Herding Cats

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When the house is cool like it is today from our torrential rains, and I'm working from home with countless deliverables and documents due, I spend many hours at my desk.

Speaker phone with mute button - quite handy for conference calls

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Today was busier than most, and tomorrow perhaps even more so. This is my first RFP and system selection project, having spent the majority of my consulting life doing system implementations, and although I'm enjoying the change and the challenge, I'm not sure I'd want to do it again. Much of it is like herding cats. Today we received back all the vendors' responses to the RFP and are working to blind them before distributing to the folks who will do the actual scoring. In the meantime we're also trying to schedule on-site vendor demos for July/August and reference hospital site visits in the fall. All while making sure that each hospital in this multi-facility organization has adequate representation during the RFP design and decision-making process so that none can cry foul when the vendor is finally chosen.

Herding cats, I tell ya.

Speaking of cats, if you're wondering why there's a fuzzy blanket next to the phone in the picture up there, well, at any given time when I'm at my desk and the house is cool, this is what is usually within 3 inches of my left elbow:

Ali - my white shadow, always at my side

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My baby could be the next Chessie

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But don't be fooled by that sweet face. As soon as I get up to get a drink, she steals the warm spot in my chair, especially if her (my) favorite sweatshirt is also in it:

Find another spot to sit, human!

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Wednesday is supposed to be hotter, so perhaps she'll be sleeping on top of the fuzzy blanket tomorrow. But make no mistake, she'll be there. Unless she's hiding in the closet behind the dryer while it thunders.

Tomorrow's agenda: more of the same cat-herding.

I can hardly wait!

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