Mugs

Work work work work

Thursday, 4. December 2008, 18:26:57

All work and no play ...blah blah blah. That's all I've been doing this past week, non stop eat, sleep, breath work and more work.

You'd be amazed at how much energy goes into organizing an event. Organizing the speakers, the techies, the location and the invited; the logistcs are a nightmare. Toss in that someone somewhere decided that feeding them would be a good idea and the nightmare grows.

Lets dump some more onto the plate - you've got to stand in front of all these people as not only the organizer but as a speaker with your own presentation to get done.

You get a little sleep, drink a lot of coffee, and pray it all works out; then you start getting phone calls about special dietary restrictions and you begin to wonder who came up with the "lets feed 'em" idea.

So you work, work and then work some more to make it all go without any problems. Did I mention work? The first day comes and it's over before you know it. Everything is good, life is good, all that work paid off. Then you get a reminder that you have to do it all again the next day with an even larger audience.

I survived! My brain is off today, and it's staying that way.

Finally a Little Justice!WTF is that?

Comments

Matthew # 4. December 2008, 18:47

Congratulations on putting it behind you. I could definately not do event planning. Yikes!

Shaunak De # 5. December 2008, 01:38

You must be really dying to get to saturday ...

Ps: that takes event manager out of my list of attractive jobs

Mugs # 5. December 2008, 15:36

Event planning isn't so bad - when you have the time to organize it.

This event however, I had two weeks notice. Website, invitations, get the speakers lined up, get the people in, get the food and oh boy gallons of coffee all together at the same time wasn't easy.

During it all I still had to teach and write my own presentation.

If you're looking for something that makes you move your feet - event planning is great.

Matthew # 5. December 2008, 16:25

I want something that lets me rest my ass.

I admire you for getting it all together, and I'm glad you emerged unscathed.

Mugs # 5. December 2008, 17:45

Now comes the planning for going across the country with it all.

Matthew # 5. December 2008, 18:41

Oh sweet Mary, mother of Jesus! Unemployment is looking pretty good, all of a sudden!

Not really. :-s

Mugs # 5. December 2008, 21:40

Toronto next week - then Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and finally Victoria. Eventually I'll make it home again.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 01:09

Canada Tour, 2009!

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 01:30

It isn't the first time I'll be doing this cross country run.
I'm just hoping Adobe will want to put it off until the Spring and not do this during the winter months.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 01:48

I'm with you. Seems like the likelihood of cancellations would be enough? Of course, I understand that there is a timeliness issue for them, too.

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 01:52

Accessibility issues are in the forefront right now and Adobe has just released Acrobat 9 which makes it even easier to create accessible PDF's.

This is going to be a hell of a year for work. This tour, a new user manual, the training, somewhere in there I'll find the time to play.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 01:55

Yeah. Security is going to be interesting. You can't lock a .pdf down if you don't have Illustrator, right?

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 01:56

Actually you can lock up a PDF in Acrobat itself.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 02:00

I need to read up on that. I used pdfs regularly at work - it's a ubiquitous format when editing isn't required. I had Acrobat 9, but only just received it when I ran out of employment.

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 02:09

I'm in the first stages of writing a step by step guide for Acrobat.

I can tell you that one of the biggest mistakes people make with Acrobat is using the "save as" or "print to" features in Word or everything else. The reason why it is a mistake is that unless you use the PDFMaker that is always loaded you simply don't get an accessible document.

Accessible PDF's are good for everyone - those hand held devices need the reflow feature in the accessible setup so that users aren't having to scroll horizontally as well as vertically.

For fooks sake - here I am pretty much delivering part of my presentation to you.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 02:24

hahaha

How do you use the pdf maker that is always loaded when in Word? Give me the rest of your presentation, dangit!

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 02:26

Hang on a sec I'm going to put a file online for you.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 02:45

I was (half) kidding. I'm interested, but I don't want you to do more work than you already have to do!

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 02:48

The file is there, I've had this one on the Adobe site for about a month now.

The second page will show you where to find the PDFMaker in both Word 2003 and Word 2007

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 02:57

I didn't even realize it was embedded. Sheesh.

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 03:01

And so easy to use.

The thing is, everybody thinks accessible files only help those with disabilities -that's wrong!

An accessible file is good for anyone using a Blackberry or other hand held simply because reflow is enabled automatically.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 03:38

Hand helds will redefine - or at least mainstream - the importance of accessibility, if they haven't already.

A guy I went to grade school with has a patent for the new touch screen in the blackberry, but he says they are having processor speed issues (trailing is all too common).

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 03:42

Hand held devices seem to be the next best thing since sliced bread. Personally, I don't even own a simple cel phone.

I've tossed a couple in the river, given away a few and I'll never keep one for myself to use.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 03:56

I've never had one, and don't want one. My land line provider has me frustrated enough to give them up though, should I ever get cell service out here.

Mugs # 6. December 2008, 04:07

I have no problems with good old Ma Bell. Everything in here is with Bell, the phones, the satellite, the Internet; maybe I've been lucky.

Matthew # 6. December 2008, 18:09

AT&T keeps running my rates up without telling me. My initial plan was $60/month for local, DSL and a minimal long-distance plan. The same service is now cosing me $100/month, with no change in service.