A Few Quick Notes 106

-Today started off on the cool side of things, as so many days do, and eventually turned out to be quite respectable. The temperature seems to be near 20 with a clear sky and slight breeze, a significant improvement over some of the rain filled days that we have experienced recently.

-This winter and early Spring I took a (mandatory) management course at library school. At the time it seemed as though I wasn't really learning anything all that useful. One main focus was on the uses of different types of analytical and strategic planning tools.

One technique that came up time and time again was “SWOT analysis ” (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). For various projects we had to use this technique, though I am not sure if I every really saw the utility.

Earlier this summer I finally saw a situation in which I thought that I might be able to use this analytical tool. I decided to conduct a SWOT analysis on my life. Unfortunately, at least based on my mis-use of this analytical tool, it seems that my weaknesses and threats outweigh or overpower my strengths and opportunities.

I really worry that some of this may have been tainted by my not having properly identified either my primary problem or desired objective (which would place this analysis in context). Maybe if I become motivated I could try and conduct a full-fledged strategic planning exercise on my life (though we all know I will never be motivated for this to happen).

-Today, the day after my phone was installed, I noticed that the phone was ringing. Actually, as the phone is so new, it took me a while to recognize what was happening when it was ringing, though I eventually did figure out that the mysterious sound was the sound of a ringing phone. As I was somewhat confused I forgot to answer with my typical intro and instead just said "hello."

The person on the other end asked if she had reached motor registration. Obviously I replied that she had not reached her intended number. She then indicated that she had somehow been transferred, seemingly by an automatic transfer system. I really hope this call is not indicative of things to come, if so these calls could become tiresome very quickly.

-So far this summer I have had very bad luck when it comes to catching cloths on relatively blunt doorknobs and handles.

In June, while moving some boxes from one location to another, I was walking backwards while pulling a cart when I somehow managed to catch my left rear pocket on the door handle, the result being that the handle popped through the fabric and I was hooked on the door.

A few weeks later I was walking by an old card catalogue when the right sleeve of the long sleeve shirt I was wearing caught on a drawer handle and tore a small hole in my shirt. I wonder if this may be the first piece of clothing damaged on such an innocuous piece of furniture?

Shortly after my run-in in with the tricky card catalogue I was walking next to a cupboard and managed to catch the left front pocked of my pajama pants on the rounded cupboard doorknob. Within about a second I managed to have a tear that was several inches long.

As I have been wearing pants every day (a workplace concession) I have noticed that just about every pair of pants I own has small holes near the inside seem at about the height of my knee. While these wholes surprised me at first because of their unusual location and frequency, I think that I have figured out a possible cause.

It seems that they are all in about the same area that tends to get caught between two kegs of beer when one engages in the exciting activity of keg stacking (as one might do if one changed kegs on a semi-regular basis). I guess from now on I will have to be more careful about which pants I wear to work unless I want to live by the maxim “tighter jeans means less caught fabric.”