My manager is off work, gone to some exotic locale for a vacation.

This is one of the two busiest times of the year.

After my manager left, I submitted the project done by this person. It was reviewed and revealed for its shoddy, careless, poor quality effort and consequent results.

I had to do it all over again, from scratch, already behind the timeline.

I tried to do it during the week, but current operational needs and other requests by telephone, and so forth (including a payroll deadline) kept me from doing it. This was not the kind of project that could be tossed off with half of your mind elsewhere (which is what I think happened with my manager's production).

So Friday I locked myself in my office, turned off my email and dug in. After a brief half hour for lunch and a call of nature, I went back to it.

It was an intricate project, balancing items and requirements along three and four axes at a time. My desk and work area were covered in spreadsheets, earlier reports, printouts of requirements and accounting-type numbers.

I finished by 4:30 or so. And just sat there, I guess for another quarter hour just reviewing the whole process in my head, looking at all the factors just that one more time, and decompressing.

It was faxed to the downtown office at 4:45 and I was on my way home at 5 p.m. I'm still basking in the afterglow of a job done properly, within the timeline (barely) and a new one to look forward to on Monday.

Monday's tasks had to be postponed because they rested upon Friday's report, so I will be glad to be able to get to them at last.

Whew! My manager sure knows when to take a vacation!