Folks here at WoodChips Central have been working at a feverish pace to get the 2013 calendars ready.  They finally wrapped the project up late last night.

Of course the Calendar Project has had it’s share of setbacks – like all projects.  First off, some members of the team questioned even doing the project, pointing out that the world was going to end on December 21st according to the Mayans – see World Ends 1 and World Ends 2.

I noted this was a fair point, but in a silly gesture of optimism, I said let’s do it anyway, just in case the world doesn’t end.  Also, being the Project Manager, had I canceled the project, I wouldn’t have had anything to do.

Then there was the deadline challenge as team members asked exactly when the deadline for completion was.  After careful consideration, I said it should be done before 2013.  There was a bit of grumbling on this point, I think mostly from the end of the world faction, but eventually I think there was a general agreement that producing a 2013 calendar before it actually was 2013 would prove most useful.

And finally, there was the big flap over just exactly what date the holiday Cinco De Mayo actually occurs on.  Some of us pointed out that Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for 5th of May — ummm … and we were thinking the holiday probably fell on the 5th of May.  More dissension, again, I think from the end of the world crowd.  It was almost like these folks like the end of the world concept because it excuses them from actually having to plan for or do anything – but that may just be crass on my part.

Finally, we settled the whole thing by looking it up on the Internets (as a former President used to call it).  Sure enough, Google search proved that Cinco De Mayo actually does fall on the 5th of May.  Go figure.  And before anyone could challenge that, I reminded them that if it’s on the Internet, it’s always true.  That stopped them dead in their tracks.

So all in all a pretty successful project, i.e. the purpose challenged, deadline disagreed on and total specification confusion.  So that’s the behind the scenes story for you for this years big calendar project. And that’s how we’ll leave it with you here at WoodChips Central, where every year we “seem to grow another ring wider and deeper in dirt.”