Sometimes I Have To Work To Relax…

I have a huge problem… don’t all chime in at once… in that I can’t seem to turn off my mind during my days off. For the first time in a long time, I took a day off today with nothing on the calendar. I didn’t have a specific place that I had to be or event that I had to attend. It was a bit of an odd feeling.

Without something to keep me occupied, I found myself getting up early, a little later than usual due to my not wanting to get out of bed, and almost immediately getting on the computer and sending emails. While there are a few things that had to be taken care of that carried over from the work week, there wasn’t too much that was pressing. However, while there is no doubt that I was working, it didn’t feel like work. I was in a completely different headspace while my fingers scurried across the keyboard.

Thankfully, I did have a general idea of a few things that I wanted to do so by the early afternoon I was out the door and on my way to the range. I can’t just sit back and dwell in the apartment, I need to be social and one of my social hobbies was calling me. Heck, it is a great way for me to relax as well.

By the time my wife called me after work, I was feeling much more relaxed. Usually by the end of the day, especially at the end of the week, I am wiped out but with the laid back but productive kind of day that I had, I still had plenty of energy to drive over to the mall and get a few errands taken care of before we sat down for a fancy food court dinner. Now, we have one less trip that we have to make this weekend which frees up a few hours to get some other things done in the apartment. After all, we still have three days left in the weekend.

With an easy day leading into the night, I find myself with a little extra energy and focus to check a few other items off my weekend list a little early. While I can’t say, by most people’s definition, that this is going to be a relaxing weekend, it is just what I need to get back on track with just enough down time so that I can go into the three day week reenergized. I know, sometimes I am pretty good at scheduling.

Ever Lose Track Of Your Vacation Days?

That is exactly what happened to me this year. It has been tough to take time off this past year as business has been constantly busy and I really haven’t had a good reason to stay ways from the office. With that said, I find myself with a couple months to go before I get a new crop of vacation days. Well crap, I guess I am going to have to take some time off since they will not carry over. So, this past week I finally sat down and took a look at my calendar.

It is difficult for me to take the time for myself as, and I have been very clear about this in previous posts, I enjoy working. I like going to the office every day and making things happen. To do anything else would make the week feel a little incomplete. But I guess that is something that I have to get over especially now with how tired I have been lately and the massive changes that are on the horizon. Something has to give and if taking time off with help that situation then I am happy to oblige.

However, I know that the next couple of months are going to be critical to ramping programs back up for the busier time of year so my decisions on what days to take are influenced by that factor… no long blocks. Additionally, all of us that started around the same time are in the same position and we are making sure that our days don’t overlap… a few less options but nothing I was looking at anyway. What was left were a few long weekends that will do wonders for the rest of the year and while I don’t plan on using every one of my days (I might use about half of my work from home days as well), there are a few breaks that have been worked into the schedule.

There are a few days that I am taking off for the simple convenience of it (i.e. late night at the lodge the night before) but, for the most part it is going to be a few weeks of long weekends and doing my best to finally get caught up on everything else especially in the home office. Working in my favor I the fact that my wife just got a regular position in a local school district leaving me along for the day to buckle down and get things done. Maybe, just maybe, all of those projects that have been pushed back since I started working regularly will get done and we can go into the end of the year with a clean slate.

So, expect a few different posts in the coming months as I will have more time to enjoy and focus on other things. It will be an odd feeling not going to the office ‘just because’ but it give me an opportunity to relax, enjoy something else for a change, and record it all right here. Who knows, maybe there will be something that you aren’t expecting and if you want to get together during those days send me an email and maybe we can coordinate something a little different.

Errands, A Dead Fridge, And Meeting The Police!

Our plans for the 4^th of July consisted of approximately nothing. We had a few errands that we had been putting off but other than that we were going to sleep in, relax, and enjoy the rare weekday together without the worries of work and school constantly splitting our attention. Well, we definitely slept in (at least I did), we had a few relaxing moments, and then we headed out the door to pick up a few things. Nothing exciting, just some clothes and groceries and the day was actually going pretty well as we found  just about everything we needed in one stop rather than two giving us some more time to not run errands.

About four hours passed and we were starting to figure out what we wanted for a late dinner when the day took a turn in an unfavorable direction. As my wife was sitting down with a bowl of cereal and I was rummaging around on the top shelf, I noticed an inordinate amount of heat radiating from the sides of the refrigerator. Just as I noticed the lack of cold air, my wife got my attention saying that the new milk tasted sour. Well, crap, I guess the holiday isn’t going to end as smoothly as it began.

So, it was time to repack the groceries and take them to my parents’ house so everything wouldn’t be wasted. With my parents in Pittsburgh for the weekend, it was going to be a very quick trip to unload, put away, and get back to the apartment. However, what would have been an uneventful stop just a few months ago was a bit more complicated this time around. With the roads clear and the fireworks lighting up the newly dark sky in the distance, I was calling and texting trying to figure out the new security code needed to get into the house. Additionally, when we arrived, the key in my pocket that was supposed to work didn’t and I had to scramble to find the spare (which also didn’t work in the right lock).

With all the searching and fumbling around with the locks the alarm was blaring by the time I got in the house and I knew that we would soon be having a couple of visitors. The alarm had long since been turned off and I just finished putting the food away when I saw the bright beams of two flashlights making their way to the back door. It was time to have a brief conversation with the Radnor Police Department. After explaining the situation, showing them my driver’s license, and chatting for a bit we all left the house and drove up the street.

And now we are left with trying to get the fridge repaired (always an interesting conversation with the management and maintenance) and finding the time to be there when the service needs to be done. That is a whole different conversation, issue, and blog post altogether. But, for now, we got everything done and we managed to get back to the apartment before the throngs of people flooded onto the streets. I was just glad that we still had two more days left in the weekend!

The Workaholic’s Dilemma

What happens if I turn one of the other two directions?

I decided some time ago that I was going to take today off. The problem that I am running into is that I really don’t know what to do with myself with this extra day away from the office. All of the other days that I have been out of the office had another reason behind them beyond just needing to take time off. I have taken a days off here and there because of holidays, illness, and other commitments during the day. I had something to do. Today I am not sure how I am going to fill the day.

There are a few options. I could go to the range. I could run some overdue errands. I could spend the time in the apartment cleaning or organizing. I could sit at my computer, get ahead on work, catch up on a few lodge tasks, and write a few blogs for future use. There is also a research article that I have to get done for the fall. Nothing seems to be jumping out at me at the moment. I know that my wife will be productive today but I have no motivation to get that much done. Maybe I should just let the day play out and not set an agenda for this rare time away from the office.

On the other hand, I might want to get things together now as this is the first of four consecutive weeks when I will have short weeks. That’s right from this week until the week of the 4^th of July, I will be working four days a week. Sounds like a great way to start the summer but if things continue as they are starting off today it may not be as nice as it sounds. I have to find a way to fill my days and be productive but also have the time off be relaxing as well.

The other issue I have with taking time off is that I have a check list constantly running through my mind of things that need to get done as soon as I get back to the office. I am also thinking of the possibilities of things that may come up that someone else will have to handle since I am not at my desk and, potentially, not at my computer today. And, no surprise, I am constantly trying to think about things that I may have possibly forgotten about yesterday that I should have gotten done before the long weekend began.

So, I guess I am going to have to work today as it is going to take some significant effort to calm my mind and focus on the day in from of me. I am going to just let the day play out and pretty much do what I want to do. All of this while staying out of my wife’s way so that she can get everything done that she needs to focus on. Will it be a successful day, I don’t know but I am going to try and see how things go. This might help though...

That Was Too Fast

With all the changes going on at the moment and the schedules that my wife and I have had over the past few weeks the long weekend was a welcomed occurrence. It is for this reason that we did not plan a single thing during the three days away from work. We know months ago that by this time we were going to need as much time as possible to do nothing.

While we did head out and do a little bit of exploring, we generally stuck to our plan, relaxed, and just took each day as it came. Friday night was a nice calm night at home. Saturday we did a little bit of local driving and exploring. Sunday we spent a few hours apart with me going to the range and my wife getting some homework done for her summer grad class. Today was more of the same as our sole venture beyond the confines of the apartment was for a buy one get one burger at Fox & Hound. What can I say… my wife is a cheap date.

Not surprisingly, there was plenty of work that I got done during the weekend as well including the posts that wrote for this blog. There has been a lot of things popping up lately at the office and it is that time of month for the lodge so there were a number of projects that had to be tackled during the last few days. I guess you could say that is was a long weekend for all the wrong reasons.

And now we are in the midst of the difficult time when Tuesday feels like Monday and we have to cram in five days of work into a four day span. I hate when Tuesday Jan pretends to be Monday Marsha… it’s just a high maintenance situation that I would rather not be a part of. And really with all the loose ends from the previous week, it was already going to be a long week even if it wasn’t cut short. Almost makes me wish that I had taken a few days off to extend the time away from the office but, then again, it would just be that much bigger of a headache upon my return so really I don’t know what would have been the best option.

So… now is the time to put my head down and work. When you see the words posted on this blog those will be the moments when I come up for air. And while I hope to continue providing you some daily entertainment and insight, I am not counting on anything of particularly fine quality. They may be short, they may be long. It really depends on how long I need to surface in order to fill my lungs. For now, it’s time to rest. I guess I will talk to you tomorrow!

Back To Work

When hump day feels like Monday you know it is going to be a long week. After taking two days off to bask in the Passover holiday, it was time to go back to work and attempt to catch up on all the things that I missed in the beginning of the week. So, I rolled out of bed in the morning with eyes that refused to believe that I had not been up this early in the past four days and legs that, if they had any energy, would swing up and kick my own butt. It just goes to show that no matter how much you love your job, the people you work with, and getting back to productivity you still really don’t want to go back to the office when you know that there is days of work to get caught up on.

The morning commute seemed a little longer than usual but also not long enough as my sluggishness was not relieved by my usual cup of coffee. The really odd thing about the drive was that I didn’t dwell on what was awaiting me on my desk. What did keep interrupting my auditory perceptions was what I didn’t accomplish during the past four days. While there were plenty of things that I did, there wasn’t enough to show for it. This of course made me think about what I could have gotten done and what I plan to do in the future when the occasional day off occurs.

So, I walk into the office and the first thing I see are the papers and the notes left on my desk. While I took a quick glance at them, I pretty much knew what they said already so I pushed them aside, turned on my computer, and began the slow dig out from under the avalanche. It wasn’t that the notes didn’t contain anything important but I knew that I had to get to work as quickly as possible before the day began getting away from me. And it didn’t take long before my schedule slipped from my grasp.

By the end of the day I had barely made a dent in what needed to be done as other things came up throughout the day and I was called into several meetings which accounted for nearly four hours. In some respects I wish I had not taken so much time off but, at the same time, I am glad that I was nowhere near the office for a few days. I am sure that it will be days before I get caught up and, by then, I am going to be looking forward to the next break in the calendar. Sometimes that is just how things go and all we can do is hold on, try not to throw up, and enjoy the ride (so I used a cliché, bite me).