Most of the time, I fancy myself as a reasonably intelligent being. I long ago figured out how to set the time on our VCR, and it didn't take me all that long to catch on to how to answer my cell phone.
Granted, I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to creating Excel Spreadsheets or locating new ring tones - but hey, those things aren't essential to the world at large, so who needs 'em?
I have to confess, however, that I met my match last week when it came to assembling boxes. That's right - regular, old cardboard boxes!
Let it be said I love the ones that the post office puts out, where all you have to do is fold in the ends, pull off the protective tape and stick the ends shut. They're a miracle of modern ingenuity. But these boxes came from an office supply company who actually charges cash money for them - unassembled! We had ordered them in order to protect and tote our office files during the Pine Journal's pending moving process.
As you may recall from a few weeks ago - and will read much more about in this week's paper - we have to vacate our current office space for another business to move in. After weeks of looking and weighing various alternatives, we settled on a site in the picturesque West End district of Cloquet where Eclipse Paint most recently resided.
ADVERTISEMENT
One of the great charms of the building - aside from the traditional brick storefront and the mellow hardwood floors - is the fact that that very space once housed the office of the Pine Knot, our predecessor.
While the space is undergoing renovation and wiring for the necessary technology, our staff will be moving in to the Pine Tree Plaza to share space with our media partners at the Northland Smart Shopper. Our two staffs will coexist there for the next few weeks before we both make the move to the new space in the West End.
To make a long story even longer, we have been packing all of the trappings of our day-to-day newspaper work into protective boxes for the moving process ahead of us.
Which brings me around to those confounded boxes....
They arrived folded flat, with flaps sticking out every which way. And instead of the sort of understandable directions that any person might reasonably expect, they instead have a series of eight - count 'em, eight - diagrams designed to walk you through the assembly process. There are letters, numerals and arrows - all of which only serve to compound the fact that the process is nearly indecipherable.
I found myself wrestling with the danged box, having crinkled up at least two of the flaps trying to force them where they were apparently not destined to go. After doing battle with the thing for a considerable amount of time, however, I triumphantly held the finished product up high - only to discover an unaccounted for flap hanging out the bottom!
With no conscience whatsoever (and considerably less pride), I dove for the tape dispenser....
Pine Journal Publisher Wendy Johnson can be conmtacted at: wjohnson@pinejournal.com .
