08 February 2007

Free Jared! And Tibet if you’ve got the time

Today, tomorrow, and Monday I am bound to a desk that is not my own. Part of my company’s contract with the Naval Treaty Implementation Program (NTIP) is to have an on-site contractor that remains, well, on-site. The man with this job is named Darnell, and he knows the ropes quite well. But what happens when Darnell takes leave?

Rather than go for one or two or, heaven forbid, three days without Johnny on the Spot, our liaison at NTIP insists on having someone fill Darnell’s chair. And fill his chair I can.

Unfortunately, I can’t do most of the other things associated with this particular job. Darnell has access to many things that required a lot of processing and account-making and approval. NTIP doesn’t want to bother with all of that for a guy who will only be here for three days, so I basically have a mouse, a keyboard, and a screen. The internet works (hooray!) but I have no email access, either business OR personal (boo). Nearly all of my business correspondence has to happen over the phone. Not that that’s inconvenient, it’s just not SOP.

Where is this all leading? To this point: I have nothing to do. I’m supposed to be performing Darnell’s duties, but I don’t have Darnell’s tools and resources. There are a few things that I can do, and do have access to. If I look hard I can find things to keep myself busy. But guess why I’m writing this post—I’ve already done them. I’m actually quite proud; I kept myself busy for four hours this morning. And now? I have a couple of things that I can look at, but nothing I can do. Thus I blog.

If you would like to donate to the Free Jared Fund (FJF), please post a comment to this or any other post on the blog, or put a new post on your own blog. You can make a Free Jared a reality.

5 comments:

Cabeza said...

Nobody is contributing to the FJF. How disappointing.

It is now day two and I've managed three and a half hours with only about thirty minutes of work to do.

Your contribution can make a difference. Donate today.

Wendi said...

What a sad sob story, but tragically my first moment to play on the internet turns out to be 4 hours too late.

Welcome back to the free world of email and SOPs! And, I just may have a new blog entry... but, once again it's just a few hours too late. Sorry.

Warren said...

I suppose it's too late to save Jared, but I'm not used to there being posts up on your blog.
In other exciting news I just finished season 1 of Arrested Development. It is a fantastic show.

Anonymous said...

Just wait for seasons 2 and 3.

Sorry I could not donate to the cause- you should have mentioned it on salsa night- with our vast audience you would have had thousands of people to talk to!

Warren said...

I finished season 2, and am now on season 3. 10 more episodes left. I cant believe I went so long without watching it.