Thinking Inside the Box: Why am I So Busy?

When I gave my notice that I'd be leaving my padded cell (I mean cubicle), I assumed that the next couple weeks would be pretty dull, possibly downright boring. I had lined up all my favorite blogs and news sites for daily reading, and had even calculated how much walking around time I'd have on a daily basis. One day I'd go over the marketing suite and offer my unsolicited advice on how to sell our company ("The kids today totally love being told to respect authority and never question the status quo"), and another day I'd head over to accounting and tell them my brilliant scheme about how to maximize profits by simply telling the IRS that we don't have any money while hiding it all under rugs and behind paintings.

My carefree days were not to be however, as I was quickly brought back down to Earth by the horror that is "ongoing projects." You know those things that sit on the bottom of the pile for months on end because they aren't really mission critical and there's no real rush to finish them? Well, turns out you have to turn those in before you quit a job, otherwise they won't give you your last paycheck. And they throw tomatoes at you.

I have three of these mean little projects blocking my exit, and I've managed to knock out a couple of them without much trouble. The last one presents an issue though, as it's one of those tasks so mindless that it's hard to work on it for more than ten minutes at a time without needing to take a break in order to retain sanity.

It's sad to think that the human brain can be defeated by a simple spreadsheet, but I've always maintained that Excel is evil incarnate and now it's out to finish me off before I can find the source of its power and end its reign of terror for good.

So now I'm in the world's least thrilling race against time to get this last touch of work done, work which I've neglected for months but now suddenly must complete in a few days.

Oh well, this time next week I'll be free of spreadsheets, staff meetings, and ongoing projects forever.

Or at least until I get a new job.