Flat Bananas

Well, the puppy continues to waltz.

Several hundred tasks spread across eight departments each with it's own file of task lists and each with a several people responsible. All of the files at various stages of development and all needing to be tied together with a bright ribbon. It is not easy an easy thing to turn inside out and get back upright. I’m getting there, though.

Yesterday I finished what I can do, so I think things are on track. I'm feeling a bit more comfortable because I sent what I had accomplished off to the director who's running this, and he gave it a thumbs up. I’ll find out more in a couple of hours when the team that’s driving the effort meets. That’s when I’ll unveil what I’ve done in front of the other directors and the CEO.

Thumbs up or thumbs down won’t really matter because I’ve done the best I can given the direction I was provided. I used my judgement where warranted - kept milestones that don't really belong in this file in the group because we have to keep an eye on them and so on. Nothing major, nothing un-do-able which is key.

More important than anything is that I haven’t missed anything. I checked. Aside from that, if someone does want to go back and look for some reason, the original files are still there, still intact and untouched. Oh, the beauty of copy and paste!

Then it will become a maintenance issue and I can go back to doing my daily work – which involves my database and stuff. That I’m not looking forward to because about a year or so ago I got a bunch of file boxes dumped on me. One office was moving and they decided I’d be a good repository for their stuff, so they sent their stuff to me – boxes of it.

It's a mess. Folders of papers that seem to bear no relation to much else in the folder - like a tangible black hole or something.

"Just toss it in, Mildred! No one'll miss it!"

Apparently no one has because it's still there a year later. But some of these things will expire and I need to know when (hopefully, not yet).

I've gotten the easy things done already. Now it’s down to the nitty-gritty of junk files to weed through.  One paper here, in this pile, six over there in that, is this related to the other thing and trying to decipher when I know that I don’t know. It’s called experience, right?

That’s what I’m heavily relying upon. The experience in this kind of puzzle building. Pick up the piece and turn it around, examine it and decide whether it fits. If not, put it down and pick up the next. Eventually, it will slot into place – it’s just a question of when.

I like puzzles, though. I have a couple of 2000 piece jigsaws at home and when I get in the mood I’ll roll out the felt and get to work. My all time favorite puzzle though was called ‘Flat Banana’. It was solid yellow, except for a label. My brain hurt after I did it and I did it several times. The only landmarks were the label and the manufacturer’s mark along the bottom border.

That's a picture of the box, and the puzzle looks a lot like that, except it has lines, when it's done. The lines are the only thing that's different. There's no picture. It's an object of and exercise in torment and determination.

Well, I'm off to get my day started - a meeting in three hours and a puzzle in five.

Have a lovely day!

Best~
Philippa

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