Reset/back-on-track
Nov. 18th, 2003 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikWoke up at about 4am last night having a mild bit of panic. It was a mix of the last remnants of my headcold (yay for crappy breathing), workstress and worry about the misfortunes folks I know are going through. I try not to stress much, but eventually it does catch up with me. I was able to concentrate and re-center myself over the space of a half-hour and caught some decent sleep before work this morning.
I'm going to take this as a sign, though. Even with over 180 hours of vacation saved up now (almost 23 business days; more than a full month) I keep putting off taking a real break due to lack of coherent vacation-like plans. Taking the occasional 3 day weekend for simple local trips really isn't cutting it, never quite letting me be 'off work' mentally. Add to this that I'm still their core network guy and even when I'm on a proper break (like Burning Man) I'm still carrying a satellite phone or other method for them to get ahold of me. All this adds up to: "Hey, you need a real break, planned or not."
After the lunch hour, if the day is going well and there's a positive vibe around the office, I'm going to ask my boss to let me take a full 2 or more weeks off over the holidays instead of the one week I've currently got planned. There may not be a proper vacation plan, budget or travel-partner, but even just Not Going To Work for long enough to get a mental break would be a wonderful thing at this point. I'll probably just get in the car and drive somewhere as I'm still not quite properly equipped for long distance winter riding on the motorcycle. I'll save such trips for the midsummer when I'll have another batch of vacation days saved up anyway.
The selling-point I'm going to use on my boss isn't the stress-out (like I want to admit that to the guy who signs my paychecks). Instead it's that I really need to get back-on-track. My tasks are kind of scattershot right now. Getting a good vacation-chunk scheduled will help me re-prioritize the important ones and get them wrapped up before I leave and have a semi-clean slate to start from when I get back. It's a scheduling excuse to get tasks redistributed on the other employees in my department and to get a better defined slice of the action upon my return. With how much my boss likes to plan and schedule I think this will appeal to him as much as it does to me.
I'm going to take this as a sign, though. Even with over 180 hours of vacation saved up now (almost 23 business days; more than a full month) I keep putting off taking a real break due to lack of coherent vacation-like plans. Taking the occasional 3 day weekend for simple local trips really isn't cutting it, never quite letting me be 'off work' mentally. Add to this that I'm still their core network guy and even when I'm on a proper break (like Burning Man) I'm still carrying a satellite phone or other method for them to get ahold of me. All this adds up to: "Hey, you need a real break, planned or not."
After the lunch hour, if the day is going well and there's a positive vibe around the office, I'm going to ask my boss to let me take a full 2 or more weeks off over the holidays instead of the one week I've currently got planned. There may not be a proper vacation plan, budget or travel-partner, but even just Not Going To Work for long enough to get a mental break would be a wonderful thing at this point. I'll probably just get in the car and drive somewhere as I'm still not quite properly equipped for long distance winter riding on the motorcycle. I'll save such trips for the midsummer when I'll have another batch of vacation days saved up anyway.
The selling-point I'm going to use on my boss isn't the stress-out (like I want to admit that to the guy who signs my paychecks). Instead it's that I really need to get back-on-track. My tasks are kind of scattershot right now. Getting a good vacation-chunk scheduled will help me re-prioritize the important ones and get them wrapped up before I leave and have a semi-clean slate to start from when I get back. It's a scheduling excuse to get tasks redistributed on the other employees in my department and to get a better defined slice of the action upon my return. With how much my boss likes to plan and schedule I think this will appeal to him as much as it does to me.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 11:20 am (UTC)I know it's always a bit difficult, if you're a planning type and you suddenly have 2 weeks and no plans. However, I suspect you'll come up with something to keep you amused and busy.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 11:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 11:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 12:39 pm (UTC)But I sold it because the picture quality really sucked, even given the size of the picture. You didn't buy yours off eBay did you? :)
no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 01:06 pm (UTC)Yeah, the picture quality majorly sucks. :) I'll end up selling it or giving it away during my big tech-purge coming up.
Nice to meet a fellow watch-gadgeteer!