The Power of the Last Minute:

Call it what you will, but without the last minute there are a great deal of things that would just not have gotten done.  It is sometimes referred to as "crunch time", "the push", or "Oh shit the work I've got to get done!"  Regardless of the label, it means that significant output is now required in a freaky small amount of time, as the deadline is approaching.

This was the feeling that I had with the approaching love fest that is Valentine's day.  Each year I have set upon the muse to come to me and produce an outpouring of rhyme on the topic.  This year, I actually had the fear that the muse was not going to arrive in time.  My usual routine is to have several ideas in the queue that I can gel and mold into an output, but this year February got here and I had nothing. Nothing, is not good - unless you have an innate ability to produce something really spectacular from it.

The nothingness finally subsided on the 6th, with a product due for delivery within eight days.  Whew!

And the good that will come of it is that I got to learn how to use the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) on the Mac.  Like Photoshop, GIMP is a massively complex program.  I needed to be able to take an image and adjust its transparency for use as a watermark under my Valentine poem.  For this, the Internet and its call to duty team of people who post the best of their work for free (the aid of humanity by individuals is a wonderful endeavor) to help others to understand is just awesome.  But with a little search time, and a little more reading, I was able to find the necessary post that put the A,B, C to using the image manipulation software in my new bag of tricks.  From which, I now have a product to release, that I am happy to say is of the quality that is always expected.

Learning, while at the same time thwarting procrastination, and fear of failure are what motivates sometime.  So the next time you think that the last minute is upon you, and the fear of missing the deadline is nigh, just remember you may not be alone because the last minute always will be there to remind you that something has to ship.