projects | Piss and Moan

End nearing

The end of the staycation is here. It seems like the week (plus) went to fast that it is hard to think it was a week. I had so many plans, so many projects to work on, so many things to…well, get done.

As I ponder the return to work tomorrow, I wonder if I should just relax today or use the day productively and end the week with a bang. I have a few more projects that need to be done, so I could work on those. I wouldn’t finish any of them, but at least I would have made a good start. OR…I could just use the day to relax and just shuffle some papers around, clean up the email and desk at home. I can’t really decide what I want to do today.

I was successful in knocking a couple of the projects off this list this week. It wasn’t like the vacation wasn’t productive. However, several planned projects that I would like done outside didn’t get done, but it is raining today and I don’t really feel like going out and getting wet and muddy. I have a few small projects in the house and garage that I could do, but the motivation seems to be waning today…

So, I think I’ll mix it up and do some relaxing and small things today. Nothing that requires a lot of effort. Mentally prepare for returning to work tomorrow.

Does anyone else like to have a “buffer day” between vacation and returning to work? I have discovered that I kinda like it and purposely planned it that way. It’s a good way to make that transition, I think. What do you think? How do you like to use the last day of your vacation?

Warped

Posted on June 2, 2021 by backuphill

Continuing on the projects theme from yesterday, the gazebo has been started and so far things are going fairly well.

Except…

Except that there are quite a few pieces of the wood material that is warped. Not horribly, but enough that making the gazebo square, which it needs to be for the roof, which could prove to be a major challenge.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less. That’s the problem with these prefab kits you buy. Sure, all the pieces are cut to the right size, pre-drilled, and have all the components you’ll need but there is that one factor they just can’t account for – how much the wood will continue to warp once it is packaged.

Working on this kind of project also warps something else…my attitude.

I already have a warped sense of humor, so it doesn’t nothing for that.

Seriously though, warped wood sucks.

Here’s to straight boards, straight cuts, and no knots.

Projects, projects, and more projects

Posted on June 1, 2021 by backuphill

So, how do you know when you have too many irons in the fire? Is it that you just look at everything and can’t decide which is most important or where to start because they just all need to be done? Or is it that you look at everything and you just decide that you don’t know where to start and therefore just don nothing?

Currently, I have too many things going on that I can’t decide where to start, though there is a looking deadline of rain coming at the end of the week, so that dictates a little of the timeline.

Project one: I have a front yard that needs some attention. I have a hedge and a tree that need trimmed and some Sluggo (bait for slugs and snails) to put down. While these aren’t extremely time consuming and aren’t necessarily urgent, they are the final pieces to having the front yard cleaned up for the summer.

Project two: A garage sale purchase needs cleaned up and tested. The house gets exceptionally warm during hit weather, but there isn’t a heat pump to control the temp inside. So, while visiting a garage sale recently someone was selling a pretty decent portable AC unit for $25. It’s four years old and needs to be cleaned up. I had the guy run it before purchase and it appears to be operable, but it needs to be given some attention. Unfortunately, it won’t likely happen before the warmer weather this week.

Project three: The patio has been built in the back yard and a gazebo purchased. Spent most of the day yesterday working on putting wood sealant on it to further protect the wood into the future. Now the assembly of the gazebo needs to be done…a very time consuming task. Obviously, having it constructed before the weather comes in this weekend would be ideal as it would help to keep the water from hitting most of the wood. So, that seems to be the immediate winner of focus.

There are lots of other projects that needs to be done too, just none of those seem as pressing as these three.

When faced with a list of projects, how do you prioritize which ones get done first?

Sprung

Posted on April 23, 2021 by backuphill

Sorry for being (mostly) MIA this week.

A major project and presentation was sprung on me two days ago and I had/have less than nine days to get ready for it. Oh, and that also means I have to prep for it and plan it while still doing the rest of my job.

Sure, I have a team to help with it some, but in order to have them help I have to have interim meetings along the way…which means planning for those meetings…

Thankful for a job, but hating it these days.

Project list

Posted on April 8, 2021 by backuphill

Who else has a seemingly never ending project list at work?

I kid you not, every time I finally get to knock a project off my list three more get added. Or, let’s put it this way…every time I get close to the surface and can actually start treading water something grabs me and pulls me farther underwater.

Yes, I know I shouldn’t be complaining – job security and all.

But there is a point where you just feel like if they add one more you are going to break. Luckily, I am still working from the garage-office (or garoffice, if you will) and I can literally scream or yell when I need to. It really does let off steam, and it is slightly more productive than throwing office products.

They just keep piling it on and I am just lining it up. Deadlines? HA! I scoff at deadlines. You can’t keep piling this stuff up and think that deadlines are going to be met. When the work whistle goes off, I go home (well, I am already home so picture me turning off the light and walking out).

Anyway, how are you doing today? Do you have an overwhelming list of things to do, or are you good? Got good balance at work?

Commiserate with me. Spill your tactics for dealing with that overwhelming work load.

Slow day

Posted on December 22, 2020 by backuphill

The work day is crawling today.

There are barely any help tickets and the only thing left to do is work on projects…and I don’t want to.

Can we all just go home now?

Staring at the screen waiting for something to happen is mind numbing.

OK, fine, I’ll work on projects.

But I am not going to like it.

Stacked up

Posted on September 9, 2020 by backuphill

The work is stacking up and there is no sight to get it all done. Not any time soon.

More and more things are being added but nothing is being taken away. There is no time to focus on anything, so projects that would help clients aren’t getting done. Instead, dealing with “immediate needs” is eating up all our time.

I am not sure how I will be able to dig myself out of the backlog of work. My projects have been pushed and pushed and pushed.

Anyone else find it hard to go to (in whatever form that looks like) work when they are constantly feeling behind?

Project overload

Posted on June 22, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Spring and summer…

…mean projects.

Somehow, I keep adding projects to my list instead of actually finishing the ones I have already going. I am getting to project overload. Or is it projects overlord? Either way, I have enough to do for the rest of the summer.

I gotta stop this.

I can only track so many things at once. Men have “boxes” and too many “boxes” means that we can’t get anything done because we are trying to arrange and balance those “boxes.”

As such, focus is lost because now I am worrying about how to make those boxes work.

Time to dump boxes and focus on one.

Which is most important? One thing at a time. Please.

Day 4

Posted on April 9, 2020 by backuphill

Vacation, Day 4:

Irritation. Irritability. That’s what’s on the agenda today.

No plans and it sucks.

Mother Nature decided to give us the gift of sunny weather this week for spring break (it wasn’t supposed to be, plus this is the PNW where it rains all the time). The downside of this gift is that everyone is stuck at home: vacation plans cancelled, with money but don’t want to spend it on big projects because no one is sure how long the lockdown will last, and no place to go but the yard.

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

I guess I’ll wander aimlessly in the garage again today and see if I can find something else to put away or organize. I guess there is always more to do in there…

Vacation, Day 3 Update:

The murder plans went well. All the spray has been used. The results should be evident starting as soon as today, but for sure in a couple more days . No humans or pets were harmed.

Oh, and I started working on a project yesterday that didn’t go as planned (actually just finishing up something started long ago). So I am still stewing over that too. Don’t you hate it when things don’t go as you envisioned them in your head?

This is going to be the worst vacation ever.

Day 2

Posted on April 7, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom on Pexels.com

Vacation, Day 2:

Plans are rather sparse today.

The weather doesn’t appear, at least at the moment, that it will cooperate like it did yesterday for more outdoor activity in the yard.

So, what to do, what to do today?

Well, at least for part of the day I am going to put on my mask and venture out to get some propane and weed killer. I don’t think we have any other needs in the supply area at this point so it should be a fairly quick trip outside the confines of these four walls.

After that, who knows? Perhaps I’ll set up some scaffolding and begin painting on the ceiling…or get out a toothbrush and clean the grout between the tiles in the kitchen floor…or maybe I’ll even read a book…

With no plans on this vacation it is hard to decide what to do with so much time.

Time. We always say we need more of it so we can get things done. Now I have it, but can’t get things done because we are supposed to limit our travel to “essentials” needs, which means the stores I need to go to for supplies to get things done are “open” but mostly off limits. Plus, we don’t know how long this whole lockdown thing is going to last so is it really wise to spend money on big projects I want to get done when that money might be needed for something else more important in the near future? Yeah, it’s a question that is sorta like “Why did the chicken cross the road?” There is no right or wrong answer, just an unending philosophical, circular thought.

This is going to be the worst vacation ever.

Vacation, Day 1 Update:

So, the chores and nice weather won out. this was the progress made in the front flower bed. Not much to look at because over the years many of the plants that were there to fill the space have now died due to insects and cold. So, lots of empty ground. But, at least there are no weeds in there now. At some point it will get replanted…but should it happen before landscape improvement or after?