Retirement is a week filled with Saturdays and Sundays interrupted only occasionally by a holiday.

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Wednesday, March 7, 2007

I Feel Like the Scarecrow

One of my favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. I've seen it hundreds of times and it never fails to enthrall me. My favorite character has always been the Scarecrow...he's one heck of a dancer and a really good friend to Dorothy. Today I feel very much like my favorite character only it has nothing to do with dance or friendship. No...today I want to break out in that classic song "If I Only Had A Brain."

For the past two days, I've been in all day meetings involving setting policies for the new computer system our Library is planning to install next year. For two straight days we've been subjected to PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheet examples and tomorrow it's more of the same. My brain simply cannot take any more minutiae. It's very much the "if this...then that" planning with rows and columns of scenarios based upon a slew of different factors. I know this is all very important and must be done within the next few weeks but I'm getting dizzier and dizzier at the meetings and my eyes are beginning to cross...talk about information overload. And to think that I have yet another meeting tomorrow AND two more next week. If I had my druthers, I'd much rather "while away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consultin' with the rain..."

9 comments:

Iamthebookworm said...

Powerpoint presentations all look the same to me after a while.

Lynn said...

Ireland and quarters...that must be your mantra as you start to descend into powerpoint hell.

meno said...

You should read/see "Wicked" If you are an Oz lover. I was a teenager before i saw the movie in color.

Midlife Mom said...

You have my sympathy! My eyes do cross after just so much of Power Point anything! I start working on my weeks menu or something in my head just to escape! I was always afraid of those flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz! lol

jaded said...

Sorry to hear that you are waist deep in visual aides. I've often wondered are visual aides really healthy or are they leaderships attempt at camouflaging procrastination? Meno's right about the book Wicked. It's an excellent take on Oz.

Patti said...

I love The Wizard of Oz too, Joan. It's even in my profile.
The Scarecrow is my favorite.

I cry at the end when they are all leaning in the bedroom window.

Renee Nefe said...

I read Wicked and Son of a Witch, both were very good...I didn't know that there was a movie...off to see if my Library has a copy.

Joan said...

Iamthebookworm: Sometimes presenters at least try and make their PowerPoint presentations colorful, humorous, animated in some way...not these! They were all drab colors and they all looked the same. Yawn...

Lynn: Believe me...those two goals are the only things keeping me awake!

Meno: I would love to see Wicked in the theater...it's on my list although I hear tickets are really hard to come by.

Midlife mom: I spent much of the time planning my packing list for Ireland...at least it was a practical use of my time! ;-)

Patches: I never thought of it in terms of procrastination but you have a point. Also...Wicked is on my Books to Read list...it sounds like I should move it up higher on the list.

Patti: I can see the movie over and over and it never loses its wonder.

Renee: I will definitely move Wicked up on my Books to Read list as well as the sequel. Maybe I should wait and take them both to read on the plane rides to and from Ireland in June.

Pam said...

At the next meeting, just close your eyes and click your heels together while saying, "There's no place like home... There's no place like home..." Just make sure you wear red shoes.

Or stand up and announce loudly while pointing at the person leading the meeting, "Pay no attention to that man/woman behind the curtain!"

The Wizard of Oz was my favorite as a little girl.