When I was small, we had a set of encyclopedias cobbled together from some used classroom book sale my mom had attended.

It was pretty haphazard. There were some World Books, some Britannicas. And they were from many different years, kind of like the Johnny Cash song "One Piece at a Time". And, of course, we didn't have all of the volumes.

So I'd be doing a report on Rhodesia or something, and discover to my chagrin that we had no R. The excuse never seemed to work, though.

I'd like to try that excuse at work, sometimes.

"Kaf" my boss would thunder. "Where is that catalog you weere supposed to have finished in April?!"

"Sorry boss, got no R."