diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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 # SLURM Database Characterization
 
+## Data 
+
+I got a database dump as my input data. With some light research, it looks like it *is* technically possible to read this in directly to python and a pandas dataframe, but.... I don't want to do that, because it seems pretty hairy.
+
+So....
+
+First things first, I decided to convert it to CSV.
+
+Based on https://blog.twineworks.com/converting-a-mysql-dump-to-csv-files-b5e92d7cc5dd
+
+I used 
+
+```
+cat slurmdb_backup_20190417_031528 | dos2unix | gawk -f split.awk 
+```
+
+where split.awk is from https://gist.github.com/slawo-ch/894349427655d22398f825dc535a40f0#file-split-awk
+
+and slurmdb_backup_20190417_031528 is the unzipped database dump.
+
+The output of the conversion spits out files which look something like the below
+
+```acct_coord_table.sql       slurm_cluster_assoc_table.csv              slurm_cluster_resv_table.csv              slurm_cluster_wckey_usage_month_table.sql
+acct_table.csv             slurm_cluster_assoc_table.sql              slurm_cluster_resv_table.sql              split.awk
+acct_table.sql             slurm_cluster_assoc_usage_day_table.csv    slurm_cluster_step_table.csv              table.csv
+clus_res_table.sql         slurm_cluster_assoc_usage_day_table.sql    slurm_cluster_step_table.sql              table_defs_table.csv
+cluster_table.csv          slurm_cluster_assoc_usage_hour_table.csv   slurm_cluster_suspend_table.sql           table_defs_table.sql
+cluster_table.sql          slurm_cluster_assoc_usage_hour_table.sql   slurm_cluster_usage_day_table.csv         table.sql
+convert_version_table.csv  slurm_cluster_assoc_usage_month_table.csv  slurm_cluster_usage_day_table.sql         tres_table.csv
+convert_version_table.sql  slurm_cluster_assoc_usage_month_table.sql  slurm_cluster_usage_hour_table.csv        tres_table.sql
+federation_table.sql       slurm_cluster_event_table.csv              slurm_cluster_usage_hour_table.sql        txn_table.csv
+header.sql                 slurm_cluster_event_table.sql              slurm_cluster_usage_month_table.csv       txn_table.sql
+qos_table.csv              slurm_cluster_job_table.csv                slurm_cluster_usage_month_table.sql       user_table.csv
+qos_table.sql              slurm_cluster_job_table.sql                slurm_cluster_wckey_table.sql             user_table.sql
+README.md                  slurm_cluster_last_ran_table.csv           slurm_cluster_wckey_usage_day_table.sql
+res_table.sql              slurm_cluster_last_ran_table.sql           slurm_cluster_wckey_usage_hour_table.sql
+```
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