This last week, actually the last two, have been intense. I don’t see anything letting up until sometime in November at the rate things are going.
Work has been flat out balls-to-the-wall for several of us. There is a delightful Catch-22 going on, in that I am helping a client get ready for their major trade show of the year. Doing this has meant trying to finalize plans, despite some last minute delays and desires on the part of some; get all the furniture and such ordered from the show decorator; and, trying to get everything ready to put on a pallet and ship out to the show.
To make it more interesting, getting all their publications ready has meant working on multiple web pages and/or mini-sites since they are driving some of the publications, but the pubs are needed to do the web work and—I actually hope to have all done and the appropriate materials to the graphic designer by Tuesday so that we can print and ship by Wednesday.
It has also meant some scrambling in regards equipment. Anytime you rent at a show, it is expensive; but, it should also be less expensive than buying and shipping whatever it is you rent. When you have to rent from an event hotel, however, all goes out the window. It is not uncommon for such facilities to charge $600-$800 a day for wi-fi at the booth, and to make it even more interesting they block (or actively jam) all outside wi-fi signals including the signal they set up for the guest rooms. You don’t want to know about T1 or other “wire” feeds… All such prices are predicated on companies, primarily large companies, doing things in these conference/convention areas. They make no allowances for small companies/start-ups, non-profits, or anyone else. To say that they work on a dated business model is a bit of an understatement from my point of view.
We had gotten information from the hotel on AV items, as you have to rent those through the hotel and not the trade show decorator/services. The price to rent a large plasma display was high, but didn’t seem too bad—until it was discovered that the $750.00 was per day, not for the event. For just a bit more than one day’s rent, the client now owns a 37-inch HD LCD TV/monitor that will be shipped out as part of the display. What this did to the schedule, you don’t want to know.
The trade show is only one of several things going on, from board meetings to visiting dignitaries to potential partner events. All pretty much in the same time frame. Send single malt, more than one of us can use it.
Add to that preparations for the embed, and you take stress to a whole new level. I am getting gear, trying to make everything I want to take fit within that gear, deal with delayed gear, figuring out what I may just leave at home, doing physical training with the trainer, and doing some training off on my own. Not to mention paperwork, follow-ups, and such mundane things.
On top of all that, both regular duties and nice-to-dos. I am having to do all the normal household maintenance, from yard to cleaning, and am also trying to keep up my duties at Wolf Park. I also am facing a closing window on preparing herbs and such from the garden, putting up what is left of the other fruits of the garden, and trying to make jelly with some things while I can. Sleep, what’s sleep?
So, there is a good reason things are lite here right now. Yet, I need to get more up and said. I do want to say that I am not down, more like pinned to the wall of life by a firehose. *G* The good news is two fold: the pressure has to let up soon and some people at work are finally starting to understand the difference between an agonistic pucker and a smile/grin. It actually warms the cockles of my black flabby little heart to see them start and turn away in fear, though the urge to chase is strong when they run. Hmmmm. Maybe I shouldn’t be spending so much time with Echo and a few of the other wolves…
