10# in a 5# bag

This is one of those weeks when expectations by clients are quite high, deadlines are looming and not spaced out properly, and we're moving our office at the end of the week to new digs after spending the last 7 years at our current space.  These events are coming together to form the sharp edge of Damocles' sword, or at least it feels that way.

Rewind to 7 years ago.  We were a smaller firm back then, in Class C space in downtown Bethesda.  Our office was located above the Starbucks at Woodmont Triangle, with a great view of the intersection of Woodmont and Norfolk/Cheltenham.  I sat behind the FEE of the corporate marquis, while my associate (now partner) sat behind the STA of this same signage.  Three other workstations backed up the RBU, CKS, and COF portions of this ubiquitous green logo font.  From where I sat it felt like the bridge of a ship, with my view of this heavily travelled intersection.  Spring, summer, and fall were particularly nice, as the "people" watching was prime.  Sometimes I wonder how we got our work done.

The landlord says get out by October 1, 2001.  OK we say, so in July we start looking for space.  How long can this process take, really?  After checking out a bunch of spaces, sticker shock is the order of the day.  By the time we settle on Class A space at 2 Bethesda Metro Center, we realize that our overhead will be taking a major hit, so we chalk that up to growth.  By late August we're finishing the design, and we realize that our backs are up against the wall to finish drawing, sending docs out to bid, procuring permits, and getting the space built out by October 1.

Early September, and we've finished the drawings and selected a contractor, but there is that small issue of a building permit.  On Tuesday September 11, I remember finishing these drawings while the TV is broadcasting images that are now indelible in our collective psyche. We submitted for permit the next day via a walk-through process, responded to comments, and walked out with a permit on September 14.  Construction had begun that week, but now it was legal.

Within 2 weeks the space was built out and we slid under the wire with inspections on September 30.  I don't know how we did it, though I seem to remember a vibe in the air after 9/11 in which everyone we dealt with was more mellow but more purposeful.  The irritating minutiae that is the hallmark of bureaucracy and the CYA attitude that accompanies it was strangely and thankfully absent, as we built out our space and moved without hassle.  I think that we collectively had Bigger Fish To Fry.

Our current move is not nearly as stressful, but a hell of a lot more expensive and unforgivingly mixed in with our unusually high workload.  Like the move 7 years ago, though, it will happen and it will not be without hassle or snafus.  The nice thing about it is that by this time next week it will be largely done.  The best thing, though, is that right in the middle of all of this I'll have the respite of the Ed Sander 'cross race on Sunday morning.  Kinda cool that an hour of hard work at Lillypons Water Gardens with 100 other like-minded afficionados, despite the pain and discomfort that accompanies the pursuit (suffering is too dramatic or a word) is the small oasis in an otherwise working weekend.  

It'll all get done.  It always does.