Preparing For The Summer Travel

Some days, especially on a weekend after a long week, you just have to get out of the apartment for the day and drive a little bit. While the longer day trips will start back up again next month, now is the time to gradually get back into the routine of putting some miles on the car during our weekly days off. This is why we decided to head down route 1 late this morning to find a new place for lunch. Last weekend we had passed Hank’s Place in Chadds Ford on our way back from Lancaster. While we didn’t take much notice of the “Luke’s” looking place during our return, it immediately resurfaced in our mind when we search for new places to dine in the area.

After about a rumble strip cruse down City Avenue, and through the succession of towns, we arrived in Chadds Ford just after noon. With one spot open in the parking lot and one table just opening up as we walked in the door, it seems as though we got there just at the right time. What would have made the short trip a little better would have been if this really was the first time each of us were to eat there… as it turns out and resurfaced in my wife’s mind as we pulled into the parking lot was the fact that she had eaten there previously after a day out with one of her friends at Longwood Gardens. Fortunately, she approved of the repetition and we didn’t have to search for a new dining destination for the afternoon.

Given the clear warm weather just beyond the windows, it was no surprise that the dining room was packed. With the gardens down the street in bloom, antique stores with their doors open, and the Brandywine River lined with lush with vibrant green trees everyone was out and about for the day exploring the beauty and attractions of the area. While that was not on our schedule for the day, it will be at some point over the summer as we continue our explorations of the Commonwealth. Actually, as you may have noted in that blog/list, we will actually explore that area just over the boarder as well.

I recommend grabbing breakfast or lunch there sometime… great to be near mushroom country. As for the return trip, the drive was relatively uneventful around the area. Of course, the traffic was a little heavier than usual but that is to be expected as people are still trying to shake off the last vestiges of cabin fever. So, the driving has begun. It was a small/short trip but one that awakens our next weekend routine so that we are ready for the longer travel this summer. Especially for me as I have a couple of much longer trips mapped out for next month. But that is a subject for another blog (with pictures).

Fighting Against A Meandering Mind

Distractions have been an issue for me lately. All different kinds of things have pulled my attention away from the things that I should be focusing on including the daily duties that I have at work. Most of the time these things are out of my control and sometimes it leads to being productive in an entirely different area. Other times there are distractions that are once again out of my control and are detrimental to any productivity whatsoever. However, there are also moments when my mind simply wanders and before I realize that there are things that I am falling behind on the hands of the clock have made significant progress. Those are the moments when I can’t blame anyone but myself.

The past couple of weeks have been tough in this regard as I am constantly getting phone calls, text messages, Skype messages, and emails that are taking my attention always from the tasks at hand. Between the messages I receive from friends and family and the random short projects I’m brought into at the office, I have struggled to keep the usual tasks in motion and I have fallen behind on a few of the lodge items on my monthly check list. Some of the tasks or responses only take a minute or two but when your attention span is already suffering it can be a very long journey back to productivity when the distractions keep flipping like a shiny new quarter.

Even at night when I sit down at the computer to pull a couple of blogs together I find myself occasionally getting caught up in a website (not always social media) reading more about a subject than I need to for a casual reference in a post. The worst instances with regard to blog posts are the evenings when I have no idea what I am going to write about, which is becoming more and more prevalent these days, and I go from topic to topic, website to website, reading pages and pages of information just trying to pull together some kind of cohesive series of thoughts. While the writing may only take 20 or 30 minutes, it could take hours before I trip over an idea, opinion, or subject.

So, if I seem a little off or if my thoughts happen to come across as slightly disjointed understand that content is scarce at the moment and there are other things going on that I need to get caught up on. Hopefully this will only be a temporary state but you never know. Besides, I have a little more work ahead of me this week (as if last week wasn’t enough) as we close in on the blog anniversary. That’s right, it is approaching fast. Hopefully I can maintain my focus and find content. Might have to spend some time figuring out what will happen beyond that day too. I guess you will have to keep reading to find out.

Pushing Through Level Four

 

Have you ever noticed just how different of a person you are when you’re sick? Some get mad, some become mean, and others just kind of stair off into space. Today I was a different person. I wasn’t really any of the aforementioned, my sick demeanor is more along the lines of dull tunnel vision. Basically, when I’m sick I lose much of my creativity (you can probably tell at this point) and am unable to multitask. I have to focus on one thing at a time. Anything beyond that project simply wouldn’t process.

This doesn’t happen every time that I feel under the weather. It happens more on the top end of not feeling well when I have to motivate myself to move. Basically more on the plague end of the spectrum rather than the sniffles. For those of you unfamiliar with the sickness scale (similar to Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias’ five levels of fatness), here is the breakdown:

1. Sniffles – You cough once and feel that is enough to call out sick from work. Also applies to hangovers.

2. Sick – The time when you might want to consider taking something. This is when you usually start going through the list in your head of who you can blame for what you know is inevitably going to happen.

3. Crap on Toast (also known as crap on a cracker) – As the name suggests, at this point you are more than likely spending more time than you would like passing legislation through colon congress while weighing the nuclear option from your seat in the oval office. This also applies when you eat too much sugar free candy (especially Gummy Bears).

4. Plague – You have nothing left and your body seems to laugh when you take any sort of cold medicine. While you are no longer in solitary confinement in the porcelain prison, it takes considerable effort to just get up let alone get out the door.

5. Dead – This is when you have no other option than to call out of work and stay home moaning like a wounded cow. If you can only eat broth and really soft foods you might be dead. Stay home.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, it is now the weekend and I have the luxury of dying without missing any work. However, if you were expecting to read about any exciting trips this weekend there is a good chance that will not be happening. It will give me time to thing though and you know how entertaining that can be so stay tuned for a couple posts resulting from an overabundance of time to think and cold medicine.

Processes and Common Sense

Not all steps are this easy to see.

Everything I do during my day has its own distinct process. Whether I am at work, in the lodge office, or simply writing a blog post everything is done in its own way with its own set of steps. Some of these processes are pretty clear cut like pitching a story to the media while others are a bit more obtuse.

Many of my workday activities are rather regimented. Well, at least that is how I keep myself organized. I know the basic structures of different projects and forms and know how things need to be arranged to make sense for various companies and publications. I know the basic bullet points that need to be addressed and I know the steps that need to be taken when pitching, proposing, and revising.

There are also other times when what seems simple is actually something with numerous unseen steps that need to be taken in order to achieve the desired result. The majority of projects that I must complete on a regular basis for the lodge fall into this category. While at times it can test my patience a bit, it is an understandable process that needs to occur to ensure that everything is carried out the way it should be and any errors are caught early in the process. Even some of the most basic communications where dissemination seems obvious needs to be handled in the right way.

The creative process is something that I can’t really say has steps. At least in my case it is something that just seems to happen. It is a thought process that just happens. You could start with a basic questions like “what’s for dinner?” and end up somewhere around monkey monkey underpants (some of you will get the reference). Even when coming up with pitches or work related blogs, the same ‘unique’ process applies. I have tried to distill this process into steps but my mind simply won’t let me put it on paper. With that said, I have taught enough lessons to know how to spark the creative process but where that takes someone is completely up to them.

Most of my work flows in and out of the creative process which, at times can be tiring but as long as I properly manage the tide I am usually able to keep things going day in and day out. However, sometimes it is good to step away from the process for a few moments which is why I like working with my hands and putting thing together. I also like traveling and exploring because it is a matter of observance rather than creation. Even the act of studying is relaxing for me as the process begins and ends with facts.

However, the common thread across all my ‘jobs’ is that of common sense. I have seen many people attempt each of my daily duties in one form or another and have tried to do so with limited or no common sense. Smart people but they floundered in their rigid habits and lack of comprehension. It just goes to show that life and experience can’t be found in a textbook or in a set of instructions. You need to apply your mind, your personality, your own processes, and your experiences to your job(s). Without those basic applications, you are bound to find yourself a best confused and if someone is really out of touch they will find themselves without a professional home.

Embrace The Cold

First snow and a cup of coffee (2011).

While I did see some flurries earlier this month, tonight is the first night that it smells like snow. It’s not really a smell in the traditional sense, it is more like a lack of scent when the dry frigid air seems to flood your nostrils with the clean pure air of crystalized vapor. It is the kind of air that arrests your breath as soon as is passes across your lips.

It seems as if the spring, summer, and fall have all but disappeared into the past in a matter of moments rather than months leaving us with shock of a frozen world when we open our front door in the morning. The frost on the windows taunts us as if to say “I told you so, I told you I would be back.” The car seems hesitant to move as if woken up from a daily hibernation and unwilling to face the reality of daylight.

Midday offers some hope of relief as the sun warms our skin just enough to bring some comfort to our face just before the cool breeze rips across our cheeks. In what must be a slight of hand, the sky quickly turns dark long before the work day ends and the cold returns to dominate the world beyond the windows. By the end of the day it feels as though déjà vu has set in and our morning routine becomes our evening repetition.

But, for me, the sight of snow makes everything different. I don’t know why, but for some reason, the cold doesn’t seem as breathtaking and the wind doesn’t seem to bite as hard. Snow changes the world around us. Just like rain makes everything dreary, snow whitewashes the world as if to bring us a fresh start to the day, week, month, or year. Having the rough edges softened now and again calms the senses and eases the harshness that can sometimes be found in our surroundings.

I have lived in many different places and many different kinds of environments and I can say for certain that this happens everywhere not just in the Stars Hollow’s of the world. The scent of snow changes things and offers, for some of us, an eager anticipation while the sight of a winter blanket can make the ugliest view from the window something to look forward to and enjoyable to just watch. And, best of all, snow brings us together and allows us to huddle inside (or occasionally help one another outside) and enjoy the company of our loved ones.

It has the potential to make us slow down. Sometimes just for a few minutes and sometimes for days. But, most importantly, it changes our perspective and brings a different kind of appreciation to what we have, where we are, and the beauty that the weather can produce. It can be an amazing time of year if you let it so why not take the chance and embrace the cold.