Moments 735: On fire!

I've officially been a full time student for a month now.  It has been an interesting transition going from a full-time career driven person to a student.  I've been an active working citizen since I was 15 and hey, if you include my paper-route, I was working, making money, since I was 11 years old.  So imagine, having been a part of the work force for nearly 3 decades and then suddenly not being.

Yes.  It's been an interesting transition.

But I have been enjoying it.  I'm on fire with all my classes.  Six of them actually.  I only have 7 to finish off before I'm done my degree, so there is one straggler that I'll need to take this coming fall (but only because it's not offered in the winter!).  It's so close I can IMAGINE the finish line.  Only 72 days left before 98% of my degree is DONE.  (Yes - I'm counting down!)

So how is it that I'm juggling 6 classes, marketing for a new book written by my most awesome guy and helping a friend out with his resume?  Time Management.  It's all about knowing what is coming, when it's due and how much time it's going to take to get things ready.  

So what did I do to find balance in my new world?  I created a spreadsheet.  I know, I know, I get teased all the time for "putting my life" into a spreadsheet, but hey, it works!  Six classes, colour coded with expected deliverable dates; it's a quick easy visual way to understand what is happening and how I need to focus my time.  From that quick list, I set up weekly appointments detailing out all my readings and assignments that need to be done on a weekly basis.  Whenever I have a spare moment, I have a textbook in hand reading.

So far, it's been an interesting shift.  The first week, I was lazy about it.  The second week I woke up and realized that this was real and happening and sorted myself out and started the "catch up game" with my list of "to do's".  Last week, I started four projects, three of which were due this week and one big one due next week.  It feels good to really dive in.

Yes, I'm on fire.

Here we go, blazing a trail.

Moments realizing that you have a new path.
Moments recognizing you are in the groove of that new path!

Moments D640: Removing Objects

Okay.  I'll admit it.  I'm an Excel geek.  Yes.  That's right.  Microsoft Excel.  I have even had a friend once create a fake booklet of "Excel for Dummies" with me on the cover dressed up as a teacher.

Seriously.  I know.  It's bad.  Please.  Stop laughing.

Between work and school, I do much in the world of Excel and for the most part, I know a lot of short cuts and tricks that are obscure and rarely helpful.

But once in awhile, I am stumped and I need to use the {gasp} help feature built into the program.

Today, I found myself wondering how to remove objects (images, check boxes, etc.) imported into a spreadsheet that were unnecessary in my file.  Sure you can delete them manually, but what the heck do you do if there are hundreds of objects to deal with?  Manually delete them all?  No way.  There had to be an easier way.  The help feature failed me.  Really?  Was it not possible?  No.  That couldn't be.

And then I found it.  Within seconds of googling "remove objects from Excel spreadsheet" I found this.  Three seconds later all 200+ objects in my spreadsheet vanished.

BRILLIANT!  Tons of time saved by that quick stroke of keys.

How on earth did I live without the wonderous amounts of random, rarely used information found online?

Now I know how to remove objects from a spreadsheet.  It made my day and that knowledge allows me to dust off my geek badge a touch.  That makes me smile.

Moments being frustrated by a silly problem.

Moments finding an easy solution and sharing it with the world.