♦

KITCHENER - The Kitchener Panthers continue to have problems with the home run.

Chatham-Kent hit four over the fence at Jack Couch Park Sunday, including a sixth-inning grand slam from Austin Gurney, as the Barnstormers took down the Panthers 10-5.

It was one of two homers for Gurney.

Kitchener also had success with the long ball, as Petey Kiefer hit a two-run blast in the fifth and Mateo Zeppieri hit a solo shot in the sixth.

Zeppieri led the team with three hits. Both Yosvani Penalver and Malik Williams had two hits.

Owen MacNeil gave up two runs on five hits in five innings of work.

Jacob Liberta took the loss after giving up four runs on five hits in two innings.

Aden Ryan got the win for Chatham-Kent after going two innings. 

Former Panther Dakota Parsons started for the visitors, scattering four hits in four innings. He gave up three runs (two earned) and struck out three.

Kitchener drops to 5-7 on the year, while Chatham-Kent moves to 4-6.

The Panthers get a few days to rest before hosting Toronto Friday at 7:05 p.m.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW and #PackTheJack!

Early-career engineers often walk into the software industry with one dangerous assumption:

“If I work hard and stay sincere, people will naturally treat me well.”

Unfortunately, corporate engineering teams do not always operate on emotional fairness.
They operate on reliability, trust, pressure, deadlines, and perceived competence.

And this creates a painful situation many engineers silently face:

“My manager speaks politely to everyone else… but becomes rude only with me.”

Obviously, this hurts deeply because it feels personal.
And as a matter of fact, sometimes it is personal.
But many a time, it is something harder to accept:

That does not mean you are useless.
It does not mean you cannot grow.
But ignoring the signal can permanently damage your career trajectory.

This article is not about defending toxic behavior as rudeness is never ideal leadership.

But early-career engineers grow fastest when they learn to separate emotional discomfort from operational reality.

Most new engineers think managers mainly value:

• effort
• sincerity
• long hours
• enthusiasm
• honesty

Experienced managers value something else first:

• predictability
• ownership
• speed of understanding
• low supervision cost
• reliability under pressure

A manager under delivery pressure does not think.

“This engineer is trying hard.”

They think:

• “Can I trust this person with critical work?”
• “Will this task come back broken?”
• “Will I need 5 follow-ups?”
• “Can this person independently unblock themselves?”
• “Will this engineer create risk for the team?”

This is the harsh reality of engineering organizations.

If your manager is repeatedly rude specifically toward you, ask yourself honestly:

Examples:

• Asking the same questions repeatedly
• Missing obvious details
• Forgetting instructions
• Delivering incomplete work
• Giving vague status updates
• Needing constant reminders
• Escalating before debugging properly
• Taking too long to understand systems
• Saying “I tried everything” too early
• Repeating mistakes after feedback

One or two mistakes are normal.

But repeated dependency changes how managers behave psychologically.

They stop seeing you as:

“an investment”

and start seeing you as:

“an operational drain.”

That shift changes tone very quickly.

Many engineers immediately conclude:

“My manager hates me.”

But sometimes the real situation is:

“My manager does not trust my execution.”

Those are different problems.

Hatred is emotional.
Distrust is operational.

And operational distrust usually comes from patterns.

There are usually 3 stages.

The manager explains carefully:

• “Please improve debugging.”
• “Read logs before escalating.”
• “Test properly before pushing.”
• “Document your findings.”

Tone is calm.

Manager starts becoming shorter:

• “Why was this missed?”
• “Did you verify?”
• “We discussed this already.”

Patience reduces.

Manager assumes:

• instructions won’t be followed,
• mistakes will repeat,
• extra supervision is needed.

Now the tone becomes harsh.

This is often where engineers emotionally collapse because they only notice Stage 3 and ignore Stages 1 and 2 that happened earlier.

Weak reaction:

• “Manager is toxic.”
• “Nobody appreciates me.”
• “I’ll mentally disconnect.”
• “I’ll do the bare minimum.”

Strong reaction:

“Why has confidence reduced, and how do I rebuild it?”

That mindset shift changes careers.

Do not chase “big impact” immediately.

Start with:

• correct updates,
• accurate timelines,
• proper testing,
• organized notes,
• complete debugging evidence.

Managers rebuild trust from consistency, not promises.

Bad:

“I’m checking.”

Better:

“Issue reproduced. Root cause narrowed to config mismatch between service A and B. Verifying logs now.”

Specificity creates confidence.

Before asking for help:

• explain what you checked,
• attach logs,
• mention hypotheses,
• explain why you are blocked.

Managers respect effort visibility.

Nothing damages reputation faster than repeating the same issue.

Create:

• debugging checklists,
• deployment checklists,
• review notes,
• learning logs.

Professional maturity often means creating systems around your weaknesses.

Painful truth:
Some engineers improve slowly because they only learn during assigned work.

Fast-growing engineers:

• read architecture docs,
• study production issues,
• watch system design talks,
• revisit mistakes independently.

The industry rewards self-driven learners disproportionately.

This article is not saying:

“Managers are always right.”

Some managers:

• humiliate people publicly,
• play favorites,
• insult juniors,
• weaponize pressure,
• damage confidence intentionally.

That is unhealthy leadership.

But before concluding toxicity, ask:

• “Would a strong engineer receive the same treatment?”
• “Have I objectively improved over the last 6 months?”
• “Am I easier or harder to manage now?”
• “Do senior engineers trust my work?”

Self-awareness is a superpower in engineering careers.

Sometimes a rude manager reveals more about the environment. Sometimes they reveal something about your current professional level. The mistake is assuming every uncomfortable experience is unfair persecution.

Because in engineering careers, reputation compounds.

And one day, the same manager who sounded frustrated with you may start saying:

“Give this task to her. She handles things properly.”

That transformation is possible !!

Why Is Your Manager Only Rude To YOU?! was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Who exactly? Was it staff or was it elected councillors?  If councillors, who were the ringleaders who made Wilmot residents wait six months and longer for emergency water supplies? Record reporter Luisa D'Amato in today's paper seems pleased and satisfied that the Region are now offering immediate hookups to large tanks of water placed outside homes with water shortages in Wilmot Township. Yes that solution which was also used decades ago when the Region first started pumping water from Wilmot to serve the thirsty and growing cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, appears to be a good one. Who were the twits and twerps in any way at all blocking, forgetting or dragging their feet on this emergency solution to serious water shortages for numerous Wilmot residents? They need to be identified and shown the door, elected or otherwise. Ms. D'Amato is correct when she states that it is no fun to balance powerful competing interests however I see the powerful interests all on one side and that is the developers and builders. Sure as hell the residents and voters in Wilmot have been studiously ignored and treated with disdain throughout by the other parties including Waterloo Region councillors.

Today's K-W Record has Ms. D'Amato's article titled "One bright spot in a sea of problems" on the front page.

Register: Online at our KWality Talk Page, this is an in person event.

Location: Morty’s Pub, 272 King St N, Waterloo, ON N2J 2Y9

Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Details:

It’s that time of year again! On June 25 join the board and members of the KWSQA community at Morty’s Pub for an evening of food, drinks, and socializing with your peers.

The social will kick off at 6pm and will run until 8pm. We’re hoping to host the social on the patio to enjoy the summer weather, but in the case of inclement weather the event will be moved indoors. Food will also be provided through the event by KWSQA. Drinks and extra food will be the responsibility of attendees.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Tickets:

This year our social tickets will be offered for a rate of $20 for Non-Members. Anyone with a 2026 KWSQA Membership is able to attend the event at no additional fee. If you wish to purchase your membership in order to access this and all following KWality Talks you may do so by purchasing your membership here, then returning to this page and using your new membership code on the first screen to reserve a KWSQA Member Ticket.

2026 KWSQA Members will need to enter their Membership Code (which will have been sent via Ticket Tailor) on the first screen in order to access the KWSQA Member Ticket type. Reminder, this code will have been sent to you by TicketTailor when you purchased your membership or in early January. We recommend searching for “2026 KWSQA Membership” in your emails to find the email with your membership code. If you cannot locate this email or your membership code please reach out to info@kwsqa.org

♦

LONDON - Another tough night at the office for the Kitchener Panthers.

They were doubled up 8-4 in London Friday night, marking Kitchener's third straight defeat.

If there is any silver lining, the bats started to get some results as the Panthers generated 11 hits. Three of those came from Yunior Ibarra, a season-high for the Cuban catcher.

Malik Williams, Yosvani Penalver and Raffi Gross all had two hits a piece.

Gross extended his hit streak to seven games, while Williams has multiple hits in three of his last four outings.

Kitchener had two runs in the first, before London responded with a run in the third and two more in the fourth to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

London's big inning came in the sixth, when they scored four runs.

Kitchener left 13 runners on base on the night.

Samuel Quintana gave up a run on one hit in three innings of work.

Elian Serrata took the loss, surrendering three runs (two earned) on three hits in 1.1 innings. Both Quintana and Serrata had three strikeouts.

Travis Keys struck out four in five innings to capture the win. He gave up two runs on eight hits and walked three.

Kitchener falls to 5-6 on the season. London improved to 7-3.

The Panthers look to rebound Sunday afternoon at home against the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW and #PackTheJack!

Sunday is COUNTRY DAY at Jack Couch Park. The first 500 fans into the ballpark get a FREE Panthers cowboy hat!

Those councillors  do their best work behind the scenes. Generally speaking public council meetings are not places for the truth to emerge as much as for slogans and mom and apple pie statements to be made. Even when councillors vote against doing the right thing they never have the honesty or guts to say outright that they want their campaign donations to continue hence they sure as heck aren't going to offend builders or developers by publicly calling them leeches or parasites grossly profiting from people's desires to own their own home for themselves and to raise their children. If smaller, modestly priced homes in subdivisions are less profitable to develop and build then without sweeteners or government subsidies they will stick to the bigger, more profitable builds. 

At the regional council meeting two days ago councillors voted in favour of pumping another 15 litres per second of water from Wilmot Township wellfields. At the same time they verbally advise that they are in the process of updating and improving their well interference processes and protocols. Too little too late you twits. Being "in the process of updating" does not allow some residents to do their laundry today. It does not allow multiple family members to take showers and wash dishes for example on the same day. Flushing toilets is now on the "If it's yellow let it mellow and if it's brown flush it down" system. "  Seeing that sign at a cottage with a very shallow well in a dry August might be tolerable but in your full time home with multiple family members it's not. 

I know what I would like to advise Wilmot Council and residents but I think it would get me into trouble. Let's just say that some well thought out civil disobedience might get the Region's attention and loosen their wallets to permit immediate funds to be available for drilling either new private wells or deeper wells for residents long experiencing water shortages that will only get worse with the Region's increased pumping of their water. Holding back on tax payments might actually be merely the tip of the iceberg necessary to get action versus mere attention from them.

Today's K-W Record article is titled "Water rationing for new builds to begin" by Bill Jackson.

Happy Pride Month! In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing five suggestions for how to be better allies for our LGBTQ+ coworkers. 🌈

A few years back, Aja Hammerly, a developer advocate at Google, wrote a blog post with the following story:

“The college I attended was small and very LGBT friendly. One day someone came to visit and used the word ‘gay’ as a pejorative, as was common in the early 2000s. A current student looked at the visitor and flatly said, ‘we don’t do that here.’ The guest started getting defensive and explaining that they weren’t homophobic and didn’t mean anything by it. The student replied, ‘I’m sure that’s true, but all you need to know is we don’t do that here.’”

Hammerly noted,

We don’t do that here was a polite but firm way to educate the newcomer about our culture.

Consider using this phrase the next time you hear someone making a disparaging comment or joke about someone in the LGBTQ+ community.

Share on Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube.

One of the myriad things I’ve learned from Jeannie Gainsburg’s excellent book The Savvy Ally: A Guide for Becoming a Skilled LGBTQ+ Advocate is how to respond when someone comes out to you.

Gainsburg says to thank them, perhaps with a “Thank you for trusting me enough to let me know.”

Then listen, and let them take the lead on anything they want to discuss.

If there’s an awkward silence, she recommends throwing in one of these comments:

• “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you.”
• “I’m here for you.”
• “This calls for a celebration!”

Doing so can help make someone feel seen, supported, and accepted.

In I Am Neither, Kathia Ramos shared what it was like to let people know that their pronouns were now they/them.

Their manager at the time was very understanding, yet mistakenly used Ramos’ old pronouns. The first time wasn’t a big deal. She apologized and moved on. Then it happened again.

As Ramos wrote,

“I didn’t expect the apologizing to escalate to an explanation of how she was trying to use the correct pronoun. Time stood still while she apologized, and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. What appeared to be an effort to make herself feel better, actually made me feel worse.”

If we use the wrong pronouns for a coworker, let’s simply correct ourselves. Without launching into an explanation of how hard we’re trying to use the right pronouns. Without making it all about us.

Did you know that tech company Mapbox created “Queer in Tech,” a free collection of stock photos?

As explained in their announcement:

“We created this photo set to promote the visibility of queer and gender-nonconforming (GNC) people in technology, who are often under-represented as workers powering the creative, technical, and business leadership of groundbreaking tech companies and products.”

There’s also “The Gender Spectrum Collection,” which is free for non-commercial purposes. Their recommended usage guidelines state:

“Images of trans and nonbinary people can be used to illustrate any topic, not just stories related directly to those communities. Consider using these photos for stories on topics like beauty, work, education, relationships, or wellness. Including transgender and non-binary people in stories not explicitly about gender identity paints a more accurate depiction of the world we live in today.”

Representation matters. Join me in bookmarking these sites for future stock photography needs.

p.s. I’ve curated a longer list of sites specializing in stock photos and illustrations featuring people from underrepresented groups. Some are free, and some for a fee. Find the list at betterallies.com.

In Supporting the Transgender People in Your Life: A Guide to Being a Good Ally, Advocates for Trans Equality recommends several ways to support transgender coworkers. Here’s just one:

Avoid compliments or advice based on stereotypes about transgender people, or how men and women should look or act. The article explains,

“People sometimes intend to be supportive but unintentionally hurt transgender people by focusing on their looks or whether they conform to gender stereotypes. Here are some examples of what to avoid, as they often feel like backhanded compliments:

• You look like a real woman! I never would have known that you’re trans.

• You would look less trans if you just got a wig/shaved better/wore more makeup/etc.

• No real man would wear clothing like that. You should change if you don’t want people to know you’re transgender.

• I’d date him, even though he’s transgender.”

That’s all for this week. I’m glad you’re on this journey with me,

Karen Catlin (she/her), Author of the Better Allies® book series

Copyright © 2026 Karen Catlin. All rights reserved.

Together, we can make a difference with the Better Allies® approach.

• Say thanks to Karen and buy her a coffee ☕ (Need a receipt for educational reimbursement? Reply to this email, and we’ll take care of it.)
• Sponsor an edition of this newsletter
• Follow @BetterAllies on Instagram, Medium, or YouTube. Or follow Karen Catlin on LinkedIn
• Read the Better Allies books
• Tell someone about these resources

We Don’t Do That Here, and Other Actions for Allies was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

♦

KITCHENER - The reigning MVP kept the Kitchener Panthers in check.

Owen Boon gave up just one hit through five innings of work, and struck out 10 batters to help the Hamilton Cardinals to a 12-5 win in Kitchener.

Boon ran into trouble with the bases loaded in the first, but faced the minimum in his other four innings of work.

Hamilton also took it to Kitchener with the bats with five home runs in the game.

Three of the six hits for Kitchener came as part of a four-run ninth inning when the game was out of hand.

Evan Elliott went five innings, gave up three runs and five hits in the loss.

Kitchener drops to 5-5. Hamilton improves to 5-3.

Kitchener is in London Friday night, before hosting Chatham-Kent on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. for Country Day!

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW and #PackTheJack! The first 500 fans into the ballpark on Sunday get a FREE Panthers cowboy hat!

I've been watching the ongoing online and elsewhere arguments and discussion regarding the federal government's proposed firearms confiscation program. I will not call it a "buyback" for two reasons. One the government never owned those firearms in the first place and secondly a proposed "buyback" that refuses to guarantee payment, whether full or partial value, is not a "buyback", it's a perverse lottery with one heck of a high ticket price that you are paying.  Some citizens receiving compensation (full value or partial)  and others not. I equate that with some kind of pyramid scheme and shame on our government for playing games with our legally purchased, legally possessed and legally used firearms.

There is also the issue of private property. Today the government wants to either forcibly physically  or by  threat  take rifles and even some shotguns that they deem "assault style".  I also do not agree or acknowledge that the majority of firearms on their #hit list are any such thing. In fact I am going to name them ..."asphalt style" because some of them are black in colour. Various different characteristics including colour, grip style, magazine type, caliber and method of operation  are used to justify lumping around 2,500 makes and models as "asphalt style". I mean hey I've got just as much right to make up names for guns that our politicians do and in fact so do you. The difference is that I admit my name is ridiculous whereas Liberal politicians with a straight face will not.

I acknowledge the trauma, the stress, the abhorrence of violence and the anger that survivors of shootings have. I too, just like 99.5%  of the rest of us, probably find it difficult to fully comprehend the depth of those understandable emotions. The issue I have is this. I have never shot anyone and hope to God that I never am put in the position to have to do so. That said literally half a century ago I worked part time as an armed Brink's guard and not to protect bags of money but to protect my partner actually had to unholster that gun (revolver) in public in the line of duty. It turned out to be a false alarm as two young and immature but adult males thought that intentionally faking a robbery would be funny. It was not and believe it or not they actually were shocked to be looking down the business end of a firearm. I too was shocked but followed my limited training and the situation was resolved without violence or injury.

 Many thousands to millions of Canadian citizens are now being cast as potential murderers by our own government who know full well that that is ridiculous. I could understand our government tightening both training and supervision of hunters, target shooters, collectors etc. Just like having older seniors take bi-annual exams to ensure their safety behind the wheel of a car it should not offend  them to be asked to prove safety competency and understanding on the firearms range. That makes sense but stealing Canadians' guns under the guise of public safety is insulting, disrespectful and dishonest. It may yet even prove to be unlawful.  

Early on, my learning as a data analyst was limited to Excel.

You know… just the basics like filtering rows, dragging formulas, and quickly creating pivot tables.

As the volume of data grew, everything started to slow down. Things got weirder and weirder. What used to be simple questions turned into complicated workarounds. Then suddenly, Excel just wasn’t enough anymore.

That’s when I started learning SQL for data analysis.

It felt simple. Just a single query… just at the beginning ;>

SELECT * FROM orders;

And.. Boommm, a lot of data showed.

But isn’t that just too much data to look at all at once?

It became difficult for me to understand patterns and relations between variables, or even just to see what was wrong with the data.

Before jumping into the queries, fyi, I worked with a public Superstore sales dataset. This contains transactional data like orders, customers, products, and sales performance. This dataset is ideal for practicing SQL in data analysis because it reflects real-world business questions. But here, I converted the original flat table into three relational tables named customers (add new variables customer_id, orders, and products). For this project, I’m using PostgreSQL for the querying.

When you follow along with my learning process, you don’t need to use the same dataset as I did. More important is how we approach the business problems here that need to be solved.

My first task actually seemed easy.

Can you get all orders from January?

SELECT *
FROM order
WHERE order_date >= '2013-01-01'
 AND order_date < '2013-02-01';

As data analysts, we’re often asked to provide monthly sales details. In this case, our store has 709 sales records for January 2013.

When there is a lot of data, it can take a long time, so your boss might ask questions like“Why is this query taking so long?”.

I found out something new, SELECT * isn’t always a solution. And, avoid using unnecessary columns, so the database doesn’t have to read and send as much data, which can make queries run quicker.

So I changed it:

SELECT order_id, order_date, sales
FROM orders
WHERE order_date >= '2013-01-01'
 AND order_date < '2013-02-01';

Same data, less load, and faster. As you can see, the query time went from 0.218 seconds to 0.166 seconds. It might not seem like a huge difference here, but imagine if we started with millions of records and needed to display thousands of them.

Because now, the database reads fewer columns (less disk I/O). And i felt like “Owhhh… I get it now, it makes my work more efficient.”

“Can you total the sales per month in 2014?”

Sounds normal, doesn’t it?

SELECT 
    DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
    SUM(sales) AS total_sales
FROM orders
WHERE year = 2014
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;

When I first started learning SQL, I and maybe you too (right now hehe) might be a little confuse about what exactly DATE_TRUNCdoes?

It turns out it’s quite simple. Instead of storing the full date (like 2023-01-15), the DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) function will truncate it to just the month, like for example, if a sale was made on 2014-01-15 it will be converted to the start of the month2014-01-01 to keep things clear and the format easy to read.

So now, all dates in January become the same value. Which means… SQL can group them together. And that’s exactly why GROUP BY works here and then adds them up by using SUM(sales) . Instead of raw transactions, we now receive total sales per month for 2014.

Next request.

“Can you include customer names?”

SELECT 
    o.order_id,
    o.order_date,
    o.sales,
    c.customer_name,
    c.segment,
 c.country
FROM orders o
JOIN customers c
ON o.customer_id = c.customer_id;

We’re just combining two tables:

• orders → transactional data
• customers → customer details

And the JOIN condition o.customer_id = c.customer_id. Basically tells SQL “Match each order with its customer id”.

But “Why are the numbers duplicated?”

Because JOIN in SQL, it doesn’t just “add columns to” but combines rows. So if the join condition isn’t perfectly aligned, you might accidentally multiply rows.

And that means duplicate data, inflated totals, and… completely misleading insights. However, since our context here is only displaying orders by customer name, it’s safe because we need the details regardless of how many transactions that customer has. It would be a different story if we had to display total sales (because if we’re not careful, the data will just keep getting added over and over).

“What’s the top-selling product each month?”

Okay… this one will be tricky. My first instinct is

SELECT 
    DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
    product_id,
    MAX(sales)
FROM orders
GROUP BY 1, product_id;

It looks right. But it’s actually not. Let’s break it down:

• GROUP BY month, product_id→ groups data per product per month
• MAX(sales)→ gives the highest transaction value for each product

So what we actually get is the max sale per product. Not the top product per month.

And honestly, this is one of those moments where I go like “Hmmm wait… why is this wrong?”

This is where I discovered that one of the most powerful tools in SQL for data analysis is window functions.

SELECT *
FROM (
    SELECT 
        DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
        product_id,
        SUM(sales) AS total_sales,
        ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
            PARTITION BY DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date)
            ORDER BY SUM(sales) DESC
        ) AS rank
    FROM orders
    GROUP BY 1, product_id
) t
WHERE rank = 1;

Let’s discuss them one by one together.

SUM(sales)
GROUP BY month, product_id

Total sales per product each month.

ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
    PARTITION BY month
    ORDER BY total_sales DESC
)

Here’s the main point of our query before.

• PARTITION BY month → reset ranking every month.
• ORDER BY total_sales DESC → highest sales = rank 1.
• ROW_NUMBER() → assigns ranking (1, 2, 3, etc).

WHERE rank = 1

We got the Top-selling product for each month.

“Is this month better than last month?”

SELECT 
    month,
    total_sales,
    LAG(total_sales) OVER (ORDER BY month) AS prev_month_sales,
    total_sales - LAG(total_sales) OVER (ORDER BY month) AS growth
FROM (
    SELECT 
        DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
        SUM(sales) AS total_sales
    FROM orders
    GROUP BY 1
) t;

Let’s break this down too.

SUM(sales) GROUP BY month

This is where we will sum up the sales and group them monthly.

LAG(total_sales) OVER (ORDER BY month)

The LAG() in SQL is a window function that allows you to access data from the previous row in a dataset without using a self-join. It is commonly used in time-series analysis and trend calculations. This expression tells the database to look at the value total_sales from the previous row, based on the order of month.

total_sales - prev_month_sales

In this step calculates growth by subtracting previous month sales from the current total sales (total_sales - prev_month_sales) to measure month-over-month sales change.

At some point, I felt like my queries started to look like nested everywhere, hard to read, or slightly terrifying.

They worked… but next time it’s barely understandable.

That’s when I found CTEs (Common Table Expressions), a temporary result set that you can name and reuse inside our query.

WITH monthly_sales AS (
    SELECT 
        DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
        SUM(sales) AS total_sales
    FROM orders
    GROUP BY 1
)
SELECT 
    month,
    total_sales,
    LAG(total_sales) OVER (ORDER BY month) AS prev_month
FROM monthly_sales;

Let’s see what changed. Instead of nesting everything inside one giant query, we split it into steps.

WITH monthly_sales AS (...)

This is the CTE. We’re basically saying, “Hey SQL, create a temporary table called monthly_sales using this query”.

For this part.

SELECT 
    DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
    SUM(sales) AS total_sales
FROM orders
GROUP BY 1

So it becomes a cleaner and reusable query.

FROM monthly_sales

Instead of rewriting the same logic again (or nesting it deeply), we just use monthly_sales like a normal table.

With CTE we get same result, but with much better structure.

I used to think SQL was about writing queries. But now, I see it differently. Every step taught me something.

• Slow query → think about efficiency
• Wrong numbers → question your logic
• Hard questions → rethink your approach
• Messy queries → structure your thinking

From me,

SQL is just not about queries. But, it’s about how we think when solving problems with data in a more efficient and structured.

To explore my other projects, feel free to check out my Medium or GitHub. Stay tuned for more challenging projects~~

jihanKamilah - Overview

SQL Is More Than Just Queries: How to Think Like a Data Analyst was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

♦

Questions for the table

Where are we now?

Who are we now?

What if you just accept what is happening?

What does it mean to be tenacious , ambitious, to use your natural born skills?

How do you know if it matters?

Does it matter if what you make is good? (How would you know? Who would tell you? On what grounds would this judgement be made?)

What instinct shall you follow?

What are your priorities, and how are they expressed, through what means?

(Why do you write?) Why do you do what you do?

What do you hope for?

Are there things you want to learn?

Are you done here?

What are you carrying?

Are you well enough to continue?

What would it be about instead?

Where does it hurt? When? How?

What gives you relief?

xo, Carrie

PS This is one of my circle poems, but I will also use each question as a prompt for a future journal entry, to get beyond “what’s on your mind?” A few of the questions are yes/no, but even those can work as prompts, urging an explanation, depending on the tone you’re hearing the questioner speak in.

Can you imagine a dinner party where you’d go around the table asking everyone to respond to one of these questions? Which one would you choose to ask? (Today, I’d like to know, What are you carrying?)

“Capacity building” is a phrase that shows up everywhere in the nonprofit sector — in grant guidelines, strategic plans, job postings, and sector conversations. Yet it is often used so broadly that it can lose its meaning. Here at Capacity Canada, we think of capacity building as intentional work to strengthen how an organization functions — not just what it delivers.

This post explains capacity building in plain language, offers concrete examples across human resources, finance, and fundraising, and shows how boards and staff can think about capacity building as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time project.

Capacity building refers to the work nonprofits do to strengthen their ability to fulfill their mission over time. It focuses on the internal conditions that make effective programs, strong leadership, and sustainable impact possible — including people, systems, structures, and ways of working. In brief, organizational capacity is about the effective combination of:

knowledge, capabilities, resources
to achieve:
goals, strategy, mission.

Capacity building is not necessarily about doing more. It is about being better equipped to do what matters most.

Effective capacity building helps organizations reduce burnout, make better decisions with limited resources, strengthen accountability and governance, and improve resilience during periods of change. When internal capacity is weak, even the strongest mission and most dedicated people can struggle.

Rather than a single initiative, capacity building is best understood as a set of intentional investments across key areas of organizational life. These areas are often interconnected — progress in one domain can unlock momentum in others.

Examples include:

• Clarifying roles and decision-making authority
• Improving onboarding and supervision
• Strengthening people policies and practices
• Supporting leadership development
• Planning for succession and continuity

Examples include:

• Improving financial oversight and reporting
• Strengthening budgeting and forecasting
• Building effective internal controls
• Increasing financial literacy for boards and staff

Examples include:

• Clarifying fundraising roles of board and staff
• Developing a realistic fundraising strategy
• Strengthening donor stewardship systems
• Improving storytelling and use of data

One practical way to approach capacity building is through organizational assessment. At Capacity Canada, our Organizational Assessment and Scorecard explore multiple domains of organizational health — such as governance, leadership, people practices, financial management, strategy, fundraising, operations, and culture.

Rather than producing a simple pass/fail result, this kind of assessment creates a heat map of organizational capacity. The heat map helps boards and staff see:

• Where the organization is currently strong
• Where capacity is uneven or stretched thin
• Where gaps may be creating risk, inefficiency, or burnout
• Where targeted investments could have the greatest impact

This approach helps shift conversations away from blame or urgency and toward shared understanding and informed decision-making. It also supports sequencing — recognizing that not everything needs to be fixed at once, and that some capacity investments naturally come before others.

In this way, assessment becomes a tool for learning and prioritization, not judgment.

From a governance perspective, capacity building is a stewardship responsibility. Boards play a key role in ensuring that the organization has the internal strength needed to achieve its mission over the long term — including sound oversight, sustainable leadership, and healthy systems. You should be considering how you might invest in capacity building to ensure the long term sustainability of your organization.

For nonprofit leaders, capacity building can be a path out of constant urgency. Investing in internal systems, clarity, and shared ways of working helps leaders move from reacting to pressures toward setting priorities and building healthier organizational rhythms.

Capacity building is often misunderstood when it is:

• Treated as a one-time project
• Framed as “overhead” rather than mission-enabling work
• Disconnected from strategy, governance, and real organizational conditions

A useful question for boards and staff alike is:

What is currently limiting our ability to do our best work, even when our mission is clear?

Capacity building is about making thoughtful investments that support people, strengthen systems, and sustain mission over time.

At Capacity Canada, this work is guided by our mission: bringing together the ideas, people, and resources that fuel social innovation. Through organizational assessment, strategic planning, governance development, and practical back-office supports, we help nonprofits understand where they are, identify meaningful opportunities for growth, and build the capacity needed to create lasting impact.

Written By:

♦Scott Williams

Executive in Residence, Capacity Canada

Email: scottwilliams@capacitycanada.ca 

♦Ian McDonald

Executive in Residence, Capacity Canada

Email: ian@capacitycanada.ca

The post What is Capacity Building for Nonprofit Organizations? appeared first on Capacity Canada.

It's not just the fact that they've already lied to them, stolen their water contrary to a written agreement and passed a formal motion permitting new water taking from their Township which is already facing lower water elevations and private well dysfunctions. On top of that they have advised that despite more water being pumped from Wilmot for the benefit of other municipalities, Wilmot Township will not have any extra water allocated to themselves with Kitchener getting 51.1 %, Waterloo 24%, Woolwich 14.8% and Cambridge 10.1 %. It is the reason given for Wilmot getting nothing that I find shocking. It is stated in today's K-W Record article by Joe McGuinty that "...virtually no extra water will be allocated to the township as it declined an invitation to participate in a working group." Following that apparent punitive comment, insult is added to injury when the reporter then adds that "Wilmot will get 0.01 % of new water allocation, or enough for one person." It's Wilmot's water and the Region aren't satisfied with taking it without permission but they also have to throw insults at the Township that is carrying the rest of the Region on their backs through this water crisis?

On the front page of the Record in a different article by Luisa D'Amato there is a quote from a news release by the Waterloo Region Home Builders' Association which states "This is a catastrophic failure of mismanagement by the region at the worst possible time,".  That's a minor exaggeration as but for the federal government finally cracking down on the massive, infrastructurally unprepared for influx of foreign students, it could have been much worse. Last year Waterloo Region only grew by a miniscule 90 persons compared to thousands and thousands per year prior far outstripping housing, jobs, medical, water and wastewater abilities to handle. 

The Region have listed their suggested plans and timelines and I see nothing that will please anyone in them. Literally as I speak right now regional councillors are hearing from local citizens and builders and developers at regional council and I expect that it will get loud and raucous.

Pricing your home is one of the most important decisions you will make when preparing to sell.

It is also one of the easiest decisions to get wrong.

Many sellers assume that starting high gives them room to negotiate. On the surface, that logic makes sense. If buyers want the home, they can always make an offer, right?

In reality, that is not usually how the market works.

In today’s Waterloo Region real estate market, buyers are informed, selective, and highly aware of value. They are comparing homes in real time across Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, and the surrounding townships. If a property feels overpriced, most buyers do not rush in with a lower offer. They move on.

That is why pricing is not just about what you hope to get. It is about how your home is positioned from day 1.

When a home is priced correctly, it attracts more attention, creates stronger buyer interest, and gives the seller more leverage. When a home is overpriced, it can lose momentum quickly.

Overpricing is rarely done carelessly. Most sellers have a reason for the number they have in mind.

For many homeowners, their property represents years of memories, renovations, financial investment, and pride of ownership. It is natural to feel emotionally connected to the home and to see value in details that may not always translate directly to market value.

There are also outside influences. Online estimates, a neighbour’s sale from 2 years ago, opinions from friends and family, and memories of the peak market can all shape expectations.

The problem is that buyers are not pricing your home based on your emotional connection to it. They are comparing it against what else is available right now.

That distinction matters.

A home may be beautifully maintained, thoughtfully updated, and located in a desirable neighbourhood, but if the price does not align with current buyer expectations, it can still struggle to gain traction.

The market today is not the same market we saw a few years ago.

Inventory levels have improved from the extremely tight conditions of the past, and buyers generally have more options to choose from. Homes are also taking longer to sell in many price points and neighbourhoods, which means buyers feel less pressure to act immediately unless the home is clearly priced well.

That shift has changed buyer behaviour.

Today’s buyers are comparing homes more carefully. They are looking at condition, location, updates, layout, lot size, neighbourhood, and overall value. If 2 homes appear similar but one is priced more competitively, that home is usually going to receive more attention.

This is especially important in established Waterloo neighbourhoods such as Colonial Acres, Upper Beechwood, Laurelwood, Eastbridge, Conservation Meadows, and Carriage Crossing, where buyers may be comparing several properties within a similar price range.

When buyers have choices, pricing becomes one of the biggest deciding factors.

Overpricing does not just delay the sale. It changes how buyers perceive the property.

That is where the psychology comes in.

A home that launches too high often starts with weaker activity. Fewer showings, fewer inquiries, and less urgency from buyers. Once that happens, the listing can begin to lose momentum, even if the home itself is a strong property.

The first 1 to 2 weeks on the market are usually the most important.

This is when your listing is fresh. Buyers who have been actively watching the market see it right away. Agents send it to their clients. Online traffic is typically at its highest.

If the home is overpriced during that window, serious buyers may dismiss it before ever booking a showing.

That is one of the biggest risks of overpricing. You do not always get a second chance with the most motivated buyers.

By the time a price reduction happens, those buyers may have already purchased another property, shifted their focus, or lost interest.

Most buyers search within specific price ranges.

If your home is priced above where it should be, it may fall into a different search bracket and miss the buyers who are actually the best fit for the property.

For example, a buyer searching up to $1,000,000 may never see a home listed at $1,049,900, even if that home would have been a strong match for them. That small pricing gap can reduce exposure in a very real way.

Less exposure usually means fewer showings. Fewer showings mean fewer opportunities to generate an offer.

Once a home has been sitting on the market for a while, buyer perception starts to shift.

Instead of thinking, “This could be the one,” buyers start asking, “Why has this not sold?”

That question can create hesitation.

Even if there is nothing wrong with the home, longer days on market can make buyers more cautious. They may wonder if there is an issue with the property, the price, the condition, or the neighbourhood.

This is where overpricing can become expensive. Once a listing feels stale, it often attracts more aggressive offers and heavier negotiation.

A price reduction can help, but it does not always fully reset buyer perception.

By the time the price is adjusted, the listing has already been exposed to the market. Buyers may have seen it once and moved on. Some may come back, but often with a different mindset.

Instead of seeing the home as a fresh opportunity, they may see it as a property that has been sitting. That can affect how they negotiate.

This is when sellers may start to see:

• Lower offers
• More conditions
• Longer negotiation periods
• Less urgency from buyers
• More comments about days on market

That is why the first price is so important.

The goal is not to “test the market.” The goal is to enter the market with a strategy that gives your home the strongest chance of success from the beginning.

Pricing correctly does not mean underpricing your home. It means positioning it properly based on the current market, recent comparable sales, buyer behaviour, and the specific strengths of the property.

When a home is priced well from day 1, it is more likely to generate attention from qualified buyers. It can also create urgency, especially if buyers recognize that the home offers strong value compared to others in the same range.

Correct pricing can lead to:

• More showings
• Stronger buyer interest
• Better-quality offers
• More negotiating leverage
• A faster sale
• A stronger final result

Even in a more balanced market, multiple offers can still happen. But they usually happen when the home is priced strategically, marketed properly, and positioned in a way that makes buyers feel confident taking action.

The biggest misconception about overpricing is that there is no downside.

Many sellers think, “We can always reduce the price later.”

Technically, yes. But the market remembers.

When a home sits for too long, it can lose the early energy that often leads to the strongest results. Buyers become more hesitant. Agents may be less excited to show it. The listing may require more adjustments before the right offer comes together.

In many cases, an overpriced home ends up selling for less than it may have achieved with the right pricing strategy from the start.

That is the part sellers need to understand. Overpricing does not protect your value. It can actually weaken it.

The right price should be based on strategy, not guesswork.

A strong pricing strategy looks at:

• Recent comparable sales in your neighbourhood
• Active competing listings
• Current inventory levels
• Buyer demand in your price range
• The condition and presentation of your home
• Your lot, layout, updates, and location
• Days on market for similar properties
• How buyers are currently responding

It is also important to look at your specific neighbourhood, not just the broader Waterloo Region market.

A detached home in Colonial Acres will not be priced the same way as a newer home in Carriage Crossing. A property in Laurelwood may attract a different buyer pool than a home in Eastbridge. A large mature lot in Upper Beechwood may require a different strategy than a newer subdivision home with similar square footage.

Local context matters.

That is why accurate pricing requires more than an online estimate. It requires understanding how buyers are actually behaving in your specific segment of the market.

The psychology of overpricing is understandable. Sellers want to maximize their return, and it is natural to want the highest possible price for your home.

But in today’s Waterloo Region real estate market, pricing too high can work against you quickly.

The strongest results usually come from a thoughtful strategy, strong presentation, targeted marketing, and a price that makes sense to buyers from the moment the home hits the market.

If you are thinking about selling, the question is not, “What is the highest number we can try?”

The better question is, “What price will position this home to attract the right buyers and create the strongest result?”

That is where strategy matters.

Your home may be overpriced if it is receiving fewer showings than similar properties, sitting on the market longer than expected, or getting consistent feedback that the price feels high compared to condition, location, or recent sales.

Overpriced homes often miss the strongest buyer activity in the first 1 to 2 weeks. Buyers may skip the listing if they feel the price does not align with value, which leads to fewer showings and less momentum.

You can, but it can weaken your position. Once a listing sits on the market, buyers may become more cautious and negotiate more aggressively. A price reduction does not always recreate the momentum of a strong launch.

Yes, multiple offers can still happen when a home is priced strategically, marketed well, and positioned properly against competing listings. Pricing is one of the biggest factors in creating that kind of buyer urgency.

The best approach is to work with a local real estate team that understands how to price your home based on what is happening in the market right now. The Deutschmann Team can help you determine the right pricing strategy by reviewing recent comparable sales, active competing listings, neighbourhood demand, property condition, buyer behaviour, and current market trends.

A strong pricing strategy should reflect what buyers are willing to pay today, not what the market looked like in the past. Contact us for a custom selling strategy.

The post The Psychology of Overpricing Your Home in Waterloo Region appeared first on Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Agent - The Deutschmann Team.

The post Pride Socials appeared first on Grand River Rocks Climbing Gym.

Share your ideas to help improve the HydroGeoSphere user experience. Your feedback plays an important role in guiding future development— whether it’s new commands, workflow enhancements, or usability improvements that support more efficient integrated hydrologic modelling.

The HydroGeoSphere June 2026 release is now available for download.

This month’s update focuses on improving parallel performance, reducing memory usage, enhancing error checking, and expanding visualization and output options. Together, these updates improve model efficiency, simplify debugging, and provide new ways to export and visualize simulation results in HydroGeoSphere (HGS).

New boundary condition output command

• New command csv output generates nodal flux output as a CSV file at each output time.

• These CSV outputs can be readily parsed and visualized in tools such as ParaView.

New Tecplot export command

• New command chosen faces to tecplot exports the current face selection to a Tecplot ASCII file.

• This simplifies visualization and debugging of selected face sets.

Improved unsaturated table error checking

• Enhanced error and bounds checking when reading unsaturated tables for the porous medium, dual continuum, and discrete fracture domains.

• This provides more robust validation of input data and helps identify issues earlier in the model setup process.

Improved performance and memory efficiency

• Refactored hgs2vtu to prevent identical warning messages from repeatedly filling the log file. Warnings are now reported once on first occurrence and then suppressed.

• Refactored grok and HGS parallelization to improve parallel efficiency and reduce unnecessary memory usage.

• Refactored preconditioner construction to improve memory efficiency and strengthen error checking.

Fix for boundary condition diagnostic output

• Resolved a formatting issue in the diagnostic output generated by the boundary condition commands bound time-file table and bound time-file table to surface elevation offset.

• This ensures clearer and more consistent reporting when using these boundary condition options.

Fix for interpolated observation points

• Corrected a bug in the interpolated observation point commands that could result in values being interpolated at an incorrect z-coordinate.

• This improves the accuracy of interpolated observation point outputs.

You can find details about these new features in the HydroGeoSphere Reference Manual. And as always, we are committed to the continued improvement of the user experience. Do you have suggestions for new commands or improvements to the user experience? Send your ideas to support@aquanty.com!

Coreutils for Windows: Installer & Packaging

Rust 3.4k Updated Jun 5

One of the most common phrases I hear from early-career engineers at the end of meetings is

“No questions.”

It sounds harmless. Polite, even.

But in many situations, it is a missed opportunity.

The problem isn’t that you don’t have questions. The problem is that you’re treating questions as a tool for clearing confusion rather than a tool for creating value.

As engineers grow in their careers, the quality of their questions often becomes a stronger differentiator than the quality of their answers.

There are several reasons people default to it:

• They don’t want to appear uninformed and unsmart.
• They don’t want to extend the meeting.
• They genuinely have nothing to ask.

On the surface, these seem reasonable.

But experienced engineers rarely use meetings only to receive information. They use meetings to improve decisions.

That mindset changes everything.

Many engineers think questions exist to fill knowledge gaps.

Senior engineers often use questions to expose decision gaps.

Notice the difference.

“I understand the requirement.”

“What could go wrong with this requirement?”

The second approach frequently produces more value.

These help you understand.

Example:

“When the customer says real-time updates, what latency target are we aiming for?”

These are useful, but they’re only the starting point.

These uncover hidden risks.

Example:

“We’re assuming all users will be online during synchronization. What happens if they’re offline for several days?”

This type of question often prevents future production incidents.

These help the entire team.

Example:

“If both approaches satisfy the requirement, what factor is driving the final choice — cost, timeline, or maintainability?”

Now you’re contributing to decision quality rather than merely consuming information.

Instead of asking yourself:

“Do I have any questions?”

Ask:

“Is there any uncertainty, assumption, trade-off, or risk that hasn’t been discussed? ”

This subtle shift dramatically improves the quality of your participation.

Many valuable questions emerge only when you think about the system rather than your own understanding.

Imagine a meeting discussing a new feature rollout.

Everyone appears aligned.

You have no questions because the plan seems straightforward.

Two weeks later:

• Operations discovers deployment complexity.
• Support teams weren’t informed.
• Performance assumptions prove incorrect.

Often, these failures were visible during the meeting.

Nobody asked the question.

The engineer who asks thoughtful questions isn’t slowing the team down.

They’re reducing future rework.

Early-career engineers often believe visibility comes from speaking more.

In reality, visibility comes from improving outcomes.

Managers remember engineers who consistently ask questions like:

• “What is the rollback strategy?”
• “How will we measure success?”
• “What assumptions are we making?”
• “What happens if adoption exceeds expectations?”

These questions demonstrate ownership, systems thinking, and judgment.

Three traits that organizations reward.

Not every meeting requires a question.

Forcing questions can be just as unhelpful as asking none.

If:

• The topic is routine.
• The decision is already settled.
• The risks are understood.
• And you genuinely have nothing to add.

Then silence is perfectly acceptable.

The goal is not to ask more questions.

The goal is to ask better questions.

Questions are not evidence that you don’t understand. They’re evidence that you’re thinking beyond your own understanding.

The fastest way to grow from an engineer who receives decisions to an engineer who shapes decisions is to learn how to ask questions that improve the outcome.

Why Junior Engineers Should Never Say “No Questions” at the End of a Meeting was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is the land where major cleanup issues are never resolved, they simply disappear and die. From DNAPLS to Stroh Drain, Optimization to refusal to hydraulically contain all aquifers on the Lanxess site to other industrial sources present in Elmira and ignored for decades to the gross coverup for decades of the Varnicolor Chemical site; it's been one series of lies and deceptions after another.

Another huge issue is why Varnicolor a recycler of used solvents supposedly never had any chlorobenzene on their site.  Who are they kidding? Chlorobenzene is a major solvent used both as an intermediary in many chemical reactions as well as a primary solvent involved with paints and dyes yet we are to believe that absolutely zero was found in and under the soils of Varnicolor's Union St. site. 

Other unanswered questions include why the groundwater cleanup at Motiveair on First St. was kept hidden from the public as well as from CPAC and UPAC. Yes the cleanup was caused by Varnicolor's negligence and poor solvent handling but clearly the MECP and others did not want the public or myself to find out about that.  There are also a number of unanswered questions to this day about Varnicolor's property on Union St. as well as the one (called TriUnion years agio) located on Howard Ave. Finally where did the only recently admitted free phase DNAPL located by the Howard St. Water Tower and OW57-32R come from? Who was the source: Varnicolor, Borg Textiles, Uniroyal Chemical?

These unanswered questions are why Woolwich Township, Lanxess, the MECP and others have frozen me out as much as possible from cleanup participation and discussions. Packs of liars congregate together. 

P.S. Tell us about other known spills in and around Elmira, Ontario over the decades and not just the garages and service stations.