This is what Anna and I get to do all day tomorrow - bind papers into little conference books. 
What has brought us to this point?
1) people have no respect for deadlines - unfortunately our deadlines don't change which just means we have to do more things in less time because we couldn't finalize anything until this morning (getting things from people that were supposed to be sent to her on the 24th of last month is all Anna's been doing this week!),
2) we are state employees - which means instead of getting to send this to say Kinkos where we would just go pick up our finished conference books we need to spend endless hours of our lives binding them ourselves (you see the state doesn't actually consider my time an expense, however, Kinkos is an expense...logic has never been government's strong point)
3) the copier decided to copy some pages, but not all and sometimes just for the fun of it copy 2 of some things when there was supposed to be 1 - this lead to us needing to check through every single stack of papers that needed to be added into the conference book to make sure everything was there...not so great on the efficiency side of life, which means it took much more of today getting the piles of copies before we could start binding
4) and lastly because we are working with equipment that was probably made before I was ever a twinkle in my parent's eye - it was a 20 minute ordeal just to get the first book made. Time per book has decreased significantly, however, it is still not fast by any stretch of the imagination. There is no good way to explain how absurd it is. Jason took a video of us because we were all cracking up at the fact we really need to make 150 books in this manner.
So, wish us luck - tomorrow will hopefully be my last working Saturday for a LONG time! I am going to need some major vacation when this event is over. I was possibly going to Africa for the last week of the month (I know only in my world does one 'possibly go to Africa in a few weeks') but due to court dates and work travel dates not cooperating with each other I won't get to go with my aunt to Ethiopia. :( Perhaps I will just take vacation that week anyway and sit on my couch :)
Can I bring you ladies some lunch tomorrow while you work?
ReplyDeleteYou're insane!!! But we love you anyway:-) Glad you'll get a break soon!
ReplyDeleteYou have my total sympathy and I know you're both buried in this project but I still had to laugh when I saw the picture of your desk - my desk is never, ever that neat (even when I don't have an excuse). I can't remember the last time I could actually see the fake (state government issue) wood on the top of my desk.
ReplyDeletePS - I hope you appreciate the incredible restraint I am showing by not mentioning the 'view issue' even when I have the perfect opportunity ;)
I just gotta tell you that the fact you consider the state of your desk "really messy" had me laughing so hysterically that Laird and your dad had to come over here to see it. Yes, your dad is here -- today he and Laird installed two doors, two cabinets, and completely cleand the huge mess out of the basement, cleaned the drywall gunk off the floor, and then painted it! All the floor stuff happened while I was busy throwing desserts down my throat at a local fundraiser... good thing I brought some home for them. Whew, it's bedtime!
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