November 12, 1998
Dear Everyone:
Remember the “Instant Shade” that I set up on my
patio last summer? It
consisted of a metal frame with a green, vinyl-canvas cover that
provided shade for over half the patio.
It had metal supports that held the cover in a kind of dome
shape. The manufacturer
specifically stated that it was intended for “temporary use” only.
In other words, it wasn’t going to last forever.
I’ve been curious to see what would happen when the
rains started. It would be
nice to be able to step outside, under cover, and get the door closed
without struggling with an umbrella before heading out into the weather.
And it would be especially helpful, when bringing in the
groceries, to be able to leave them on the patio in between trips to and
from the car, as I have been doing during the warmer weather.
So far, it’s rained twice.
The first time, I noticed that a small puddle of water had formed
in one corner of the cover where the fabric had some slack in it.
It was an easy thing to take a sponge mop and use the mop head to
“squeegee” the water
up and over the edge of the frame.
So far, so good.
Last weekend, it rained again.
When I looked out early Saturday morning, the little puddle was
back. I figured the mop
would do the trick again, but decided to wait until it was lighter
outside. And hour later, the
puddle was a bit bigger, but still manageable.
The next time I looked out, I discovered a gigantic, green bowl
of water suspended over my patio.
And it was dripping.
Ominously.
Where were the supports that held the cover up?
They were down.
Definitely down. Now the
problem was to figure out how to
persuade 5+ gallons of water to go up and over the frame.
Water likes to follow the line of least resistance.
(They taught me that in geology class.)
Push up at it with a mop head, and it just goes around and back
down again.
On the plus side, it was light out at this point.
I was eventually able to use two of the support bars, and a step
ladder, to get enough water off the cover so that I could use the trusty
mop head to clear the rest away.
Then I got the supports back into position.
Now I needed a way to get rid of the slack in the fabric which
had allowed that little puddle to develop delusions of godhood (or, at
least, deluge-hood).
So, naturally, I headed straight for the sewing
box. You’d be amazed at what
inspirations dwell in a sewing box.
Some cotton
twill tape (you can never have too much of that) and
safety pins
allowed me to pull the fabric tighter to the metal frame, thus
eliminating most of the slack.
So far, there have been no more puddles (knock
wood).
Meanwhile, back at the job...
We’re halfway through RMSEP98 (Records
Management Software Evaluation Program).
Wednesday, we spent the morning watching two product
demonstrations and the afternoon discussing them.
Thursday, we’ll do two more products (which will make this week’s
Letter a touch late). We’re
basically looking at four out of the five best products on the market.
We’re also
video-taping the
presentations. This will
allow us to go back and review the demonstrations next week when we
can’t remember which program did what.
We’ll also use email
to survey the Users who saw the presentations and get their input.
(Nearly 50 people showed up for these two days.
The vendors were impressed.)
With that, we’ll compare all the variables, add up
all the weights; and then I’ll pick the one I like best.
(Just kidding.)
Love, as always,
Pete
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