Christmas Vacation
No, it has nothing to do with the movie.
I find myself with two weeks of vacation left that I must "use or lose" before the end of the year. I choose to use. So, technically, I'll be on vacation until after January 1, 2009. I say "technically" because there is a fairly good chance that I will need to come in to work for at least one day. Well, not really "come in", more like "go out" to a job site.
Ah yes, the life on an engineer. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't choose a less stressful vocation...like nuclear bomb disposal...
Anyway, I typically take the week between Christmas and New Year's off. And occasionally, I find myself with 'left-over' vacation time this time of year too. Such is the case this year (obviously). The end of the year is historically a slow time for the company, so it's not a bad time to take a vacation. I think I'll be plenty busy when I "officially" get back to work, which is good. Still, I sometimes wonder if I'd keep working if I were independently wealthy.... Probably not. But I suppose I won't ever know unless I actually become independently wealthy.
But money is not everything (and no, it's not the "only" thing either). Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have money than not have it, but it is by no means the driving force behind what I do. If it were, I would not be working where I am working. I believe that I am seriously underpaid, and that a few around here are serious overpaid. But it doesn't bother me enough that I go somewhere else. At least not yet.
But I digress...
I'm not actually going anywhere for my vacation. Mainly because traveling alone really, really, really sucks. But also because I have house-work to do. I should read a book - I've got a few piling up on me including "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (see? I told it was on my list of books to read...). We'll see.
We got our first snowfall of the winter over the weekend. Not a whole lot, but it doesn't take much to shut-down the City. Mainly because people are stupid and they don't know how to drive in snow. I don't usually have a problem with the snow - I have a problem with the idiot drivers who have a problem with driving in snow. I remember one year, I was behind a particularly bright individual, who though it would be a good idea to slow down while driving uphill. Now, if you know anything about snow, then you know its slippery (takes a real genius to realize that, apparently); so if you've got traction, the last thing you want to do is lose traction. And what happens if you slow down? You lose momentum, which will increase your odds of losing traction and having your tires spin. So if you're driving uphill, in the snow, the last thing you want to do (if possible) is slow down. But he did. Which meant I had to as well, or run into him (the laws of physics being what they are and all). Fortunately, we did not lose traction (but not for a lack of trying on his part...).
But other than stupid drivers, I like snow. The City never sounds as quiet as it does just after or even during a snowstorm (as long as there is not also a windstorm at the same time, which there was this weekend). Outside at night, it's also a lot brighter - white being highly reflective and all. Even if there's a power outage, you can still generally see because of the whiteness. Mind you, I don't know if I'd like to live in snow-covered places all year 'round or not (probably not). I'm reminded of a story I read in "Reader's Digest" - "Life on Campus", I think it was. It was about a foreign student at a mid-western college (though I forget specifically which one) when it snowed and classes were cancelled. He was so excited, because he'd never seen snow before in his entire life. He even wrote a poem about snow. Three days later (or so I think it was), he was sick and tired of it because he was cold, wet, and miserable - he threw away his poem.
I always liked that story - it's funny. And knowing it's true just makes it that much more so.
It would take more than just 3 days for me though - assuming it wasn't 'blizzarding' (is that a word?) that long...
I find myself with two weeks of vacation left that I must "use or lose" before the end of the year. I choose to use. So, technically, I'll be on vacation until after January 1, 2009. I say "technically" because there is a fairly good chance that I will need to come in to work for at least one day. Well, not really "come in", more like "go out" to a job site.
Ah yes, the life on an engineer. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't choose a less stressful vocation...like nuclear bomb disposal...
Anyway, I typically take the week between Christmas and New Year's off. And occasionally, I find myself with 'left-over' vacation time this time of year too. Such is the case this year (obviously). The end of the year is historically a slow time for the company, so it's not a bad time to take a vacation. I think I'll be plenty busy when I "officially" get back to work, which is good. Still, I sometimes wonder if I'd keep working if I were independently wealthy.... Probably not. But I suppose I won't ever know unless I actually become independently wealthy.
But money is not everything (and no, it's not the "only" thing either). Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have money than not have it, but it is by no means the driving force behind what I do. If it were, I would not be working where I am working. I believe that I am seriously underpaid, and that a few around here are serious overpaid. But it doesn't bother me enough that I go somewhere else. At least not yet.
But I digress...
I'm not actually going anywhere for my vacation. Mainly because traveling alone really, really, really sucks. But also because I have house-work to do. I should read a book - I've got a few piling up on me including "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (see? I told it was on my list of books to read...). We'll see.
We got our first snowfall of the winter over the weekend. Not a whole lot, but it doesn't take much to shut-down the City. Mainly because people are stupid and they don't know how to drive in snow. I don't usually have a problem with the snow - I have a problem with the idiot drivers who have a problem with driving in snow. I remember one year, I was behind a particularly bright individual, who though it would be a good idea to slow down while driving uphill. Now, if you know anything about snow, then you know its slippery (takes a real genius to realize that, apparently); so if you've got traction, the last thing you want to do is lose traction. And what happens if you slow down? You lose momentum, which will increase your odds of losing traction and having your tires spin. So if you're driving uphill, in the snow, the last thing you want to do (if possible) is slow down. But he did. Which meant I had to as well, or run into him (the laws of physics being what they are and all). Fortunately, we did not lose traction (but not for a lack of trying on his part...).
But other than stupid drivers, I like snow. The City never sounds as quiet as it does just after or even during a snowstorm (as long as there is not also a windstorm at the same time, which there was this weekend). Outside at night, it's also a lot brighter - white being highly reflective and all. Even if there's a power outage, you can still generally see because of the whiteness. Mind you, I don't know if I'd like to live in snow-covered places all year 'round or not (probably not). I'm reminded of a story I read in "Reader's Digest" - "Life on Campus", I think it was. It was about a foreign student at a mid-western college (though I forget specifically which one) when it snowed and classes were cancelled. He was so excited, because he'd never seen snow before in his entire life. He even wrote a poem about snow. Three days later (or so I think it was), he was sick and tired of it because he was cold, wet, and miserable - he threw away his poem.
I always liked that story - it's funny. And knowing it's true just makes it that much more so.
It would take more than just 3 days for me though - assuming it wasn't 'blizzarding' (is that a word?) that long...
posted by TubaMeister at
17:20
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