Archive for January, 2012

Timesheet template (calc, LibreOffice) for 2012

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Just in time (almost) for a new year I finished my basic timesheet for 2012 and if you’re interested, you can download itĀ from here: timesheet-2012 (right-click and select “Save as…”).

What it contains:
-Months split into sheets, preceded by an overview sheet
-Adjustable settings for working hours per day
-All time fields are formatted to show a 24 hour clock.
-Weekends, holidays and days with reduced working hours are marked in different colors
-Swiss holidays resp. holidays for the city of Zurich (all in English)
-Some working days come with reduced working hours or half-days, these are included as well.

What it does:
-After you enter your starting time, finishing time and how much time you spent at lunch, the sheet will update the monthly total which in turn will update the total in the Overview sheet.
-Compares your daily efforts to the working hours per day and calculates a positive or negative overtime total, incl. red coloured negative overtime hours

What it does not do:
-Update itself for the next year. If you want the same timesheet for next year, you have to manually update the weekend color markings
-Adjust the holidays to different regions or countries. Frankly speaking, it’s all hard-coded šŸ™
-Allow for several entries per day e.g. if you work from 8am to 10am, from 1pm to 3pm and finally from 7pm to 9pm you will have to enter e.g. starting time 8am / finishing time 9pm / break 07:00 (3 hours + 4 hours)
-Convert your spreadsheet to a nicely formatted, printable output.

Notes:
If you’re unhappy with my timesheet, feel free to use it as a basis for your own (hopefully) improved version. Here are some learning steps I had to take:

-Calculating time difference in Calc (or any other spreadsheet software?) is a bitch. The crucial point is the cell formatting, not the cell formula. Most likely, you will have to customize an existing format. Have a look at the formatting of any cell in the “+/-” columns.
-Colored results are easy. Again, have a look at the formatting of any cell in the “+/-” columns.
-Copying a formula from one cell to anotherĀ  will automatically adjust the referenced cells in the formula. You probably knew that and I knew it too. To prevent this from happening: precede a cell reference with a “$” e.g. “=F16” should be written as “=$F$16”. Maybe you knew that as well. BUT! Did you also knew that references are also shifted per sheet when you copy sheets?
If you happen to have two sheets (“Overview”, “January”) with a reference of “=Overview.C18” in the cell A3 in the “January” sheet and you copy the “January” sheet, rename it “February” and place it before the last sheet, the “=Overview.C18” reference will automatically be adjusted to “=January.C18”. Apparently, these references don’t refer to a sheet’s name by default (as expected?) but refer to the relative order in which the sheets are ordered. In order to fixate a reference across sheets, use the “$” again e.g. “=Overview.C18” should be “=$Overview.$C$18”

Last but not least, you can password-protect your sheet. Select “Save As…” and check the “Save With Password” checkbox at the bottom of the Save dialogue.

HTH some…

Damn weather! *grmbl*

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

There are those days when you get the feeling everybody or everything hates you… e.g. this morning I got up and saw that it’s raining outside. Nothing spectacular so far but none of the shoes I wear day in and day out are water-proof. One pair leaks, the other pair is made of a non water-resistant fabric. And don’t get me started on the sandals…
As I don’t like the feeling of clummy, cold and wet socks, I decided to wear my hiking shoes while commuting just to keep my feet dry. My exact thoughts were “I’ll wear the hiking shoes so my socks won’t get wet.”
I usually walk to the train station to get some exercise. The walk takes about 18 to 20 minutes. It was already raining when I left the house but it was a slight drizzle. However, after a couple of minutes it started raining really hard and some more minutes later my jacket was dripping, my trousers were clammy and wet and water started running down my shoulders and also into my trousers. When I arrived at the train station, everything was wet except for my head which was protected by a cap and my socks, thanks to my hiking shoes.
My wish had come true.

Here’s the conclusion:

If God exists (which he doesn’t), he/she/it is either…
-a sadist
-a child
-a foreigner who does not speak my lingo

Why?
The postulate “I’ll wear the hiking shoes so my socks won’t get wet” does not mean “as long as my sock stay dry, I don’t care about the rest”.
If you get this wrong and act ‘to make it so’, then it’s either “on purpose” (sadist), you’re just screwing around with people (child) or it’s an honest mistake because you have no clue what’s going (foreigner not speaking the lingo).
It’s a moot point to discuss somebody who does not exist but given the evidence in the People’s collection on what they conceive to be a collection of texts written by somebody who does not exist, “sadist” and/or “foreigner who does not speak the lingo” are the most likeliest explanations. They’re not mutually exclusive and given the time and location of some collected stories, the “foreigner” thesis would explain a lot.

Even though I have been in my office for two hours now, my clothes are still not completely dry. What a start to this day….

All the best for 2012!

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Hi everybody!

2011 is over and done, welcome to 2012. May you find peace, self-fulfillment and happiness all year round. If you’ve been reading my posts, please continue to do so in the future ^_^

Cheers!