Da Count - Counting Inventory

Every year, during "spring break" or "reading week" we conduct an annual inventory count. We pick that week because it's one of those times with the least amount of student traffic during the school year and there is less impact on students when we close "The Tank" (our main textbook location) for a few days, followed by two days of our Health Sciences bookstore, then two or three days at Titles, the main, and largest, bookstore.

Given the long, grueling hours of the boring, repetitive task of counting, I'd like to pause for a moment and count the good things about doing inventory:

1) It gets me out of meetings
2) It allows us to, at least for one day, reset our inventory values to be a bit closer to accurate
3) I can wear jeans and a t-shirt
4) I get a chance to actually physically be close to books and be more familiar with our stock than at any other time of the year
5) I usually get to know one or more fellow employees a bit better during inventory
6) Getting in to work at 7:15 AM and leaving at 10 PM means I don't have to contend with rush hour traffic
7) Doing "mindless" tasks is a great way to think about other projects, brainstorm, allow one's mind to solve problems that sometimes don't come to you when you focus on them
8) My silly jokes and goofy comments are often appreciated more by my tired and giddy colleagues (or perhaps they're just too exhausted to throw things at me when I make them)
9) The whole business of inventory is an entire change of pace from the typical day -- and changing things up is refreshing and good. Or is it "Change is bad - trust no one"? I can't remember.
10) At least we only have to do this once per year.