Getting the name of the closest 'job to do' based on dates

[thewrathful]

Hello,

I have a column from A1:A100 that has a list of jobs to do throughout the future
I have a column from B1:B100 that lists the days until i have to do the jobs by (this is based off the dates column going from D1:D100)

In cell C1 i would like a formula that brings up the closest job based on how close the date of the job is to now. Eg.

File database -6
Check resources -2
Find new substitute 15
Re-address tabs 87
Locate server branch 89

So the formula should bring up 'Find new substitute' as that is the closest job.

Just to confirm -is there a way to ignore negative values?- as i only want FUTURE jobs to be part of the formula. A negative would indicate the date has passed and is quite useless. My current formula is: {INDEX(A1:A100;MATCH(SMALL(B1:B100;ROW());B1:B100;0))} but this is quite useless. If i have 100 jobs it obviously works fine but if there are any blank cells it picks up the '-40219' amount. i don't want to keep moderating the formula all the time.





P.S my formula is in Openoffice but i can adjust it from any excel one. But please, NO MACROS!

Thank you guys!

[NBVC]

To find the first postitive value (assuming your numbers in Column B are in ascending order)

=INDEX($A$1:$A$100,MATCH(TRUE,INDEX($B$1:$B$100>0,0),0))

or if not in ascending order:

=INDEX($A$1:$A$100,MATCH(MIN(IF($B$1:$B$100>0,$B$1:$B$100),$B$1:$B$100))

confirmed with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER