A lack of ranting and raving here is generally a sign that most is right with the world. Or more specifically that I’ve managed to avoid the masses and the raft of stupid they bring along with them. With that being said, I think it’s time to consider rejiggering the holiday calendar. I mean why celebrate Christmas in the middle of the bloody winter? It’s dark, cold, and there is every chance that you’ll find yourself snowed-in-place at any given moment. For a holiday that involves painfully detailed travel plans, wouldn’t it make more sense to schedule this type of event say in August when the days are long and low temperatures don’t plunge into the single digits? The church has moved things around on the calendar for years and for far lesser reasons. Surely no one really believes that an actual man named Jesus was born exactly on December 25th in the year zero (yes, I realize there was technically no year 0). And for the record, there was no concept of the Gregorian calendar at that point, so fixing the big day at the end of December seems to be speculative at best… So really there’s no reason not to get on the move-Christmas-to-a-warmer-month bandwagon. Join me, won’t you?
Tag Archives: vacation
Cracking the century mark…
I just crossed over the 100-resumes-sent-out mark – an occasion made even more auspicious because I’m only a few hours away from punching out for two weeks of Christmas vacation. So really, my quest to get out of this madding reality will be suspended until after the new year, because, well, I will be out… even if it’s only temporary. Temporary is way, way better than nothing. Getting myself to a place where the hardest decision I need to make involves whether the ham sandwich should have mustard or mayonnaise seems to be one of the few ideas I can get behind lately with my full-throated support.
This will be the first trip of any length I’ve tried since I stopped sleeping like normal people. It’s also the first trip since I started drinking every bottle of water, soda, or Gatorade in site. I’m not all sure how this combination is going to work out other than almost guaranteeing that I won’t be setting a personal speed record for this trip. I just hope I can avoid making a pit stop every two hours. That would turn what’s already a tough drive into just about intolerable. One thing’s for certain, though… come hell or high water, I’m heading east and soon, with all the speed I can muster.
Weekly report…
Yes, I realize I’ve been slacking. As much as I try to keep up a steady stream of 2-3 or more posts a week for the last two years or so, I figured laying off for a week wouldn’t kill anyone. Of course that doesn’t mean I checked out completely. There are plenty of ideas banging around between my ears that just haven’t made it into print yet. I’ll get to those at some point. For now, I’m going to do my best to relax (definitely not my natural state) and enjoy my last few days off. Next time I’ll see more than a weekend away will be Christmas, so I’ll be doing my best to make these count. I’m willing to say that I’ve done well with that so far.
In the meantime I should really go see what mayhem the dogs are causing. They’re being far too quiet and while that’s perfectly acceptable at my house, it’s probably a bad sign here if we ever expect to come back.
Three day…
I throw alot of heat at the job around here, but I want to take this opportunity to mention one of the things that definitely doesn’t suck. In the world of the federal civilian, there are few perks more appreciated than the steady flow of paid holidays that loosely mark the coming and going of the seasons. These 10 days constitute the cornerstone of the sought after government employee benefits package. Coupled with the judicious application of accumulated annual leave, these days can be parlayed into a goodly stream of four and five day weekends and still leave two weeks left over to cover the end of December festivities and maybe even a week somewhere warm and tropical.
These extended weekends are even a perk for those who opt to stick around the office in that there is almost no one else around. It’s a great opportunity to actually play catch up on projects that have been lying untended in the corner of the cubicle, because there are almost no interruptions. I’m not extending the 4th of July holiday myself this year, so I’ll be in the office right up till the bitter end on Friday (if you consider 3PM the bitter end). After that, it’s off to enjoy the three day weekend… Which mostly means trying to sleep in until at least 7AM and then doing yard work until it gets too hot to see straight. Not exactly an epic vacation, but for now I’m not looking any gift horses in the mouth.
Boat Drinks…
I love the islands. There’s something in the sea breeze and blue water stretching away in all directions that I, like most others, find remarkably appealing. For the most part, what I’m thinking about from the time I leave the tropics is what I need to do to get myself back there as soon as possible. When I hit that Powerball jackpot, you’ll at least know the general latitudes where you can start looking for me.
Since I haven’t yet figured out a non-lottery related way to get there permanently, bringing some of the islands back with me becomes pretty important. I’ve been working on nailing a rum punch recipe off and on for about a year now. It’s pretty straight forward boat drink, but the proportions can throw you off a bit. This afternoon, though, I think I hit on a recipe that works for me. Here’s the skinny… You’re gonna need some juice… and rum:
1 part light rum
2 part amber rum
2 parts orange juice
2 parts pineapple juice
1 part lime juice
.5 part lemon juice
.5 part grenadine
Garnish with pineapple slice and a cherry and you’ll have the closest approximation I’ve been able to concoct to my favorite boat drink ever. It’s great on a hot, humid evening like this one…
Not all bad…
It’s obvious by now that I do a fair amount of complaining here and that alot of that complaining is about my job in one way or another. Maybe it’s not the most productive use of time, but It’s a good way from keeping me from going ’round the bend and actually giving voice to these thoughts in the office. Who knows, maybe in a virtual world the difference between what I say here and what I say there doesn’t matter all that much. In fairness I have to admit, though, that despite the complaints, the job does have it’s perks. The fact that federal holidays are all actual holidays is a definite plus. The fact that between annual leave and several varieties of comp time, I’ve got what some would consider a disturbing amount of time off I need to schedule between now and the first week of January is another one. It means that sometimes on a Thursday afternoon before a three-day weekend, I can decide that a four-day weekend would be better. Sure, you’re technically supposed to schedule leave two weeks in advance, but since Uncle operates with a skeleton crew on such Fridays, as long as at least one person is sticking around to answer the phone, most spur of the moment requests are approved as a matter of course.
So now I’m off to start my newly extended weekend… by crawling into bed at 9:30 just like it was any other Thursday. Just call me Mr. Excitement.
Get back…
Between vacation and a few days on the road for work, I’ve been gone for almost two weeks. Time was that I would eat that kind of road stand for breakfast and ask for more, but the truth is that I find it all rather wearing these days. It seems that at the house with the dogs is the only place I really want to be for any extended time. Being a hermit by nature, that’s not really surprising, but it’s something that’s become more pronounced over the last few years. I wonder if it has something to do with picking up a few more birthdays or if seeking “home” is something we’re just hardwired to do. No real theories on it, just an observation made from one more hotel room on one more Thursday night on the road. Hopefully I’ll be able to clear out of here early enough to pick up the dogs tomorrow evening and then settle in for the weekend. Here’s hoping.
A while yet…
Even if all I did was sit on the beach and read, grab an occasional rum punch, and eat whenever the mood struck me, I’d have a while yet before this vacation got old. Of course that’s not all that’s in the cards. It’s a snorkling trip tomorrow, probably an island tour on Saturday, and then climbing back on a 757 for the ride back to the world. Time hasn’t grown so short that my thoughts have turned brooding just yet, but every sunset is a reminder that an end is coming and that it’s almost time to be an adult again.
Maybe a little too much…
A little too much sun this afternoon combined with a little too much rum and a sunset cruise this evening have conspired to make this a bit of a rough evening. I definitely think I’m over the rum punch for the rest of the night. Of course if someone twists my arm, I could possibly be convinced to give it one more go. As it is, I’m struggling to get up the steam to wander across the beach for dinner and steel drums at Iggie’s.
Lost, Damaged, or Destroyed…
After one of the longest four-day weeks in recent memory, I managed to get away from work nearly on time. I pounded out a txt on my way to the parking lot, put my bag on top of the truck bed cover, sat my phone down beside it, and tossed my coat in the back seat because I hate driving with my coat on. The bag is tossed in next, I settle in to the driver’s seat and I’m off to start a week and a half of vacation time.
You might have noticed that I didn’t mention picking my phone up. Well that’s because I apparently didn’t. Of course I didn’t know this as I pulled out of the parking lot, drive through the gate, and made best possible speed for the house. I only realized this ten minutes later when I reached down to grab it off my belt clip. There was the clip sure enough, but the phone was ominously missing. I reach behind me, thinking it probably had just popped out of the clip or maybe slid between the seat and center console. No dice there. Not paniced yet, I pulled my coat over the seat and rummaged through the pockets. Sill no phone. It wasn’t in its usual spot on the center console either. This is where the dread starts setting in. I pull to the shoulder, check under the seats, check my coat again, and actually check every place a phone could possibly end up. It, of course, was in none of these places.
So now I backtrack to the office. No one has turned in anything to the gate guard and it’s not lying in or near the parking lot. It’s not lying anywhere inside the fenceline for that matter. I scouted that area pretty well. It’s not outside the gate where I would have made my first quick acceleration. It’s not at the exit where I turned onto the highway. By now it has begun dawning on me that I’m not likely to find it. In a shower of curses not often heard from me, I admitted defeat and accepted that my phone was lost, damaged, or destroyed.
So yes, my pretty and still relatively new 16 gig iPhone is now officially listed as missing in action. I only hope that flying off the back of a fast moving truck damaged it beyond repair because the thought of some schlep using my phone as a high powered iPod makes me crazy at the moment.
I’ve switched over to a back up phone and my number still works, so all told I was off the grid for about three hours. Three absolutely terrifying hours.
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