What is a concatenate function?

Recently, in my volunteer position, I was asked to edit some internal instructions on how to add a filter to a promo-code email. What does this mean? Well, let's pretend that an organization was going to issue $25 free trials to users to make a donation to a charity that focused on youth. When the user clicks on the link in the email to donate using the free trial promotional code - they should be brought to a landing page where all the youth organizations requesting donations are listed and where the user can redeem his/her promo code.

To update the instructions on how to do this for every kind of themed filter (not just youth, but maybe elderly care, sports teams, or homelessness), I had to include some sort of url code and the word "Concatenate Function" was being tossed around. I feigned understanding - which goes against one of my employability project rules for myself. In reality, I have absolutely no idea what a "Concatenate Function" is, what it does or why it works.

I read that a concatenate function is a function in Excel or another spreadsheet software like Google Sheets that allows you to take details from one cell and combine them with another cell. For example, if in column A you have first names, and in column B you have last names, in column C you could have a concatenate function that combined both columns and gave you first name+last name within a single cell.

To demonstrate, here is what it can look like:

In the case above, if you look at the concatenate function, I am telling it to take A1 (Kor), add the literal "loves" (with a space on either side so that all the words don't run together), add B1 (Heather), and then add C1 (very much). I then copied the formula down through column F and in doing so, the phrase in column F would vary depending on which words were included in columns A, B and C.

This function is helpful in using mail merges (when the computer automatically adds names and addresses to a template email through use of a database).

In the case of the instructions for the non-profit website I was volunteering with, the concatenate function was creating a link to include in the email mail merge where when a donor clicked on the link, it would bring them to the website filtered by youth charities, provide the donor with a $25 free trial code and would also greet the donor by name.

Here is an example of such a URL:

=CONCATENATE(http://www.chooseacharity.org/donate/promoOffercode=",A2,"&name=",C2,"&email=",E2)

Basically, this function above is telling you to create a link at the above website and the website will include a greeting for Jimmy, put $25 towards the checkout basket.

So now we know what a concatenate function is and how it is useful. How much do you want to bet that we will soon hear of a celebrity baby named Concatenate? I'll see your $500 and raise you $1000...

Finding the time to blog more...

This year, New Year's Eve came and went, and I didn't make a single resolution. Perhaps I've finally come to accept the fact that no matter how many times I resolve to "read all the books in my bookshelf before buying another", I know it is a resolution I will never keep.

Post-holidays, I sit in my apartment with a dreadful head cold (which I don't even mind now that Christmas is over and I have an excuse to sit in my pyjamas, watching Downton Abbey and drink tea) -  and I find myself re-evaluating my commitments for 2015, as I do every year. Am I doing the things that will be the most fulfilling, worthwhile, and rewarding? At which activity did I contract this virus and should I eliminate it from my life? Which things am I wishing I had scheduled today so that I could politely cancel, blaming an abundance of mucus?

While home for the holidays, I went to Friends Church and the speaker brought forward the concept of 2-2-4. 2-2-4 initially stemmed from a brainstorming exercise that he participated in where he was asked to write down the following:

• 3 things you wish you did more of
• 3 things you wish you did less of
• 3 projects you would like to start

However, the speaker realized when doing this exercise, that he was adding 6 things to his list to do more of, while only reducing his workload by 3. Over time, adding 6 but only subtracting 3 will result in a totally over-worked and unrealistic schedule. Therefore, the speaker put forward a revised brainstorm: 2-2-4.

What are 2 things you wish you did more of?
What are 2 projects you want to start?
What are 4 things you could do less of?

In an effort to evaluate whether there are areas of my current time commitments that I could do less of in order to do more of other things, I created a pie chart estimating my average time commitments over the latter half of 2014. #nerdalert

I think I'm doing pretty good - getting an average of 7 hours of sleep per night, spending 15 hours per week per course on course work, spending almost 20 hours per week hanging with my husband (I've counted eating the meals that I've cooked as family time because we always eat together), and almost 20 hours per week volunteering. However, when I started this blog, I aimed to write a new post every week on a topic that I spent some time learning about and would help me develop professionally - and three hours a week is not cutting it for maintaining that goal. In fact, three hours per week is not even enough time to write the blog post once I've learned something new. Therefore, I either need to scale back on how many posts I do, or eliminate some other activities that I currently do. I think I need to do a bit of both - otherwise the infrequency of my blog posts is tantamount to falling off the goal bandwagon. Keeping up the structured attempts at blogging is important. As Aristotle says, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

In addition to wanting to post more on my blog and learn more about the things I want to learn about - I clearly have not factored in any time for exercise. While I like to think that the time allotted to "family time", involves exercise (and sometimes it does!) - I would be lying if I told you that my husband and I regularly go to the gym, do yoga, or ride bikes together. I need to exercise more.

In thinking about two projects I want to start - I began thinking big and the results were completely unrealistic: I want to write a book, I want to read War & Peace, I want to sew a quilt, I want to learn to bake bread. However, these are large projects - and I already have two of those on my plate: my blog and my course work. Do I need any more projects? No I don't. I can't cut out enough time to spend on my "wish I did more of" activities to even think about starting something new.

Where can I cut hours so that I can have more time for blogging and exercise?

Well, first you might say - stop re-watching episodes of Gilmore Girls that you've already seen. You have a point. However, in my defense I will say that I watch these re-runs while I cook, fold laundry or tidy the house - so I don't know if they really count. Sure I could be more efficient with those chores if I focused solely on them - but then they wouldn't be very fun.

The volunteer opportunity that I committed to is over at the end of the month, which means 20+ hours of time per week that I will have to dedicate somewhere else (I hope to find another volunteer opportunity in the spring, but not one that takes up 20+ hours per week). In giving up this volunteer work, I will also eliminate the 9 hours a week I spend commuting in to San Francisco.

Over the holidays I also re-evaluated how many courses I am taking and this semester, I am taking 1 graduate level course and two continuing ed courses - which should be a lot less work and the courses I am taking (Program Evaluation, Solution Validation and Assessment and Solution Analysis) are more in line with what I want to learn professionally anyways.

It's going to be a great 2015 and I'm looking forward to having time to contribute more "informed" posts.