

Number of chapters posted for critique: 20

Number of timelines completed: 2

Number of first drafts completed: 1

Number of first drafts started: 1

Critiquing

Number of chapters (including complete novels) critiqued: 52

Number of chapters (outside of complete novels) critiqued: 20

Number of novels critiqued: 2

Blogging

Total number of comments: 56

Total number of posts: 21

Saturday Shorts posts: 11

Ensign’s Log posts: 5 (counting this one)

Number of subscribers to newsletter: 5

Book review posts: 3

Other

Number of passwords reset to write this post: 3

Number of mugs of water spilled on keyboard: 1

 

In future Number Crunch posts, I hope to be able to report sales figures! That will have to wait until I’ve begun to market my books and started making sales, though. However, for a first Number Crunch post, I’m satisfied with the figures. Yes, I should have more blog posts, but I’m working on being more consistent with those. I should also pick up my game with completing drafts/editing drafts (you’ll notice that there’s no Editing category–that’s because I haven’t gotten any editing done yet this year!) But I’ve definitely made some good progress, and when I do my next Number Crunch post, probably in June, I’ll have a lot more to report!

Are you pleased with your numbers so far this year? Have you ever made a Number Crunch post? Are there any other categories/sub-categories you’d like to see me report on in the future?

12 Comments

  1. It’s been many years since I’ve had a laptop, but I distinctly remember knocking a cup of punch over on my keyboard when I did have one. That was horrible! Because even though it dried, the keys were sticky and I really had to push on them to get them to work. And how do you fix that? It’s not like you can pour water over it to wash it out LOL.

    1. Water wouldn’t help, it would just spread the sugars, but I’ve heard that you can remove the laptop’s keyboard and rinse it off with rubbing alcohol–which makes sense, the alcohol won’t corrode things like water, and will rinse away the sticky stuff left behind by the punch. Can’t imagine having to deal with a keyboard like that… I hate sticky keys!

  2. That’s too bad about your keyboard 😛 Luckily I find they’re much stronger regarding water spills than most people think. Phones on the other hand… not so much. One time I spilled my tea on my keyboard though, and the sugar in it made the letters stick for months.

    1. Keyboards are fine if it’s water, as long as it dries out without corroding anything. Unfortunately, laptops don’t like water inside them. Mine recovered without any apparent signs of damage, though, save for needing to replace the hard drive (and that might have simply been a bad partition table.)

      Rubbing alcohol! Helps clean away the sugar. Also, desktop keyboards can be sent through the dishwasher (or they used to be able to handle that, not sure about the ones made these days.)

    1. Thanks! It’s making slow but steady progress. Had to install a new hard drive, but it could have been much, much worse. My friend recovered all of my data, I’ve installed Windows 8.1 and now just need to reinstall everything/organize everything. It’ll be in better shape than ever once I’m done, though!

  3. That’s quite impressive productivity in numbers! My daughter once accidentally spilled water all over my keyboard and then covered it so I wouldn’t find out. It was quite a shock to see my keys swimming in water the next day!

  4. Oh, I hope your lap top is savable. And that’s very sweet that your friend loaned you theirs. I remember my lap top dropping on the floor once. A small piece broke off but it worked fined afterwards. For a little while. Anyways, impressive stats. Keep up the good work.

    1. Thanks! It’s fine, just needed a new hard drive. I’m glad yours survived a fall–I’ve seen ones that survive all sorts of falls and others that have died after dropping about a foot. All depends on the manufacturing and whether the machine was on or not (and what sort of protection its hard drive has.)

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