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.

Family Time

 

Every once in a while you have to put things aside and just spend time with family. Today was one of those days when I turned off the computer, got in the car, and head to my parent’s house to meet up with my siblings so we could all spend time together and sit down for a meal. This was one of the big drivers in our decision to move back to the Philadelphia area and but my career on hold for a while.

 

It proved to be a difficult time but days like this are what makes the decision truly worth it. Of course, there have been other things that have happened in the years since my wife and I made that decision that have only reinforced the choice but everything comes back to family. These are also the days that I realize how lucky I am. Too few people have been so fortunate to have a family that they can turn to and that will, within necessary reason, support their decisions.

 

My family continues to be a source of strength in my life as well as a huge sense of pride. We have all taken vastly different paths in life but we have always brought each other along for the ride. No matter where I have gone or what I may be doing, I always know that my family is going to be there to share in the great moments and give me the kick in the rear when things aren’t going so well. If anything, the past two years have been the clearest example of that.

 

Even with something as simple as this blog when there are days when I have a lot to write about and other days when it is a struggle to get things down on the page, I know that it is a means to keep my family up to date as to everything that is going on in my mostly boring but sometime humorous life. By the way, hi mom!

 

That has been one of the ancillary benefits of sitting down at the table and writing every night. It has allowed me to pick up a conversation that we never had simply by elaborating on what was written the night or the week before. At the same time, I know that my views aren’t necessarily shared with everyone in my family but my views are respected and it has never been a point of debate. Again, I know my family supports me even when or views differ and we respect one another for having an opinion (although they will rightfully call me out on my BS on occasion). So I guess in a sense, while certainly not the same as spending time in person, by writing these words I am able to have a little bit of family time every night.

One Of Those Days

It was a rough Monday. The dragging that I pushed through last week seems to have intensified over the weekend making for a difficult day at the office. I would have called out sick by now but there are simply too many things that need to get done tomorrow. Just because you’re sick or you take the day off doesn’t mean that work stops or deadlines get pushed back. This is an expectation that I have seen too many people have of their jobs, especially the younger/new people starting off. While not the case in every situation, it is slowly becoming more prevalent in the work place.

To be honest, I touched on this in my early years. While there were many days that, in hind sight, I could have pushed through there were also times when even now I might not be able to function properly to do my job. On the other side of the equation, I have seen people and you could say that I am guilty of this now, when people should have taken time off but refused to do so. Sometimes things work out but other times I have seen the detrimental effects that this mentality can cause. While I am not at that point, it is pretty close, and I will have to be careful and toe the line making sure that at the first sight of going over I take the time off and recuperate.

The really interesting thing for me though is when things are going really well, everything else seems to disappear. Pain, problems, illness, and other distractions just fade into the background and all I am focusing on is keeping the good day going. Even during the longest days there seem to be moments when this fluidity is present. However, the most accurate determining factor that I am not doing well, that something may be getting the best of me, is when the flow seems more like molasses than water.

Maybe it is time to slow down, even just for a night or, at most, a day just to catch my breath a little bit. Maybe it is time to do something besides work and make an attempt to relax. Well, who am I kidding, maybe it is time to get some other work done other than the ones that usually fill the daytime hours and occupy my evening thoughts. Sometimes the best means of relaxation is completing a project that has been populating your to do list for months (for some people it can even extend to years). Of course, if that is the case you will be reading about it here. And if I finally have to give in an rest for a day, you will also be reading about that too… or at least the random thoughts that occur when I spend a day off with nothing to do.

Holiday PITA

Not that kind of pita!

The holidays this year have made my work schedule a bit of a mess. Beginning last week I have been in one day, off two, in one, off three, in one, and will be off two more days before resuming a normal work schedule. With days off in the middle of the this week and last, many people have also simply been out for a week and a half straight making it difficult to really get a lot of things done and through the entire revision process. So while there is plenty of work that has gotten done lately, much of it at this point is simply fueling a backlog that is going to have to be addressed as soon as our schedules return to sanity.

But some schedules never change, some habits remain, and routines are pretty self-explanatory. While things were both busy and slow at the office, blog posts still had to be written, and lodge work seems to never end. Actually, since things have been turned over to me, the work is now in the exponential stage. Don’t worry, it should plateau sometime this coming year or next.

OF course, this is why I take work home with me. What started simply with blogging from home has how become a pretty substantial office where I can handle just about everything from the office and a number of things from the lodge. The lodge home work is something relatively new, at least to its current extent, as I brought home a couple of binders with me to finish a few things up before our meeting on Thursday.

That’s another thing that has to be done. Both my home office and the lodge office are both a bit disheveled, disorganized, and a downright mess. Much of this work will definitely be more streamline once these two spaces are given a pretty substantial overhaul. Looks like a few exciting weekends are in my future trying to get both of these spaces up to speed. Put it this way, they’re both in such a state that they’d be good spaces for one of those foofy television design shows.  

While there is a lot of work to be done it is all fun for me most of the time. Sometimes work can be a PITA but everything has PITA potential including the things we enjoying doing most like blogging. And don’t forget that we can each be a PITA too... I know I am on several daily occasions. Sometimes at work, sometimes at home, you never know when the PITA mod will strike.

Hope You Are All Enjoying The Winter/Spring Holidays

When I woke up this morning the bedroom seemed a little is warmer than usual. Being that it is the first day of winter, the window was open, and the heat not yet turned on this should not have been the case. In a day more indicative of spring the temperature today reached the 60’s for the first time in a while. I can’t remember the last time that it has been this warm so late in the year. As you have probably already figured out by now, the snow that that blanketed the greater Philadelphia area about 2 weeks ago is now is tatters with only a few miniscule piles remaining in the corners of the parking lot.

So, as the temperature continues to warm, it is supposed to hit near 70 tomorrow, the natural thing to do is to wrap gifts in preparation for the family day in the middle of the week. For those of you dreaming of a white Christmas this year, you are pretty much SOL. You will just have to settle for the time with family, the time off from work (thank you to those whose jobs require you to work on the holiday), and the hours upon hours of “Small World” syndrome inducing music, and, I have to admit, some darn funny movies.

It’s an interesting time of year for me. Growing up, this was the only holiday that I knew and I have many great memories of spending time with family, opening gifts, and making the wine disappear from my glass before dinner. Maybe that last one wasn’t really great at the time but it is funny in hind sight. Those memories, and the spirit of the holiday that is still on full display every year still instills a fondness for this time of year for me. Even though it is no longer my holiday, it is still a great time to spend time with family and to see the happiness not only in my nieces and nephews but also my parents. Seeing that look in the faces of my family is what makes this a happy holiday.

I consider myself very lucky because I am able to experience the holiday happiness much more frequently than most people. I can see the joy in my family members during the Christian holidays and I can feel the joy during the Jewish holidays. Okay, maybe not all of them as some are not really known as “happy” holidays. So many of the holidays throughout the year have meaning to me for different reasons. It has taken me a long time to come to the realization but just because it may not be your holiday, it doesn’t mean you can appreciate the spirit of the holiday. And, of course, you should enjoy all of the amusing pictures and jokes that seem to be a natural byproduct of any celebratory time of year.

Happy Holidays!