The Mundane Task of Data Logging

There are many ways to look at a situation, in general, either a positive or negative way. What may seem like a good thing may turn out bad and what may seem like a disastrous turn of events could have some hidden sliver lining.
I was busy doing some data-entry work earlier this morning when I accidentally closed the whole file, in the process deleting 3 hours of painstaking work. I went all white as I tried in vain to recover the file from all possible sources. 3 whole hours of work... gone at the click of a button. I must admit I was rather pissed and seriously felt like throwing the whole laptop into the dustbin... 3 whole hours of hacking away at the keyboard... not easy for someone like me. Anyway I proceeded to play around with the various controls and learnt the joy of "vlookup" on excel and subsequently managed to re patch all my values from another worksheet back into the files... all in 10 mins... phew... Lessons learnt are as follows:

1.) Keep calm when pissed
2.) Save the work every 2 mins
3.) Read before you click anything

What an adrenaline rush at the desk today. Well at least I got all that out of the way for the morning. I doubt I'll have much to do this afternoon but... I shan't speak so soon.

I went for a 45 min bike ride with my dad last night and I must admit, it was time very well spent. We talked a lot about life and other stuff as we cycled around the neighbourhood and through the various park connectors. The night was crisp and refreshing as the showers late in the afternoon really cooled things down. My dad works outstation so his time back in Singapore is really quality time. I guess among my parents my dad is the one with the cool head. From him I learnt how to take things in my stride and really think before acting. "Always remember, 5 by 5 and all will be well" he said. "5 by 5" means when faced with a difficult situation be it a confrontation, difficult task etc, take 5 steps back and wait 5 mins before making an decision. This gives one the time and space to really rationalize things and hopefully make a wiser choice. Really applicable to a hot-headed individual like me I must say. Really am looking forward to more quality time like that.

I guess as 2007 drew to a close, I realised that whatever I have done in the past has affected the situation I am in now and whatever I do now will affect me as I travel down the arduous path called life. Certain events have definitely left an impact in me and despite those instances being really bad ones, I am glad I learnt from it and hopefully do not make the same mistakes again. "History repeats itself". How very true a saying. 2007 made me a wiser person and I hope 2008 will make me a successful one. :)

My manager isn't in today again due to sever gastric problems and all, so I am pretty much left alone for today. Most probably I am going to finish up with a bit more work before heading for lunch. Wednesday... that leaves Thursday and Friday before the weekend arrives... ahh... Going to start planning for it now. Hopefully I will be able to catch some good movies too.. 3.10 to Yuma looks good... :)

Till the next entry.