: That's cheating, women see everything .

: (I suspect I'll hear about "that" comment )

: Bill H.

Allowing a woman into a workshop can be a maturing experience. Personally, I hated it when my elders told me I was immature when I was young and I love the way nobody dares tell an old fogey he needs to grow up. I don't want to grow up and I don't want to mature: I've seen what that does to people - next thing you know you're going to the funeral. So women in the workshop are out for me, no matter how good they are at finding things.

The problem, as we all know but don't want to admit, is we have too many tools. And no place to keep them. Or we don't put things back where we found them after we have finished with them.

The answer, I was told when I was very young, is a place for everything and everything in its place. And when/if I mature, I might try that. I think it operates on the theory that, if there is only one thing on the workbench, it is easy to find it. Sounds plausible; like that investment scheme that chap told me about that ... but let's not go there.

In the meantime I have identified some alternative strategies:

1) put things down anywhere I want, and put everything away when I can't find something
2) as #1 but stop when I've found the thing I want
3) tidy up at the end of the day

I've tried them all. #3 is suspiciously like the "place for everything" gig. The problem with PFEAEIIP is, tidying up is all you ever seem to do. #3 is like that: the end of the day better be sometime around noon or it doesn't happen. #1 is similar, and it takes far too much mental discipline once I've found what I needed to actually finish cleaning up, and then I forget where I put the thing I needed ... So I stuck with #2 for a long time (normally the only thing I stick with is glue) but that turned out to be less than ideal too. If you never clean up the place gets so messy ... well we've all been THERE haven't we?

So recently I have taken a new direction. When I can't find something, look for a few minutes then go off for a beer. This is an excellent approach from a mental health perspective. it will take a while to evaluate how effective it is for getting the job done. Right now I need to get more beeer.