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Saturday, June 04, 2011

Planning for Origins 2011

This is Steven Petrick posting.

We leave for Origins in a little more than two weeks. Even though we have two weeks, we are actually already in the intense preparation for the event. Our organization practices preserving institutional knowledge, so we have a compiled checklist of all the things we need to accomplish in order to make our departure schedule. Those things internal to the company we will accomplish in good time; our problems will generally be with things outside the company.

We cannot control whether or not the vehicle rental organization adheres to its promise to provide us with the vehicle requested. Last year they pulled a bait and switch, promised us the van we needed, and tried to palm off a kind of station wagon that was totally incapable of performing the mission (due to inadequate cargo space). We had a fallback for that one and used the old van (with trepidation as we were not sure it had another Origins trip in it despite having had a few years to rest since its last expedition).

Getting components we need to pack products to sell (the new products) at Origins has
caused heartache and delay most years. We hope that will not happen this time, but it seems no matter what the time budgeted, something always goes wrong at the last minute. We have already this year had to overcome several problems created by outside vendors.

However, things on the schedule include the haircuts we will each get prior to departure, laundry being done, shaving kits secured and packed, and numerous other details that must be attended to so that we can concentrate the trip itself.

The list is exhaustive, and it is backed up by the trip checklist. We know where every bathroom is between here and Columbus, Ohio. Okay, not every one, but we do know where all the state-provided ones are. We also know even now precisely where we will stop to eat, and precisely where we will stop for fuel.

We have done this many times, and by the end of the coming week we expect to have 80% of the departure check list completed.

And the checklist includes making sure we get a good night's sleep before we start the drive and this year we are going to try to depart earlier in the day to allow for a better overnight in Tulsa.

We expect to make it to Columbus, Ohio by Tuesday night, but if old age slows us enough, we will stop short rather than risk disaster (driving tired in the Columbus, Ohio heavy traffic zone is a non-starter).

So we hope to see you all there.