Matt Seiler

[#1]

How does that song from the musical 'Pajama Game" go?    Oh yeah:

Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up
Can't waste time, can't waste time, can't waste time, can't waste time
When you're racing with the clock
When you're racing with the clock
And the second hand doesn't understand
That your back may break and your fingers ache
And your constitution isn't made of rock

It's a losing race when you're racing with the
Racing racing racing with the clock"

Ok - so the song was a lot better with music, and when I was acting in this play (*ulp*)... twenty six years ago, opposite recent Oscar nominee John C. Reilly.

But the point is that tempis fugit.   Time waits for no man. 

You see, I've got two projects on my bench going in parallel right now.    I've got a table that I'm building for a designer, and it's spec'd to be made from urban-sourced ash.      The second project is a collection of plaque backers for a trophy shop that I'm now working for.     As a nice bit of coincidence both were to be put into a jet black dye.      But the table is specifically spec'd to be in a solvent-based satin varnish, and the plaques are to be in a waterborne gloss.

And both are happening on my bench in parallel with each other.  

It's not the normal way that I do business, but I'm heading out of town for a week, starting this coming Friday.   So I've got to get both of these projects done and outta here by mid-day on Thursday.

Temperatures are in the mid-50's.   Clearcoats are drying  S-L-O-W-L-Y.         And the last clearcoat layers have to be done by the end of the day on Tuesday/VERY beginning of the day on Wednesday so that they'll dry hard enough to reliably transport by Thursday.

Cutting it close.   Hours on the clock ticking by.  I'm wandering out to the shop in about an hour (putting it well past midnight!) to flip some of the pieces and lay down another coat of finish so that everything comes out according to the clock.

tic... tic... tic... tic... tic... tic....

No pressure.   Nope.  No pressure at all.   Not here...  Nope, not at all.  *ignore tha bead of sweat slowly forming at my temple*   I'm just fine.   I'm calm, cool and collected *well, except for that little telltale tic starting at the corner of my left eye*.     I'm the very picture of composure.   *yeah, RIGHT!*

Actually, I do jest a bit.   I've backtimed the delivery calendar and I think that I should be just fine.   I'll get both projects delivered on Thursday and will be able to have time to get the car packed up and be on the road first thing on Friday.

And then....  vacation. 

Wish me luck!  There's a good bit of work to do before I can vacate.

[#2]

I have many of those projects where I went out and put the next coat on in the middle of the night or stayed up for 30 hours to meet a promised deadline and make delivery. That is usually followed by 18 hours of sleep.

[#3]

Good to hear that I'm not the only one who does this!  

[#4]

Countdown:

T-minus sixty minutes.   I was out in the shop at 2:45 AM just checking to see if there was ANYTHING that needed to get twitched wtih prior to deliveries today.

Turns out, it was OK. 

The problem was that the five plaques are gloss black.  And if anybody's worked with gloss black before you'll understand that it's the singlularly most unforgiving finish there is.   There's nothing to hide behind.  It shows dust nibs, surface imperfections, overspray and everything else like.... well, like a mirror, actually.   It's HARD to get a good gloss black surface.   And I'd say that on my twitchy little self-perfectionist scale I only hit about 85% of goal.   The client will like it, but I'm not 100% on them.

The table?  Well, that's just fine.   It's in a satin black and the designer's already seen photos in email.

So I've got to pack up the projects and head down into the city.... and then up and out the other end of the city on my way to the far end of the metro area for the delivery.

And then.....     Lunch.   And a break.    And a vacation for eight days out in Boston and Cape Cod, pounding lots and lots of fresh seafood.