Ugh -- two hiccups in one morning. (Mercifully, there was just enough coffee left in the thermos for them both.)
Firstly, a rough head-count of wires suggests that we may not be able to get away with a mini-breadboard for the MPL's robot -- at least, not for the "brains" part up top. Which means more weight. And, more annoyingly, a chassis redesign.
Secondly, a client asked me to verify that data had been imported by a scheduled job. Alas, when I peeked into the database, I found that only one record from roughly 800 had made it over. Going back to the original data dump (like y'do), I quickly realised that the code was fine, but all but one record was seriously hosed thanks to a freaky Excel export. (In programming, the shorthand for this type of situation is "GIGO": Garbage In, Garbage Out.)
The fact that the code is, technically, doing what it's supposed to do is cold comfort. The fact remains that we have another edge-case to take into account (and gracefully handle, natch'erly) in the next release. Which means time and budget that doesn't go into what we want to accomplish. Booyah, legacy code.
So, as a human -- particularly a human who works from home -- I'm allowed to say a few unprintable things. But I'm not allowed to resent the newly-discovered edge-case. That would be as ridiculous as hating the physics of not enough breadboard wires for all the robot-widgets. And I'm certainly not allowed to carry on as if those problems didn't exist. Or worse, go solve the problems that interest me.
See, that's what bugs me so much about wanna-be "leaders" like The Donald or Carly Fiorina. Forget the incendiary rhetoric. It's when the former responds to a hard, documentable fact (e.g. that 40+% of illegal immigrants arrive in the U.S. via plane, not sneaking through the desert) with "I don't believe it." Go pound sand, Trump: Reality doesn't care what you believe.
Likewise, the latter doubling down on her claims about the breitbarted "Center for Medical Progress" video, inventing footage that never existed in the original scam. (I thought that fanfic had reached its nadir when Twilight fan E.L. James penned the 50 Shades trilogy, but...daaaaaaaaang. That's a whole 'nuther level of gaslighting your own gender, Ms. Fiorina.)
Gosh, I can't imagine how one's been in bankruptcy (at least) four times, and the latter very nearly led her company off a cliff... [insert uber-sarcastic eyeroll]
Look. I don't get to ignore reality--much less hate on it. That would lead to solving the wrong problems...assuming they're even problems in the first place. At best, that's a waste of time and money. In the middle, the real problems are neglected. And in the worst-case, that additionally creates new problems.
I assume that, like me, my Gentle Reader is paid to solve real problems within the constraints of the real world. We should accept nothing less of ourselves. And expect even better from those who want to have the power to declare war, spend our tax dollars, etc. Values can be debated; facts cannot. Anyone who cannot accept that should have their "adult card" taken away and be given a Sims account so they can live in their own reality without bothering anyone else's.
