It is often said that past success does not guarantee future success. No one mentioned it could lead to current hassles.

I’ve mentioned before that a small software glitch caused me to teach our oldest and youngest a few new “expressive” words (and more than a few snarls, growls and “are you shitting mes?”). What was especially frustrating was that the glitches were occurring in a spreadsheet I’d been using for over a decade with no trouble.

Granted, this year I decided to make changes, but the basic formulas remained the same. However, yesterday the spreadsheet decided to accept the data and not recognize the formulas. They were still there, but they weren’t working. I eventually got them working (after much “expressiveness” and then took the file to the school where I work and entered the data in the official spreadsheet.

The trouble is, the formulas weren’t working on the official spreadsheet either. They’ve also been in use for over a decade and the problems we have with them are usually user error.

I used my trick to get them working and it forced the formulas to work but didn’t fix the problem. New data led to the need for new “fixes”.

Granted, there’s probably a simple fix to all this, although finding it on a Japanese version of the software isn’t always that easy. We also run the risk of marks being wrong which, this time of year, is more of an annoyance than a problem, but it can lead to complaints from students and parents.

I’ll try to figure it all out tomorrow. In the process my Japanese colleagues may learn a few new “expressive” phrases.