Not looking for sympathy here, just relaying what will be amusing to many of you...I am so truly awful at this and I make so many sometimes I ask myself why do I even bother with woodworking.
I'm making an armoire and the sides of the carcase are plywood (yeah yeah). So I'm making a dado across the sides with a router to hold a shelf. 30" to the top of the dado from the bottom edge. I line both pieces next to each other so that I can cut the dado across both so they will line up exactly (clever I am!). I measure 30" up on one side (to the top of the dado), make my mark. 30" on the other side (make my mark). Get the straight edge & router and zip! Wait...something's wrong. Ack! I measured 30" correctly but I mark one side as the top of the dado, and the other side the bottom of the dado. I correct this by filling in the dado (which won't be seen), and cutting a new one at 31". Now I just have to remember to make the stiles and door panels for the lower section an inch longer (can you see what's coming?). "I should write this change in my plans, so I'll remember it"..."nah, I'll remember it."
Tonight, after a long day at work, and stupidly snapping at my wife about something unimportant, I tell her I'm kinda tired to work in the shop, and she says "you better not, you'll make a mistake and be upset." ...... Well, Norm works till the wee hours doesn't he?, so I decide, I won't do anything _major_, I'll just rough cut the pieces for the doors, rails, and stiles. The cuts were all perfect...they really were if I didn't have to add back that missing 1" for the lower stiles and door panels. Why why why do I this? Now I'll have to make a special trip and go back to the lumberyard and find matching pieces (if I can), and start that section over. More gas $$$ and more lumber $$$. Why don't I just start with 50% more and be done with it?
Another day on this same project I took 2 hours to lay out the measurements, and miter cuts for the cornice pieces. Checked, and double-checked...even tried the measurements and cuts on some old pine I had...perfect. Got out the "real" lumber and walked over to the miter saw and promptly made the angle cuts backwards....sigh.
I'll stick with my day job and take solace in knowing most people I work with can't traverse a directory tree or distinguish between click and double-click even after I've showed them a gazillion times. I'm good at something I guess.
Time for a cold one. Here's to those who do it right the first time! Duke