Closing meetings were going swimmingly but at the end of them all, it's time for the Big Spreadsheet. This is a huge report that I have to download from SAP and then format galore. I'm talking 26 columns wide and more than 2,000 lines with formulas and subtotals all the way through. It takes hours and I had talked to Mary early in the week about when I should start it. She said Thursday so I planned my week accordingly. Of couse that didn't work out.
I invited my cousin, Helen, to come for lunch on Wednesday (we were not working on campus until after fiscal year end to ensure no one got sick and could keep working) for sausage and peppers, with the peppers from my garden. I had prepped everything the night before, including cutting up the sausage and peppers, so I could just start cooking them at 11:30. Great plan until Mary called to say she wanted the spreadsheet ASAP. I downloaded it as soon as she hung up and had it partway done when Helen arrived. Well, that put a damper on lunch. We had a nice time but when she lingered, I was getting anxious. I finally told her I had to get back to work and what could have been a leisurely lunch (I'd already worked plenty extra so not slacking!) was cut short. I plowed right back into the spreadsheet and was done by the end of the day.
Because I'd done it early, that meant I had to keep making updates to the downloaded data as the numbers changed. I was also keying carryforwards as they came in from the colleges and that kept me busy. Mary was flying to Europe on Sunday so was slamming to get things done and she called me on Friday afternoon saying things were off by $20,000 and she couldn't find it. This had never happened in the 20 years I'd been prepping for meetings. I spent all Friday afternoon going line by line and comparing to the college spreadsheets and managed to find all but $700. I called Mary at 6:00 pm and said I was giving up. She said she'd take a break and look again. She emailed at 10:30 that night that she'd found it. Whew!
I was absolutely fried and spent Saturday watching the Severance on Apple TV+ and knitting. I'd started a new pair of scrap socks and that happily cleared my mind and let me recharge a bit.
I had more energy on Sunday so between chores, I rewarded myself by dyeing some yarn. I'd been inspired by Kevin of the Needles at the Ready podcast and did my first ever gradiant. How fun! It will make some fun socks for sure. Then it was on to Lincoln to hit a couple of Goodwills and Aldi before swimming. A front came through while we were in the pool - wind and a huge temp drop but no rain, of course. I drove back home in a wet suit and went right into the shower, rushing to get done in time for the start of Masterpiece. It was my last Sunday swim of the summer and that made me sad but at least there was cooler weather so I had that to look forward to. And another fiscal year end was done. I'll only have one more before I retire and that's something else, albeit longer term, to look forward to. I'll take it!
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