A Couple Days Off

I need to write more often. Seriously.

I'm back at work today after taking an much-needed four-day weekend. Don't get me wrong, I love my job -- and I'm not just saying that because my bosses may be reading this. But every once and awhile, you've got to take a little time to recharge the batteries. Especially when you work the kind of hours we do on the morning shift. I'm not sure I'm back at 100% just yet. But I'm closer to 90% than I've been in awhile.

My family spent the Holiday Weekend doing typical Holiday Weekend stuff. We visited family.. hung out with friends.. did some swimming.. had a BBQ. It was fun. It was relaxing.

It's how I spent my "bonus day" Tuesday, that's got me scratching my head. I turned into my dad got a lot accomplished. After dropping my daughter off at camp I ran a bunch of errands -- returned bottles, dropped some recycling off at the dump, went to the bank, picked up the dry-cleaning. That was bad enough. Then I spent almost three hours in the afternoon cleaning the garage, spraying weed- and pest-control around the house and hosing down the siding and deck. But the clincher is that I went to Richlin (an odd hardware/auto parts/general store type place in town) because I needed something for one of my projects. It was about then that I thought I'd morphed into my dad. Ask my brother, he'd understand.

Those things said, I must admit I feel very proud of myself. More accomplished than if I'd hit the driving range or lounged on the beach all afternoon. But I wonder, at what point does that happen? When does that voice in your head that says, "You know, there are a number of projects around the house that could use your attention..." outweigh the one that says, "Dude, the day is yours!" (Actually, I don't think the voice in my head ever calls me "dude," but you get the point.)

Today's Title: Huey Lewis -- on vinyl!