It's that time of year...

when I become a bit scarce.

Fiscal year end is September 30th and work as a whole becomes a bit maddening. I suppose what is really maddening to me is that none of my five projects ends with the fiscal year. In all cases, not only do the projects continue, but the money carries over into the coming year and my teams are all covered. Yay me!

This is something that I probably shouldn't say too loudly though. Because when the calendar flips to October 1, many many projects end and there is a distinct lack of money, which means lack of projects among many sectors thanks to the ineffectiveness of the government at getting a budget settled. This often morphs quickly into continuing resolution. And people start sending out e-mails and showing up in offices looking for work. It's what happens. And I have been on that side of the fence. It sucks.

Because the fiscal year end affects so many projects and so many people it becomes a very palpable sense of stress at work. You can feel the stress. You walk down the halls and fiscal year end is the topic. Have you certified your time card? Have you planned your work for the next two weeks (and therefore filled out your time card for the next two weeks)? Are you following the shipping and ordering requirements? Nevermind that none of this is really actually applicable... to me at least.

Anyways. It is a stressful time.

Way back when, when I used to work on projects that ended on September 30th we would pack up our bags and take off for vacation the first week in October. It's a great time of year to vacation, but no real point to doing it this year.

This year I have my regular work to do on my projects that do not end. Then I have a total of five white papers (first stage proposals) going out to two different agencies. And then all the little peripheral things - like the organization I am presenting at in November wants my presentation to clear it by October 8th. And my lab still has loads of things that need to be done in order to do actual work in it. And my kids have parent teacher conferences.

So needless to say... this is just a long post saying I am not really around.

See you next year!

(Fiscal year that is...)