The Final Count

I’ve been working as an enumerator for a while now. Naturally, I’m excited about the job as I have been doing this kind of stuff for a long time now. Basically I walk around a designated route in several places counting things. The job involves three things. First there is the ontology. Since this study is the first of its kind I have to build a list of all of the things that I can possibly count. Next, I need to actually count those things. Finally, I have to indicate whether the things that I am counting are absent on subsequent passes.

Okay, so it makes sense right? Well I don’t expect everybody to understand. I understand it only enough to actually do the job. After all I am a geographer and not a philosopher.

However, up till now I was only theoretically aware of how difficult it can be to simply count things. My biggest qualm with the job is the fact that the swings between counting are so short. On the first swing at each site I have had to spend nearly twice as much time as normal to get the ontology down and this doesn't even account for the fact that subsequent swings have unearthed mistakes that may take even more time. In the end I have had to do my counting and then run run run to the next portion of my path or else be late and not meet my next requirements.

Suffice to say that lately, like when I go looking for a pub to watch the NLCS or World Series, I don’t have a lot of time to enjoy myself.  Celebrating, say, my team’s successes or scarfing down a taco or sandwich has been difficult lately.  Generally, I only have enough time to punch my fist into the air after the final count.

I started writing this on 102112.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.