A Masterful Bit of Futzing

Mark is always complaining about people at work who spend huge amounts of time futzing with their PowerPoint presentations, making sure the fonts are coordinated, the colors are right, the backgrounds are consistent and fresh, 'transitions' are catchy and, of course, that the animation, cartoons or other decorative fluff is entertaining. An audience is an audience, after all.

(I suspect it wouldn't bother him too much if there actually was some content to them; if they filled some business need or communicated an important idea somehow... but they seem to fall short in that department.)

Anyway, I am a closet futzer. Not really anxious to admit it to him, but there you have it. And I feel like I can futz with the best of them - particularly on my own time, as it were. And that's what I did yesterday. Oh, it was for a purpose alright - and a good one - but any non-futzer worth his salt wouldn't have bothered.

The purpose? I ran out of check register thingies. You know - the little booklet sort of thing that you use to record checks written and deposits made and cash withdrawn? (Yes, you young people, some of us still do checkbook balancing in a little book. Some of us actually DO checkbook balancing in the first place!) We write so few checks anymore - and evidently make so many more deposits and ATM withdrawals etc. that our check registers run out much faster than our supply of checks. So I ran out. And had to improvise. (Crisis calls for improvisation, you know.)

And after printing and rejecting dozens of drafts, I actually succeeded. I created an exact-duplicate check register - entirely faithful to the original, including shadings and spacings, and columns and rows, and sizing and back-to-back-folded-over-in-the-middle-to-get-stapled-and-inserted details. It was an amazing feat, even if I do say so myself (and I do.)

And I want everyone to know - just in case you ever experience a similar crisis - that you need just email me and ask - and I'll send my template right along.

It's the least I can do. We futzers need an audience, after all.