Day 3 - 126 -- Tedium

While the day began well, even with pouring rain, the afternoon turned into something too tedious to bear. I was trying to enter a manuscript into an online editor for a journal. There are several independent files that need to be uploaded and then knitted into a pdf by the editor site software. I spent two hours entering information into text boxes -- information that was elsewhere and needs to be elsewhere, but for some reason it also needs to be written into these tiny text boxes. The boxes and printed instructions take up about one-third of the screen with no way to increase the size for clarity. The instructions clearly stated that the requested information needed to be included in the article AND in the teeny, tiny box. Copy/paste was supposed to work, but didn't for all boxes. Some information is generally in a cover letter, but needs to be input into the numerous boxes -- I lost count. I had expected the process to take about 90 minutes -- it is not as user friendly as the web site makes it sound -- this time estimate was before I encountered the up front boxes. I had to leave at the end of the day and did not want to continue the process for another couple of hours. So, I closed the program. I sincerely doubt there will be anything there when I go back in tomorrow. But that may be my only task accomplished tomorrow -- 3+ hours of entering a document file that has to be taken apart and uploaded as 5 or 6 separate files and then re-constructed into a single document again. Who thinks this bureaucratic style form nonsense makes any sense at all? <sigh>

I will admit that when there are a number of things that need attention in a day, spending hours on a single overly complex task does not sit well. Patience leaves rapidly when faced with continued information requests. My tolerance for such work can be minimal. However, knowing it will take twice as long as expected, I will tackle the task again tomorrow but will be sure to wear my iPod to help me focus and remain calm.  The opening lines of a song came to mind that describe the afternoon quite well -- so I will share that here today. Enjoy!

Time -- Pink Floyd