Last week was a little hectic for the staff of the Grand Forks Gazette.
On top of putting out the May 22 issue and all the little and big things that come along with it, at the back of everyone’s mind was the impending move into the new or old office on Second Street (depending on your point of view).
Immediately after the issue went to press, and I mean a split second after, I began the process of packing.
I had been meaning to start a month ago but every time I wanted to start, something came up, most notable amongst them, a little thing called the provincial election.
But something became apparent to me as I sorted through my desk drawers, filing cabinets and the like. I, and my predecessors, had accumulated way too much junk.
Scraps of paper with old phone messages, long since returned. Photos, cards, notes and information packages from the beginning of the century, all collecting dust and taking up space. I don’t consider myself a hoarder by any means and in fact, I was able to get around my office for the last three years without having to step over piles of garbage and I was never at risk of being incapacitated by an avalanche of stacked files falling on me.
But while I cleaned my old office many times over the few years I was at the Riverside Drive building, I still made numerous trips to the garbage and recycle bins to dispose of unwanted material last week.
Luckily, I was ready to go last Thursday morning, with all my work-related items in four or five boxes and my desk drawers and credenza completely empty.
It took me only a few hours to get everything unpacked and up and running at the Second Street office as well.
Although I don’t have an office any more – but rather a corner, cubicle area – from which to work, everything is neat and tidy for the moment.
We’ll see if that remains a year from now, or even a month, but I’m certain things will pile up again.