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Sunday, December 2, 2012

The Infamous To Do List

Murphy’s Law Prevails…

There is no typical day at the apartments, however, this one was just long and frustrating.

I had a List

Up early, I had great ambitions, but that didn’t pan out. No surprise to me. Sigh.

Aside from this job at the apartments, I also freelance as an editor/writer, mostly technical stuff, and yes, I need to put up a link, that is on the infamous To Do List.

This Morning’s List: Submit Bio

I needed to rewrite the resume, again, and create a synopsis of skills for a head hunter so that he may showcase his talent on his website and company brochure.

Yeah! I got picked!

Now in 25 words or less state my skills and achievements.

Go ahead, YOU do it!

I am a wordsmith, it shouldn’t be that hard. Thought about it all weekend, thought I would just pop it into the form and hit submit. A current headshot was also required. Darn.

I had to call two business contacts to ask for the exact formal titles of what I edited. Many documents are legal proposals and contracts for the Federal Government, military and navy. Need to be very precise here: integrity matters.

Microsoft Word Crashed. Twice. AAAARRRGH!

Deadline is 12 noon.

Must recreate the file.

Check, recheck, compose email.

Website Crashed. Really?!

Okay, bad luck comes in three’s. This was Number Three. I should be good.

One half hour later, successfully submitted email and checked with recruiter. Made deadline. Whew.

In the Interim…

Now the tenants are well aware, that if I am at the computer in my little home office, do not expect anything more than a wave. My brother-in-law will handle whatever they need.

But their dog came in. This dog is smart, she demands her treat. My dog is smarter, he knows treats are required. They are persistent and begin begging and pacing around me. I caved and they got their required treats.

They leave.

Not So Helpful Offers of Help

Other tenants are in and out, with problems or offering help as I am trying to fix below. PUHLEASE don’t help me! Please DO NOT offer your advice! I could write a whole other blog on the truly dumb suggestions and equally dumb screw ups people have done with a computer.

Geeks out there are now nodding their heads in sympathy!

Next on the List. Dumb fixes.

I needed to fix the telephone wiring.

Yes, on top of showing empty apartments, screening applicants, answering complaints, doing small repairs, I am the in-house computer tech. I do have a much-underused degree from DeVry University, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend hours chasing down a networking problem.

We had changed cable providers, bundled the phones, fax, peripheral devices, and briefly everything was fine, but then everything stopped. After plugging and replugging peripheral devices, I finally went out and purchased 25’ of new phone line and ran that under and around cabinetry, being very careful not to crimp any wires. That fixed the phone, but now the fax and other devices were out. Darn.

Do you know how annoying it is to move cabinets, again, then crawl under and behind them to recheck and test all connections?

Do you know how dumb ya feel when you discover that you had reconnected the damaged line to the fax machine? Because that is what I had done. Duh!

Evening

And that was my day. I started by 9 a.m. planted in my little corner office, great hopes, a short list and thoughts of having some time to myself. I do live on a beach that I only see and rarely get to walk on. Sigh.

The next day wasn’t any easier…see next post Dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

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