Why do you need to "automate" an action you're expecting to perform, in the happy case, once in a lifetime?
I'm not sure what the OP had to learn exactly in doing this, or whether he knew it all already, but it's far easier to learn stuff when you have a practical application to apply what you're learning to.
This is such an example, and other people could learn a thing by the approach.
(Although personally I agree, automating is often premature optimisation)