Still Behind But Catching Up

As you have most certainly noticed at this point, I am a little behind in writing blog posts (again). There was little time while we were away to write anything and when I did have a free moment or two there were a slew of emails that need to be sent. When those were done I decided to upload the pictures from the camera and sort through them rather than writing the posts to accompany them. I am actually glad that I did it this way as I was able to organize the hundreds of images making the subsequent writing much easier.

I am slowly catching up but still have a lot of work ahead of me all the while the amount of free time seems to be evaporating with every project that we have been putting off can’t be delayed any longer. There is some overdue cleaning that insidiously welcomed us back after our time away and there is a lot of organization that has been a nonstarter up to this point as well (mostly in our offices). And, of course, there is the readjustment back to our daily routines and the various tasks at work that seem to be convening this month just as I am just starting to get back ahead of things at the office.  

With that said, I am slowly getting the backlog of posts written and actually beginning to plan a fair amount of future posts as there are a lot of topic that I hope to cover in future days, weeks, and months as well as a number of places, events, and news items that I am planning on revisiting. There are also a few things marked on my calendar that should provide a bit of fodder for the blog. While I like to be a bit more ‘in the moment’ with these posts, having a good list of topics and ideas is a great way to prevent the long periods of inactivity due to a lack of material (the worst kind of gap).

However, while I have a long list of topics, subjects, and events that I will be writing about, I welcome any suggestions that you might have. After all, you are the ones that are reading these posts every day (even when they aren’t quite fresh given the number of views I received absent of new content). Additionally, I welcome guest posts, especially those from family members about our genealogy as well as submissions from other families about some of the interesting stories and discoveries that they have found. Hopefully, there will be a few such post in the future but, in the meantime, if you don’t have the time to write feel free to share your idea in the comments below. Maybe it will be the subject of a future post.

Falling Behind for Good Reason

My blog schedule sometimes has the same effect on people.

As it relates to this blog and the schedule that I keep trying to make sure everything is up to date it has been an interesting year to say the least. While I maintain this space as a place for daily posts and schedule them accordingly, there have been instances when I have fallen behind and for good reason. But, in the end, I always make up for the lost time and posts in order to return continuity to the project.

In addition to a routine that has taken a radical left turn in the last few months, there have been a couple of events that have caused my disappearance from this blog. The first significant one was when my son was born. Days in the hospital, lack of sleep, and a complete shift in focus completely pulled me away from writing these posts and from just about anything else in the world that didn’t involve our son. It was well over a week before I was able to get things back on track.

The other large gap that I can recall was just over a week ago when I was hit by a sudden and nasty case of food poisoning. I try to get ahead and write a few things here and there that I can archive for a future date but that has not been happening as frequently as I would like and they are used too often due to a lack of available time and an ever changing schedule. Only now am I able to finally catch up and get things on track again. I guess we will just have to see how long this one lasts.

I am till in the process of finding a few guest bloggers on a variety of topics in order to alleviate a little of the scheduling demands but thus far it has been difficult to find people to make the commitment. In the meantime, I will just keep writing. Some of the post will be a bit of a ramble like this one while others will be a little more opinionated, interesting, and/or research based. As many of you have found out, you really don’t know what to expect on most days and to be honest there are a lot of days when I have no idea what is going to be posted either.

So, I guess if you want to be picky, this hasn’t really been a daily blog. It has been a nearly daily blog but there has been no hiding that fact as anyone who follows my posts has noticed that from time to time there are some days that go by without a new entry and, all of the sudden, I am caught up a few days later. Heck, if you are reading this post you will notice that it didn’t quite make it up in time for the day that it was scheduled.

Last Minute Notice

Sometimes we all forget about things until the last minute and we have to rush to get them done. It happens to all of us at one point or another. This was the case when I was finishing up some work on my computer late on Friday night when I realized that we had not finalized the lodge notice for the month. With all of the end of the year things that we have been working on is simply slipped our minds and was in limbo for much of the holiday season.

Thankfully the stated meeting was postponed for a week due to the holiday so we still had a little bit of time to get it done. We had both dropped the ball on this one but, fortunately, there was still enough time to pick it up and make the play. By 8am the following morning, we had a rough draft in place and I was able to edit and update the content that I needed to add. This was with no help from my lodge email which decided not to allow attachments during the process. By noon, everything had been finalized and the notices were being printed.

Of course, now that we had gotten it done and had arranged for a time to meet at the lodge to get all the mailings put together, the next bumps in the road presented themselves. On my way to Ardmore I had to take a quick detour to Staples to pick up stamps and envelopes as I have been unable to find the time to get the stamped and addresses envelopes from the post office. I guess a couple more steps won’t hurt us.

We got to the lodge in the mid afternoon and shortly after arrival I pulled out the address labels and noticed another step that we would have to take this month. Normally I go through the list beforehand and cross off all the brothers that get the notice emailed to them… when I looked at the labels it was clear that this had not been done and so I had to go by memory crossing off names that I was certain would receive the electronic version.

Even with all the extra steps we came together and got all the mailing done in under an hour. Not too bad and still faster than when I have to do it myself. Not a great way to start the New Year but at least it got done and it will make the rest of the year seem that much smoother. At least that is the hope.

Party Fallout And Leftovers

Friday morning we all got to the office a little later than usual. At least most of us as there were a couple that never made it in the door. It was a great party the night before but we were all a little tired (to say the least) from the long day out. It seemed to be a day when tasks took a little longer to complete and time just seemed to move a little slower than the previous day.

It didn’t take long before we all started looking at the clock trying to figure out when we would be able to pack up our things and head out the door for the much needed weekend. At the same time, many of us didn’t want to begin the trek home too soon as the rush hour traffic was a little off due to the deluge of children itching to take to the neighborhoods. Needless to say, I decided to stay a little longer than usual to make sure that I would be able to relax over the weekend without a mountain of projects hanging over me.

While the mountain still had a fairly substantial summit by the time I left, I was able to take care of all the things that were pushed back from the previous day due to the party prep and commute. With all the extra things swirling around us on Thursday, we all stumbled into the office in the morning with a growing list of things that we needed to accomplish right away or else our entire week would have been derailed. We all put our heads down and took care of what needed to be done but the list inevitably flowed right past the end of the day and into the weekend.

Knowing the day and the week that had just come to a prolonged end, it was not a surprise that I was the last one to get up from my desk, start the dishwasher, and make my way out to the barren parking lot. Now, with the weekend concluding, I am nearly up to date with everything that has to be done. I will still have to put things in overdrive in the morning to get caught up but I should be able to get back to even by the middle of the week… well, I hope that is the case. I guess we will have to wait and see and hope that all the other events this coming week done impede me as much as last week did. Anyway, back to the beginning of the week and another growing mount of projects.

However, there was leftover jars of cake which made my wife happy (at least for a minute or two)!

Just A Couple Minutes

Have you ever had one of those days when you are two minutes behind everything. Literally, two minutes behind schedule all day. That is the kind of day that I had today. Don’t misunderstand me, it was an excellent day. But no matter what I did I couldn’t make up those two minutes that escaped my grasp at 7:47 this morning. And that is especially bad when you day is full of meetings as mine was today.

Things could have been worse and I did make it to all my meetings within a reasonable margin. Two minutes is like the five second rule of scheduling. You can quickly drop the ball and fall a little behind but at some point you are going to pass the point of no return and you will get a look of disgust if you try and act like it’s no big deal.

At the end of the day I could have easily gotten back on schedule and home for the night but that is the most difficult time to stay on track and the reason is simple. We have way too much fun at the office. Nothing crazy we just all get along and share a similar sense of humor. Plus many of us, including me, can go off on a tangent like few others can. Get more than one of us in a room and you better buckle up. I’m like Robin Williams but not nearly as funny, with a little more sanity, and frequently boring.

Honestly, if you think I ramble on and on in writing you should meet me in person. I can usually keep myself in check (especially when I’m tired and/or have a really back headache) but when I get going it is really hard to stop me. Just ask some of the people I’ve gotten to know over the years. I am sure they will give and exhausted sounding sigh and confirm.

But I managed to get out of the office close to schedule today… only two minutes behind. And now I am sitting on the computer trying to make up for lost time by finishing up two Phillies blogs while keeping two eyes open and finishing my second beer in an office that is hotter than the second ring of hell. Don’t the old people in the building realize that cold preserves longer than heat. Just look at Ted Williams. Have you ever gotten an ice splinter? Those things hurt more than they should for something that size.