December 15, 1989
Dear Everyone:
Well, it has
been a year.
Of the 30,000 boxes eligible for destruction, 1,100
actually got destroyed. But
then, when you add in the 15,000 boxes not part of the “Annual
Destruction Review” that were also eliminated, it doesn’t look too bad.
In fact, for someone who still has 5 years worth of empty shoe
boxes tucked away in her closet “just in case”, it looks pretty good.
As for the infamous Schedule Rewrite Project… it
started off at a gallop.
Unfortunately, it went galloping in about 8 different directions at
once. But it finally settled
down long about September and seems to be heading for a satisfactory
conclusion some time next year, only 6 months or so behind schedule.
Actually, September was about the time that I stopped going to
the meetings as I was tied up in “IDHS”.
“IDHS” (“Integrated Document Handling System”)
started out slow and then picked up steam in September when the Project
Team announced that they had completed their part of the job and were
prepared to turn the system over to Records Management.
This is sort of like the master chef who creates a magnificent
meal and then leaves the kitchen for someone else to do the cleaning up.
Of course, it was purely
coincidence that this turnover took place at the same time as the
annual ARMA Convention when all of the top hats around here were in New
Orleans (pronounced New-ah-lunz).
Actually, “IDHS” looks like a pretty good system;
and “Kevin” and I are looking forward to spending a lot of time next
year demonstrating it and getting people set up to use it.
Of course, the old argument still holds:
If you have a mess to begin with, computerizing the mess won’t
make it go away.
Translation: More and more
Active Files Projects as people realize that they are still using a
filing system that was set up when Dewey Decimal was “state of the art”.
Still, it’s been a pretty good year.
“Alma” and I were supposed to review my work for the past year
yesterday; but of course something came up that bumped me to this
afternoon. We’re supposed to
meet at 2:30. However,
“Rowena” says that she has a meeting with “Alma” and some people at
2:00, which means that I may get bumped into next year.
Today is my last day before my vacation starts.
Actually, I’m only taking 8 days; but when you add
the weekends and holidays, it works out to two weeks.
But it sounds so much
better when you can say:
“I’m off for the rest of the year.”
In other news…
I finished my Christmas Project last night.
(Whew!!!) All of the
little critters are in their little houses and all of the out-of-towners
are on their way. I got out
of the UPS place last night with a full 3½ minutes to spare before
closing.
Tomorrow, “Jeannie” and I will go and collect my
“Futon-to-Go”. And sometime
soon we’ll go out and kill a couple of trees.
Tonight, I’m going to start ripping everything out
of the second bedroom to make room for the futon and shelves and TV
which is currently in my bedroom.
I have to admit it’s kind of handy where it is; but I’m looking
forward to getting it set up in the next room which I hardly use right
now.
Ashland:
Haven’t heard anything yet about our tickets.
Christmas wish list:
Fuzzy on the inside slippers.
A sleeping bag (for those unexpected overnight
guests).
Polaroid camera
Egg beater (how could I have lived for 2½ years
without an egg beater?).
A Round To-It (for those things I can’t do until
I get around to it).
This is it, guys:
The end of an era.
The last Letter of the 1980’s.
Everyone have a Merry Christmas and a safe and
Happy New Year.
I’ll be back online sometime in the first week in
January.
Love, as always,
Pete
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