Why does it always take twice as long to do as you thought it would?

[Grunt]

I went over to a mates yesterday to help him put up a new fence. Easy to do, only take a day! Worked until after dark yesterday, started again early this morning and finally got it to lock up while there was just enough light to see what we were doing.

I've now got blisters on my girly programmers hands.

[vsquizz]

Why didn't you just buy a Beisemeyer???:confused: :rolleyes: :D


Cheers

[Tikki]

'Cause you did twice as good a job as you intended to? :)

[bitingmidge]

Yep.

Yesterday I installed a few (7) plastic imitation timber venetians for daughter #3 and her new hubby.

Firstly I arrive at their place, and he in his most helpful mood (and he is a nice sort of bloke) had all his tools laid out on the dining room table which was a great thought esxcept for the depth of his kit:

One maglite (small)
One 3 metre tape
One Phillips head screwdriver (rusty) - actually one of those from a VW tool kit where you could flip end for end before it rusted up.
One cheap and broken Multi tool on which only the pliers worked.

THAT'S IT!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Of course the blinds don't actually fit any window, so a few measurements and home to make some support pelmety things...(115 K's each way - sigh!),

Cut, shape to match architraves, spray lacquer, screw brackets on complete with mounting screws ready to go, and back.....another 80 minute drive, forty minutes of installation, shorten them all over the next hour and a bit.... and blow me down ....it's dark outside!!! :eek:

I know just how you feel Grunt, and I'm not even going to go anywhere near today!!

Cheers,

P :D

[craigb]

Because you're a girly programmer :D :D

And not a pro :)

[echnidna]

Its Murphy's second law
"Work expands to fill the time available" ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

[JackoH]

Get one of them T.V. 'experts' in. They seem to be able to do the most complicated jobs very quickly, like installing a complete kitchen in about 15 minutes!

[Forest Gump]

You need to use the old rule of thumb, that is if you don't know what you are doing multiply it by 5.


Daniel

[Forest Gump]

I meant to say multiply your origonal estimate of time by 5


Daniel

[Bob Willson]

(115 K's each way - sigh!),

Geez Peter, where do they live? Couldn't you have just dropped in on me and borrowed my tools?

[Rocker]

Midge,

Sounds as though that son-in-law needs to be told that the honeymoon is over:) Time to get his butt down to Bunnings and shoulder the responsibilities of married life. You might need him to finish off a few projects for you in later years :D

Rocker

[gatiep]

Maybe it takes twice as long because we are only half as smart and half as fast as what we think we are! Oh no, that would make it 4 x longer.

[Daddles]

It takes twice as long because we never factor the essentials into planning a job.

For instance.
Driving in a nail.
Three blows (it's been a long day). About three seconds.

BUT

You need to allow half an hour to find a nail.
A second to realise it's the wrong size.
Five minues convincing yourself to use it rather than drive half an hour to Bunnies to buy a pack of ten.
One second to stand it in place on the job.
A minute trying to reach the hammer which is 2.54 cm outside your reach.
One second for the mishit which sends the nail spinning into the shavings on the floor.
Half an hour of searching for the rotten thing on the floor during which time you start having fantasies about the wonderful range and helpful staff at Bunnies.
Half an hour to recover from the Bunnies fantasy and to convince yourself that you probably don't need medical attention just yet but decide that you'd better monitor such delusions in case they develop a tendency to become a horrid reality that would threaten you very ....
Thirty seconds for a deep breath.
Three seconds to drive in the bloody nail.
One minute starting in disbelief at this mild, steel, retaining device that proves to be exactly 1.25 mm too short to do the job you wanted it to.
Half an hour for the drive to Bunnies.
One hour attempting to find the correct nail in a packaging format that you might be willing to hand over some of your diminishing financial resourses for, but it is a positive hour as you realise that your earlier Bunnies delusions have their own natural cure - Bunnies.
Half an hour to drive home.
Half an hour for a cuppa, extended to an hour because that beaut fishing show started on tele while you were sipping.
Ten minutes attempting to get the first nail out.
One minute contemplating the destoyed piece of timber.
Thirty seconds deciding to replace the piece of timber.
Fifteen minutes going through your timber supply only to find that you have no timber the same thickness as the original but do have some that would do the job but is thinner.
Thirteen minutes attempting to open the &^%$%# packaging that Bunnies put their nails in.
Five minutes attempting to find all the spilt nails among the shavings on the floor.
Three seconds to drive in the nail.
One minute staring at the job and realising that, thanks to the thinner timber, the nail is too long ... and that the first one would have been perfect.
Two seconds to turn off the shed lights.
One minute to lock the shed door.
One minute walking back into the house and to the fridge.
One minute finding your seat, turning on the tele and opening the first of the two beers you took from the fridge.
One minute to clean up the first beer.
Five minutes of arguing with your son about what to watch on tele.
Fifteen minutes drinking the second beer.
One minute returning to the kitchen.
One second to realise that the simple repair job you started just after lunch is still in the shed whereas you now need the rotten thing here in the kitchen, right now because it's time to cook dinner and ...


And my Dad wonders why I never get anything done.

Cheers
Richard
I'm exhausted

[Grunt]

Because you're a girly programmer

And not a pro


I'll have you know that I'm a professional girly programmer! Well, at least I do it for a living.

[bitingmidge]

Geez Peter, where do they live? Couldn't you have just dropped in on me and borrowed my tools?
Wynnum... about the same drive time I guess, hey and thanks for the suggestion for next time!!! :D :D :D

Sounds as though that son-in-law needs to be told that the honeymoon is over:) Time to get his butt down to Bunnings and shoulder the responsibilities of married life. You might need him to finish off a few projects for you in later years :D
Good thought!!!

I've got the other one in training today, blunting all my tools again!!
But it's fun. :D :D :D :D

I think I'll start the other one with some sharpening lessons!
:D
Cheers,

P

[Bob Willson]

Way to go Peter

One blunts while the other sharpens, then turn it around and the other one gets to blunt. That should teach the buggers to look after the tools and not be quite so happy to chisel concrete etc.

[simon c]

But on the other hand:

you put off doing a job for months because it looks tricky and when you finally get around to doing it, you're finished in 30 minutes and wonder why it took you so long to get around to it

[adrian]

I think I'm going to have the same problem when my daughter and son-in-law move back from New York. They went fishing one time and my daughter had to bait his hooks for him. He still thinks a screwdriver is a drink.

[Wongo]

I am shocking when it comes to estimate time.

For 3 days, I had to go to the timber yard and Bunnings. It is about 45 minutes each way plus all the buying and browsing. Knowing very well it would take at least 3 hours for the trip, I took the car and told my wife I would be back in an hour.

And what happened every time when I got home?

A very cranky wife. :mad:



Wongo (a genuine pro programmer)

[silentC]

One reason for me is that I usually make things up as I go along, which means I have to stop and think about what I'm going to do next. That could take days. Then there's searching for a bit of timber that is just so wide and just so long. I can walk around for minutes picking bits up and putting them down because I'm loathe to cut up anything much bigger than what I need. Then there's the long pregnant pauses while I stand back and admire the latest bit of handiwork, or more likely, stare in horror at what I have turned that lovely piece of wood into.

Yes, I can spend days on something that was only going to take half an hour.

silentC - Hack programmer to the stars.

[E. maculata]

or more likely, stare in horror at what I have turned that lovely piece of wood into.
Yes, I can spend days on something that was only going to take half an hour.


LMAO- try making a semi-matching pair of bedsides out of birdseye Blackbutt, finished one Wife luvs it. Mine,..... well the tablesaw dust collection was a bit off, so I've fixed it (this included squaring the whole saw carriage, making a extractor pickup, machining the ends down for perfect mating to the fence & regretfully chipping one whole tooth of the trunion mechanisms ) and then decided to have a serious look at the router bits and ended up playing with some spiral endmills in the router table :o .
End result other bedside is still waiting for glue and assembly, but I'm sure the #6 & #7 need sharpening & then theres' those chisels that are dull, need to gullet that 60 tooth and............................................


Yours in Apathy..........

[Caliban]

Sigh.
Bruce and Darren have said it all very eloquently but Richard has been spying on me. I'm scared. I'll just go back to thinking about the next hundred and thirteen jobs I can half finish then admire or hide.

[Sturdee]

In keeping with the theme of the tread, it took you twice as long to reply than the rest of us.

I think you win Jim.:D


Peter.

[havenoideaatall]

Just the way something is always in the last place you look.

Naturally. You don't keep looking for something after you found it.:p