What's the point?

Why are we working today? I have heard rumor of it being a half-day... wait... maybe that's the rumor I started in hopes that it would catch on. Either way, it seems like no one should be here right now. It's almost 8:30 and I'm already out of stuff to do. That usually doesn't happen 'till at least 10:00. I suppose I could do pointless projects that no one else wants to do (i.e. cleaning the fridge, archiving, etc). Yesterday I got some experience in dealing with NSF checks. Why would a company that is run by adults who (I assume) want to have a successful business, pay with a check when they don't have the funds? It's just sad that some builders do this.

Oi! It's going to be 2010! "two-k-ten!" "twenty-ten" "two thousand and ten" "o-ten". I think it will end up being "twenty-ten" because 2012 has been referred to as "twenty-twelve" too often and too recently to leave the English language unaffected. Dumb movies and pop culture.

I would love to philosophize about news years, new beginnings, new problems, new joys, new smells, and never forget: New reasons to develop a bad habit; but I really can't bring myself to approach the new year in this typical "fresh look on life" manner. I don't see what the big deal with a new year is. It's the progression of time. This sort of thing is always happening. I should celebrate 2:00 p.m. every day because it signifies the beginning of a new hour!

I'll make a big banner and hang it in my cubicle that says:

"HAPPY MID AFTERNOON"
You're done with work, but you can't go home yet!

I think that would about the same thing as making such a big deal about the coming and going of 365 days (+or- a few minutes).

Maybe it's just that we need some sort of reminder that our own mortality. Perhaps we mark the progression of such an odd number of days because we need to identify our own timeline.

With years:
"So Nathan ,when did you graduate?"
"2003, and yourself?"

Without years:
"So Nathan ,when did you graduate?"
"ummmm.... somewhere around 2200 days ago."

But even THAT statement recognizes the passing of time. A day is how we discuss time's passing at a quicker than normal rate, a year is passing at a normal rate, a decade is a longer than normal rate, a century is longer, and a millennium is epic.

A second is just as much a measurement of time as a year is. It's just that there's not enough stuff going on in one second to reminisce on. A day is too short and mundane to get sentimental about, a week is just another hump, a month is another progression, but a year is somehow significant.

That being said, I plan to celebrate my progression of 365 days (as well as an even decade) by being with my family and eating ham.

Did I do some philosophizing that I said I wouldn't do? Whoops

ran out of staples

I ran out of staples today

My Swingline is bone dry

I ran out of staples today

It makes me want to cry

Will my paperwork be doomed

to never leave the room?

Will forever be its fate

to be joined with scotch tape?

Lo! Behold! In the drawer I have found

plenty of refills; how they abound!

*click* *click* *click* is my stapler's sound.

I run out of staples at least once a day. Reloading them has become something of a game to me. Actually.. I tend to make a game out of everything.

Like paper clips.

There must be some significant mathematical proportion between the turnover rate of incoming paper clips against outgoing paperclips

E.G.

(InPC/OutPC) = nature of work.

I have customers who require a Purchase Order (PO), an Invoice (Inv), and a Delivery Ticket (DT) before being able to recieve their bill. PO+Inv+DT= we get paid. In these cases I will often have the PO+Inv without a DT. These usually come last after the driver delivers. When this happens I have a PO+Inv matched together with a paperclip waiting in the customer folder for the DT.

When the DTs come in, they are usually paperclipped together based on driver load. I guess it helps them keep the papers together.

When I get the DTs, I remove the paper clips. I always use the removed paperclips when I combine PO+Inv. The new ones stay in a separate part of my desk.

So, to revise the equation:

(InPC/OutPC) = (PO+Inv/PO+Inv+DT)

If my proportion is high, then I'm recieving too many new Delivery Ticket packets that don't complete corresponding Invoice/PO waiting packets. I have too many PO+Inv waiting for a DT. Thus, I begin to use paperclips out of my own stock.

Sometimes the proportion is low and I have a pile of incoming paperclips on my desk. This means that I didn't have that many PO+Inv waiting for a DT at the end of the day. This is a good thing. It means I had alot of completed sets.

I'll try to track the trend to see if it remains true.

What does 'lunch break' mean anyways? Does it mean 'Come and talk to me with all these new problems while I'm not on the clock'? No. It means, 'I'm eating at my desk because the breakroom is filled with crazy people, but I'm still clocked out so leave me alone.'

I guess just being at my desk is enough for people to start yappin at me. I figured the food and drink sitting next to me would give it away, but ya know.. whatever.

Oh yea, by the way... why do some people act all angry and snappy at you without even telling you what you've done wrong? I'd rather understand what the imagined conflict is and resolve it rather than lay back and accept a bad attitude. If I've done something or if I am doing something that someone doesn't like, then TELL ME. Grrr... I think that's just a woman thing.

If a man is upset at another man they get it out in the open somehow. Women don't do that. They just keep doing what they're doing, but then there are little things they do to let you know that you are scum.

Haha.. So far I know my wife reads my little blog here, but no one else does. That may be a good thing for me. Online venting can be dangerous if it's viewed by the wrong people.

So work is so slow today. I moved archives from 2 years back yesterday and cleaned out the supply cupboard today. So apparently I've been filing my accounting money application sheets wrong and I'm just now being told about it. I know what I'll being doing for the next couple of hours after my lunch break.

Why is it that when someone else in the office sneezes they get enough 'bless you's to be annointed as a saint, but when I sneeze I get a funny look? Maybe because I have an explosive single sneeze that kind of sounds like a loud cough... I should just holler out "ACHOO" and see how that goes.

Back to work

Back at work

I'm just on my lunch break here at work. Mondays can be a little busy. This one is proving to be difficult. We had a nice drive back from East Texas. It is very nice to be back in our own soft bed again. I got a chance to try out the newest release of XBMC last night. I'm not sure if I like it or not. It did something weird with my movie library.
So work will kind of be a drag for the rest of the day. Time to finish lunch.

Christmas

Christmas has been awesome. Presents are great, but being with family has been better. The inlaws have been great. Right now we're all sitting around watching a Muppet Christmas Carol. It's more than a little corny, and they are all acting like it's just this hilarious thing. I guess that's what happens when you don't watch TV but once a month (or year), and what you watch is mostly Focus on the Family seminar tapes. I suppose the Muppets must be real entertaining from that perspective.
I am sick. I have been sick for about a month straight now. I still go to work because I have to make money, but I have never really been quite myself for the whole month of December. I hope next year I will be better! That's in... six days? So I may have a chance.

at the in-laws

So we're having Christmas with my in-laws. They are an fun bunch of people. My wife is from a big homeschool family. She had a not-so-friendly parting of ways before she took off for college. Before we got married I wanted to make sure there was complete reconciliation between them and her. There was a conversation that definitely began the process. At least it got everyone comfortable with the wedding. Since then we've all become close.
Being a homeschool family there is a tendency towards the quirky, eccentric, and just plain odd. "The Majority" doesn't have anything to do with this family and this family has nothing to do with it. They are by no means products of their various generations. Although pop culture doesn't directly shape them, the attempt to avoid pop culture has motivated them to change some things that would otherwise be innocent. Does that make sense? Why let something that is morally-neutral be defined by the view of the masses rather than your own opinions? Why, while trying to separate ourselves from sin, do we oppress objects with our condemnation? If it turns out that Hitler loved to eat steak before he did evil things, does that mean I should enjoy steak any less? No way.
Should be a fun weekend. Three days not at work and with my wife and kid!

Half Day

Today is a half day. I leave at noon. It's 12/24 so I suppose tonight is Christmas eve. Needless to say, work is going to drag along today. I don't think we're taking any new orders. We're just shipping out stuff from yesterday. (20 truck loads?) So we have a very meager stack of invoices, purchase orders, and delivery tickets to process and get out to the customer. It is very unlikely that I will take any kind of payment in today. I think there will come a point before 12:00 where we will resort to doing work that doesn't need to be done... or just doing nothing. I like that option better.

When I try to get stuff done ahead of schedule in most situations I find myself having incomplete information. Putting something off is not procrastination. That's such a dirty word! Putting something off allows time to gather perfect information on the project. In the long run it should create LESS work for you.

Like back in college... I wouldn't start a homework assignment until enough time had passed for the assignment to be revised. Some go-getter would always find a flaw in the teacher's instructions, or the teacher would make some correction or give you a little advice. I prefer to begin any work with all the intel I will need at every stage of the project.

Better to start off knowing everything you need to know than to find out at the end that you didn't know enough.

Or to put it in bonmot/bumper sticker format: "Figure it out now, cause you'll need to know it all later." Was that too generic? Maybe it was just pithy. Yeah... pithy.

Ooo.. I think I have some work to do.

My first "blog" entry in years is done at, because of, and inspired by my work.

I am writing at work due an abundance of available time. I am writing at work because when I do have stuff to do I can do it and still think of things to write. I am inspired by work to write because I need an outlet of creativity or I will cease to consider myself satisfied.

My employment by no means shapes my identity. It is and always will be a source of income to me. I am shaped by my beliefs as a follower of Christianity. That influences me in all I do. My family takes the level of priority. My wife and son are the reason I do so many things.

Ooo.. work is getting interesting. A check payment came to me today. It was for a non-charge account at another store location. I made an electronic deposit to the bank and faxed all info on the payment to the proper location so they could account for the money in whatever way they saw fit. (The ordering took place at the other store, but the cust payed for it here) So I just found out that when they ordered at the other store, they wanted to order on their account at MY location! HA!

So NOW I have to tell the other store not to do anything with that money, because I have to apply it to the non-charge account when the order is invoiced. It probably won't be invoiced today so that means I won't have anything to pay off with the money. It will just go on as unapplied money until tomorrow. Then I can use it to pay off that invoice. I do a lot of waiting here.

So, where was I? Yes. I care about my family. They are the best reason to get up and do a whole lot of stuff that I don't really want to do. Not that they make me want to do it anymore, it just makes it better knowing I can come home to them. Gotta do end of the day stuff! Almost time to go home.