Chicken and egg stuff

I'm moving my office next month, a source of stress so great that this alone would be enough to account for my present overwhelmed state, without even taking into account the still-undeposited $100,000 check in my desk drawer.

Today I and the other solos with whom I'm moving will meet with a salesperson about leasing office equipment. We'll meet with the technical person about how we're going to hook up to the Internet in our new digs. And maybe we'll even make progress on getting new phone numbers.

We're moving only a few blocks, from one corner of the Chicago Loop to another, but we've all been told we must get new phone numbers. This came as a surprise to my colleagues; it was not as a big surprise for me. When I moved to my present office, four years ago, I moved about a block -- too far, however, for me to keep my phone number then. You see, in crossing the street, I had moved from the Wabash District to the Franklin District, prompting the change. At least, that's what the Texans in charge of our phone company told me.

My new office will be very near Franklin, but East of it, so I did allow myself a brief flicker of hope (recalling the Wabash vs. Franklin distinction of four years hence) that a new number might not be necessary. But it will be. And I'm sure the Texans will have an explanation for it. Undoubtedly the boundaries have been redrawn. At least I'll be able to keep my area code. (I think.)

But the absence of a phone number holds up all sorts of other things: I can't prepare change of address forms for my cases. I'd like to send Holiday cards (in a business setting "Holiday" will do just fine) to present, former and prospective clients -- but I'd like to include an announcement of my pending move -- and give out my new phone number in case, maybe, possibly, somebody might want to hire me for something....

It's the old chicken and egg problem: What comes first? Holiday cards mailed now will not reach their destination before Christmas -- but there's that phone number problem. My future officemates would like me to designate which items of furniture will be moved, and I have entered into discussions with my landlord which give me reason to assume that I can purchase the stuff I've been using lo these several years at a very good price. But I can't purchase anything now, given the cash flow situation. So I do nothing. And Christmas (I can call it that) looms ever larger.