Aargh

"Math is inescapable" I thought, listening to Ronan's discourse on the computation of performance indices and their relationships (I refuse to use the word correlation, for fear of turning into Paulie, who has lately been having statistics and MS Excel for lunch). It's everywhere. Remember the old high school we-don't-use-it-in-the-kitchen adage? Our teachers were too kind to mention it's all going to catch up with us in our old age anyway.

I have always thought that numbers are man's way of explaining the unexplainable. Everything needs to have an equation, so we use numbers as a crutch. Why does X happen? Because Y divided by Z says so. When Q gets multiplied by the square root of the hypotenuse, A happens. We're now in control.

Especially in a BPO. I find myself calling things by abbreviations, mentioning numbers, making decisions based on statistics. It's no use trying to avoid math.

Another thing we can't avoid: Ronan's leaving. It's like a gaping hole in our collective unconscious. Our dear leader is gone. I can't blame him - it's greener pastures, more responsibility and we all wish him the best.

No one can replace Ronan. In a way this is my tribute to him - his ability to project positivity at all times, regardless of what's going on in his personal life; his patience and understanding; his mind-boggling secret formula of big words + abbreviations; his habit of suddenly bursting into song. Ronan is many things. A little boy in a grown man's body; at times, an old sage in a relatively young man's body. He embodies tenacity, focus, drive. He can seem laissez-faire and all over the place, like an octopus playing the drums. But, this is what makes him Ronan. We will miss him. He is one of the very few people I know who has the ability to mesh with everyone, at some basic level.

He'll still be in the same company though, but that's cold comfort. Still, this is what growth is all about; it hurts, and adjustments have to be made. For the longest time, he's been the one we all run to when we're not sure of anything, and to be robbed of that feeling of security, it's like trying to find our balance in a world where everything's shifted.

At least we still have Jet and Darwin, the Dynamic Duo. It shouldn't be so bad. We aren't the babies we were last year; there's nowhere else to go but up.