When Two Equals Three

Those of you who have had first grade math realize that the title of this post doesn't make any sense at all. After all, numbers are numbers. How could two equal three? Stick with me. It will all make sense in the end.

So, last night I sat down to get the third issue of my biweekly e-zine ready to send off. That's "biweekly" as in once every two weeks (this is where the "two" comes in). I was so proud of myself. I had set up a "to do" list on my personalized Google homepage in order to remember some of the ideas I wanted to cover in the articles I was to write. I had added a recurring event to my "Remember the Milk" calendar, so I'd know which Tuesday I was supposed to be sending out the next issue. I had even blocked off the time necessary to write up the introduction and article and to look through ezinearticles.com to find a good "guest" article.

At this point I should tell you that I have a template for the structure of the e-zine message. I make a copy of it and rename the copy with the date of the issue as the file name. As I was copying the file, I glanced at the other files to make sure that I had formatted the file name correctly.

It was at this point that I realized that the most recent file was three weeks ago (you guessed it, that's the "three" part), not two, as intended.

No! That's not possible! I did all of this stuff to make sure that I would stay on time. I was organized. I was prepared. And yet, somehow, that extra week had crept into the calculations. Apparently I have a problem with multiplying and adding small numbers (isn't that what the computer is for?).

Let this be an object lesson for me. I sometimes forget that, while the tools with which I surround myself run almost perfectly, as of yet, they cannot think for me. If I don't check the information that I provide, I shouldn't be surprised when the computer tells me, quite logically, that up is down, black is white, war is peace, and the next issue of a biweekly e-zine will be in three weeks (or 2 == 3, Q.E.D.).

Assuming I haven't frightened you away from the idea, if you are interested, you can sign up to receive my biweekly (no, really) e-zine on the subscription page. It should be coming out every two weeks from now on. I usually write about interesting widgets, gadgets, and other cool things I find on the web, some for work and some for fun.

I hope you'll join me!

So, when was the last time you were caught by a "two equals three" moment?