“I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go.”

The Movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981 (Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter, from a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman; Steven Spielberg, dir.)
Who says it: Harrison Ford as archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones
The context: Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) asks Indiana Jones how he expects to catch a truck and retrieve the Ark of the Covenant.
How to use it: Honest tactical planning.

Thanks to John Erath for reminding me of this quotation; he says it is one of his top five most-often used movie lines.

Last week, a client hired me to write a report that won't really get underway until November. The company is a large accounting firm, and since this is their planning season, the client wanted to make sure that I would be available, and wanted to nail down a price now, half a year before I really start working.

Part of me admires this level of advance planning, but most of me is baffled by it. I just made travel plans to go to Los Angeles, later this month. Anna was shocked that I'd left it so late. She makes travel plans months in advance, she says she feels too anxious otherwise.

I wasn't always this lackadaisical about it. I used to be meticulous about planning certain things, but when I did that, I'd get completely derailed when things happened that weren't in the plan. If I put off making decisions until the last minute, I don't get upset when things change, because I've -- kind of -- planned for that.

How's that for a rationalization?

Oh, and it's birthday season again. Dizzy sends special birthday slurps to Pam LaMarca, and I'm headed south today to help the fabulous Maeve Cunningham celebrate her birthday in New York all weekend.