spreadsheetJanitor

I give everything and receive nothing in return. The bane of my existence, and yet I cannot keep away. Sometimes I suspect that this relationship may be abusive.

I am speaking, of course, about databases. Specifically, the one which I have spent months updating. I didn't need to do it, but I volunteered and once I was in it, I was determined to do it right. I'm coming close to achieving my goal now, and there's the constant fear that at this last minute, something will destroy all the previous work.

There were three stages to the database update: cataloging all the items we needed datasheets for, obtaining the datasheets, and updating the old database to reflect the new information. For the first two stages, I had people helping me - and now, looking at how many mistakes they made which I now have to painstakingly correct, I wonder why I bothered getting help. I don't mean to sound snotty here, and I myself certainly do make mistakes myself. It's just that some of the mistakes they made are of a scale which makes me question if they were taking this seriously at all.

Well, this last part is solo, since I'm the only person who'll be working on this during the Christmas break. Hopefully I'll be able to fix everything and get it running by the new year.

So. Christmas. My first one alone.

Anyone who surmised that I'm burying myself in work to take my mind off it is absolutely correct. I don't want to think about how every other Christmas I've ever had was with my family. I don't want to think about the roast chicken and bean salad and baked potatoes and my mother's fruit salad which I'm missing on. I don't want to think about the plum pudding which, every year, my father would attempt to set fire to and fail. I don't want to think about home.

I'm not doing a very good job of it, am I?

Everything will be closed tomorrow, because Australians take Christmas Day very seriously. So it really will be me and my own company tomorrow.

No wishlist this year, but what I would like, if you are reading this, is to send me an email or add a comment below. A simple "Hi" would suffice. All I want for Christmas is to know I'm not alone.

Even if you don't say anything, I wish peace and goodwill to all of you.