Cause and Effect

Thursday we were working on the program for the Big Event in the office. Some random numbers were appearing when we printed it out. They were not showing up on the computer screen. I explained, again, that there were too many layers of formatting, and that it was better to start with a fresh document rather than modifying a document that had been modified 10 times before. We've had this conversation before, but Secretary thinks it's easier to modify an existing document than to start with one of the templates I've created. I wish she would learn.

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Yesterday Daughter and I had a discussion about how much work she was making for herself when she didn't put things where the belong right away. I pointed out all the stress and the mess of the guest room was a direct result of her failing to be responsible. She claimed she understood, of course. I hoped that she would remember it for at least a while. Yesterday evening there was some laundry she needed to take care of it. She had already forgotten our discussion, and when I insisted that she hang it up and put it away rather than wadding it up and hiding it, the resulting explosion was memorable, to say the least. Two hours later, she finally did things my way. I get frustrated with the fact that she doesn't seem to understand cause and effect. I wish she would learn.

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So, this afternoon I had a graveside service. I pulled up the service I had done for the deceased's sister a number of years ago and worked off of that. I have changed the format I use as I age. I use a larger format with the larger print. Instead of two columns and landscape orientation, I use one column and portrait orientation. Instead of 12 point font, I use 14 point. I was procrastinating. I dismissed the memories of the stress that results when I wait until the last minute and technology doesn't cooperate. I reformatted the old service and rewrote it to fit the situation today. I sent it to the printer. I got a warning that the margins were outside the printable area, but told it to go ahead and print. I picked it up at the printer. Half of the service was missing-- it had printed the portrait style document landscape style. It was missing text at the top and bottom of each page. Okay, I could fix that. I'd print it out landscape style and just read it that way. I modified and sent it to the printer. Again half the document was missing. It had printed the landscape document portrait style, so the beginning and end of each line was now missing. Remaining calm, cool, and collected, I copied the text over to a new document. Same problem. Now I was beginning to panic. Time was running short, and I couldn't print out the service in a complete and readable form. There was no time to completely redo it. In desperation, I copied and pasted the body of the service, omitting the beginning and ending. It worked. I made it to the cemetery in plenty of time. I wish I would learn.