She persisted

One of my most important duties is organizing two meetings per month of the Climate Action 100+ steering committee. Lots of pre-planning meetings and a big agenda packet that needs to go out to 45 people around the world before the bi-monthly meetings. I worked from 9:15 am to 10:30 pm Monday, with two dog-walking breaks, spending much of the time trying to assemble the meeting packet. By Tuesday morning, when the packet was to be distributed, I learned that I didn't have the Adobe software I needed to create the package. I got Adobe Pro around noon and sent the packet out a few hours later, after struggling with the header and footer tool.

My task was to merge eight files from different people in different formats into one document, which includes an agenda and minutes from the last meeing. My predecessor said she created a separate pdf for each input and then merged them and added a header and footer. At my peril, I ignored this advice and tried to dump everything into a Word file and create a better looking design. I couldn't overcome the formatting embedded in the content I imported to create anything--just a big mess. I also was trying to work within my OneDrive, not on my desktop, and that caused problems. Monday was just a day of frustration.

Day two I followed her advice, creating eight separate Word files and converting each into a pdf. I learned at 10:30 pm Monday I didn't have the software to merge and edit pdfs. I requested it at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and got it around 12:30 Tuesday. My first pass at creating a header and footer was a disaster. I asked for help from PRI graphics and struggled to explain to them what I wanted (one header on pages 1-32 and a different header on pages 33-41, and could I import a logo into the header, and how could I divorce footer instructions from header instructions). Long story short, I sorted things out on my own and I was able to send the meeting packet out this afternoon. A few hours late, but not tragically late. Not bad for a first pass.

As much as I dislike technology and as bad as I think I am with it, I nonetheless created a 41-page document with headers and footers and inserted text boxes to overcome missing bits. I'm proud of myself for keeping calm and keeping going and getting it done. I went to Coop and got a bottle of wine and a chocolate cake to celebrate.

Jan. 14-15