We’re celebrating a big national holiday here in the United States so this post is a day “early.” Our summer really gets cranked up now and it is only in the last few years that I have lost my enthusiasm for fireworks, parades, and patriotic movie marathons. Perhaps it is required for a curmudgeon to instead bemoan the rapid passage of time, the hot weather, and the traffic. Where did the first half of my year go? We are now closer to 2020 than 2018 and, for some reason; the looming start of a new decade seems ominous. My ambitious plans for home improvement have been thwarted by the wet weather. It seems to take longer to get almost anything done. Do you also need to adjust your expectations for this last year of the twenty-teens? Professionally, these summer months can make it difficult to keep your team focused on the task at hand. Supplier contacts may be off on vacation. Co-workers may be out of touch just when you need their input. You may find it a good opportunity to clean up some “old business” or re-organize files of recently completed projects. I hope to sort through my library and begin the task of finding good homes for dozens of “gear books” I no longer need. [Watch for some “exit reviews” of these volumes as I offer them for adoption.] If it helps reduce your office clutter, remember that the entire contents of every issue of Gear Technology is online in our keyword searchable archive. You do not have to keep multiple shelves or boxes of magazines around, unless you really want to. You do have to remember the “key words,” however — something that can be a challenge for us older folks.