Playing Catch Up

The past couple of weeks have provided me with a seemingly endless stream of work. The kind of heavy flow that leave you searching for the cut off valve. While nothing that needs to be done is of any significant size, the volume of the work is what keeps growing.

The greatest hindrance to the whole thing really isn’t the things that I know that need to be done it is the collection of all the things that I keep forgetting about. The tasks and projects that have been put aside temporarily in order to take care of the faux urgent. Today was a perfect example of this as I was knocking things out at a pretty steady pace with what looked like an end point in site. Then my mind began churning and bringing to the forefront items that had been blocked out for days.

This really isn’t anything new. Sometimes it is what needs to be done in order to focus on more pressing matters. Sometimes it is because my mind is wandering about while I am typing. On the rare occasion, it is because I just zone out and things evaporate. Of course, there are the occasion where all of these fun things come into play as they play tetherball with my gray matter allowing me to catch a quick glimpse of a thought before sending it back to the forgotten files in the corner.

Is this a problem? No, not really. It doesn’t get in the way of getting things done on time. Maybe the occasional lapse of time between communications but nothing that would entail missing a deadline. In fact, it is my minds way of making sure that things get done. Even the best juggler has limits as to how many things they can keep afloat. Yes, it’s a cliché and I used it. If I tried to keep everything going on within easy mental reach it would be impossible to get things done. Even simple things would be a chore and choked with the thoughts of other unrelated projects. It would be like Bill Clinton at a sorority house slumber party… at some point you just freeze up and not be able to function even though you know what to do.

Basically, in order for some people to remain productive, you have to become stupid. I am talking about a liberal dose of stupidity that ensures you mind has a singular, however ridiculous, purpose. You have to do this while maintaining a damn good mental hard drive to pull things back up when needed. One project at a time because even the best computer can crash if you let it overheat (usually if you open up too many programs at the same time).

If needed, don’t be afraid to shut it down and smack the crap out of it… old school IT support is sometimes the best solution. With that said, time to revisit the land of the simple minded where liberal doses of stupidity are the norm and everything has a blue tint to it. Without all that pesky thinking I should be able to catch up sooner than I thought possible.

My Love And Hate Of Heavy Traffic

Well, we’re waiting for the snow to fall again. The most recent projections are for four to six inches which roughly translates to either a dusting or fifty degrees and sunny. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens. I am just going to prepare myself for blaring brake lights as soon as a flake hits someone’s windshield while driving to work in the morning.

I never understood the overreaction that overwhelms people while driving on the highway. The slightest amount of precipitation and you would think that the world is coming to an end. Half the people on the road slam on the brakes while most of the other seem to go as fast as they can in what looks like a feeble attempt to outrun the weather.

This was largely the case this morning on my way into the office. Fortunately, the traffic seemed to be light and I was even able to take the highway to work the entire way. Anyone who lives in the Philadelphia area knows that a smooth ride on the Schuylkill Expressway is a rarity. In fact, given the weather one would have thought that hell had frozen over with the road being so clear.  

While the roads were clear, the office was bumper to bumper emails and meetings all day. From the usual account work to lodge emails pouring into my personal account, it was a deluge of correspondence that seemed to never end and all I could do is keep throwing balls in the air in an attempt to juggle. It was one of those days that felt like sitting in traffic… just when you think things are opening up, more cars merge onto the interstate and slow you back down. While progress was made, it wasn’t the kind that you were expecting and by the time you got to the end of the day, there was a lot of things that had to be pushed back to the evening or the next day.

However, while I despise sitting in traffic (especially behind a Nissan with New Jersey plates) I enjoy the same feeling when it comes to work. There are always dozens of things that have to be done, emails that have to be sent out, projects that have to be completed, and writing that has to be created and edited. While there are a few days that can be considered ‘regular’, this is not your usual nine to five job. In what might deem a twisted way I love this work and the long hours that we all put in at the office as a team. Given the long days and the way we treat one another it really is more of a family than anything (quirks and all) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bring on the snow and bring on the traffic.