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Last week, I was supposed to have had a vacation day on Friday. But since I had a deadline and my part of the coding wasn't done (thanks to many interruptions from other projects), I went to work that day.
I was lamenting that I only had fifteen days of vacation per year when my team lead said, "No, you've been here, what? Four years? You should have eighteen, not fifteen."
After a little back and forth, she dredged up an email from long ago, I checked my PTO accrual rate, and lo and behold! I actually do have eighteen days.
But, problem: I had promised everyone that I would be there for the last two weeks of December so that everyone else could use their immense numbers of vacation days (the team lead has been there 17 years; one cube-neighbor has been there 20 years; another has been there 10 years), and I like to be a man of my word. So...I sent out email saying, "Look, I have four and a half days of vacation I didn't realize I had, and I need to take them before the 20th, so...if no one objects, I'm taking next week off except for a half day on Monday."
No one did. So: I have the week off! I immediately scheduled stuff for this week. First up was a 2 pm appointment at the Honda dealership for my Element's 120,000 mile checkup.
I went in yesterday and arrived at 9:17. Since I do have to work for about an hour tonight (Tuesday), I figured I'd leave at 12:15 or so, which would give me plenty of time to have lunch and make it to Honda.
Except...everything yesterday conspired against me. I didn't end up walking out the door until almost 1:20, and I practically had to use the elevator doors to pinch off the conversation I was having with someone about a problem they wanted me to "just" fix before I left. "Just" means "we don't think it will take any time or cost anything."
I pushed it off on someone else in a very helpful email wherein I explained exactly what needs to be done. This is my vacation, dammit, and I seldom take vacation days because of my stupid weak corneas.1 So I was determined to get out of there.
Thanks to leaving so late, I barely made it to Honda before 2 pm and got no lunch. And of course, they made me wait for 2 hours in the waiting room. No problem...I finished Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (book 1 of the Sookie Stackhouse series, on which the TV show True Blood was based). I left there and went immediately to the doctor because I developed a mild case of diverticulitis from Friday night's Korean BBQ. Those bean sprouts were not a good idea. :( I wonder if they were actually "bean" sprouts, or if maybe they were peanut-sprouts instead. Hmm.
After a two-hour wait in there, I finally got out and went to the pharmacy to get my prescription for Cipro filled. Another hour of waiting, during which I had "lunch" at a nearby restaurant. I've never been so cold sitting in a restaurant. Every time someone entered or left, the howling wind blew frigid2 air into the restaurant and right at where they had seated all the diners. Everyone there was sitting huddled in coats and a few people were actually eating dinner wearing hats and gloves. Not going there again.
Finally, finally, finally got home around 8 pm. Blew off the writers group meeting on Second Life because I just didn't feel like it (diverticulitis is rather painful). Started reading Twilight.
So today is the first actual day of my vacation, and I intend to put it to good use. I have a holiday party tonight, and I need to get a $10 gift for that, and I fully intend to work on finishing my NaNoWriMo novel. And if I can fit it in, I'll attempt to do a little declutterization. And I fully intend to measure my laundry nook for Elfa shelving.
And I think my bedroom could use another book shelf. For all those books on my 'to-read' list...
Skeptoid #236: Whales and Sonar by Brian Dunning from Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena (Rating: 0)
I was lamenting that I only had fifteen days of vacation per year when my team lead said, "No, you've been here, what? Four years? You should have eighteen, not fifteen."
After a little back and forth, she dredged up an email from long ago, I checked my PTO accrual rate, and lo and behold! I actually do have eighteen days.
But, problem: I had promised everyone that I would be there for the last two weeks of December so that everyone else could use their immense numbers of vacation days (the team lead has been there 17 years; one cube-neighbor has been there 20 years; another has been there 10 years), and I like to be a man of my word. So...I sent out email saying, "Look, I have four and a half days of vacation I didn't realize I had, and I need to take them before the 20th, so...if no one objects, I'm taking next week off except for a half day on Monday."
No one did. So: I have the week off! I immediately scheduled stuff for this week. First up was a 2 pm appointment at the Honda dealership for my Element's 120,000 mile checkup.
I went in yesterday and arrived at 9:17. Since I do have to work for about an hour tonight (Tuesday), I figured I'd leave at 12:15 or so, which would give me plenty of time to have lunch and make it to Honda.
Except...everything yesterday conspired against me. I didn't end up walking out the door until almost 1:20, and I practically had to use the elevator doors to pinch off the conversation I was having with someone about a problem they wanted me to "just" fix before I left. "Just" means "we don't think it will take any time or cost anything."
I pushed it off on someone else in a very helpful email wherein I explained exactly what needs to be done. This is my vacation, dammit, and I seldom take vacation days because of my stupid weak corneas.1 So I was determined to get out of there.
Thanks to leaving so late, I barely made it to Honda before 2 pm and got no lunch. And of course, they made me wait for 2 hours in the waiting room. No problem...I finished Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (book 1 of the Sookie Stackhouse series, on which the TV show True Blood was based). I left there and went immediately to the doctor because I developed a mild case of diverticulitis from Friday night's Korean BBQ. Those bean sprouts were not a good idea. :( I wonder if they were actually "bean" sprouts, or if maybe they were peanut-sprouts instead. Hmm.
After a two-hour wait in there, I finally got out and went to the pharmacy to get my prescription for Cipro filled. Another hour of waiting, during which I had "lunch" at a nearby restaurant. I've never been so cold sitting in a restaurant. Every time someone entered or left, the howling wind blew frigid2 air into the restaurant and right at where they had seated all the diners. Everyone there was sitting huddled in coats and a few people were actually eating dinner wearing hats and gloves. Not going there again.
Finally, finally, finally got home around 8 pm. Blew off the writers group meeting on Second Life because I just didn't feel like it (diverticulitis is rather painful). Started reading Twilight.
So today is the first actual day of my vacation, and I intend to put it to good use. I have a holiday party tonight, and I need to get a $10 gift for that, and I fully intend to work on finishing my NaNoWriMo novel. And if I can fit it in, I'll attempt to do a little declutterization. And I fully intend to measure my laundry nook for Elfa shelving.
And I think my bedroom could use another book shelf. For all those books on my 'to-read' list...
- Because I take most of my
1518 PTO days as sick days instead of vacation. - Hey, 20°F is frigid for Atlanta. So there.
Skeptoid #236: Whales and Sonar by Brian Dunning from Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena (Rating: 0)
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