by, February 3rd, 2010 at 09:52 AM (1140 Views)
"Everyone knows I'm in over my head..."
Friday. Snow. I stared at the 1-2 inches predicted for Saturday, blinked, and watched it increase to 2-3 inches. Friday night, 3-6 inches. Saturday, 4-6 inches.
11:00. Snow. The snow began Saturday as the team left our apres-workout coffeehouse. I tripped on down to Office Depot to drop off the meet program for printing, ordering 200 copies. I was pasting the advertiser-sponsor ads in, the day before. We charge $10 for a footer ad, which pays for printing the program. Did the gal in the copy center speak English? Did she understand me? Were there no forms to fill out?
12:00. Snow. I posted a note to the web page that the meet's fate would be decided sometime in the evening, after evaluation of an updated forecast and of the roads. Emails were sent out looking for a fourth official for the meet.
1:00. Snow. The flurry of phone calls and emails kept the telecommunications industry in business. Discussion centered on how to get the word out if canceled, refund policies, and rec center pool rental contractual requirements. Calls were made to find a substitute meet official.
2:00. Snow. The chair movers were scheduled to be at the summer pool at 3:30 to load up chairs onto the rented truck. This was earlier than usual, because the pool guy with the key needed to officiate a regional high school meet in late afternoon.
Since his meet was canceled, we could start the chair brigade an hour later. Chair workers were notified. Two 'no' answers came in from possible meet officials.
3:00. Snow. It was decided to proceed with the pool setup as scheduled at 5:20. The hospitality room coordinator needed to leave home, but her swimming husband was not home yet. She asked to come in early before the meet at 6:00 AM. I gave her the pool's phone number and asked to coordinate. She decided to stay home that evening and arrive at the pool early morning to set up her end. A call to our sanction chair seemed to indicate the pool guy could be an official at our meet - his high school certification was acceptable by USMS.
4:00. Snow. There were 5-inches of snow on my deck. I began clearing the car and loading up the lap counters, flamingoes, tee shirts, awards, hats, coconuts, power strip. The melted snow on the car from earlier that day had frozen to the windshield.
5:00. Snow. I headed to Office Depot to pick up the meet programs. It was recently closed due to the weather. Were the employees inside having a party and laughing at me frantic knocking on the glass doors in the cold snow? After 5 minutes, one came to the door. I explained the situation, and was told to pick them up tomorrow morning after 10:00.
I continued knocking. I was going to stay there all night knocking if needed. Another employee came over and told me the register computers were shut down, so I could not check out. I offered to hand over my credit card to charge it tomorrow when the registers started up again. Nope. Then, I dropped the bomb, "I want to speak to the manager."
I explained the situation a third time. The manager let me in, obtained the copies, and checked me out on the register without talking much, trying to force a disgusted, disapproving look on her face. I will be sure to send a note of thanks.
5:30. Snow. I arrived at the pool. The chair brigade was there waiting. Their truck would not make into the summer pool's driveway. Rather than risk getting it stuck, it was left at the street. Chairs were carried out, down the driveway through the snow to the street.
The pool training classes which had kept us from setting up at 5:00 were canceled due to the snow. The canoe, noodles, foam belts and bar bells, kickboards were all cleared off the pool deck. The tables were set up. The few chairs the rec center owned (there are no bleachers) were set up. The lane lines were in. This year, the staff had actually done a lot of the work we were forced to do in the past. Our setup was completed in an hour - a record time.
7:00. Snow. The snow was beginning to end after 6 inches accumulation. The weather forecast and radar showed it ending. The road crews had all night to clear the roads. I posted to the meet web page that
the meet was on.
I packed up the computers and printers for the morning trip, cored a pineapple for the luau hospitality room, set the alarm, and went to bed.