So I've been planning to take this week off for the last month. The whole week. No work, just tidying up my house and writing.
Monday someone scheduled a meeting I needed to attend. This someone is quite a bit higher up the corporate ladder than me, so their meetings win over my vacation if I'm within a three state radius. The settup for the meeting went something like this -- "I don't think this person is right. How bout you two set up a meeting and we'll make him defend his position, because I think there must be some mistake." Now, I don't think there is a mistake, and I said so several times, but hey. Look who has the bigger cubicle. Not me. So I decide to start my vacation a little late and come in Monday for this meeting. The person who had agreed to set it up (because I'm not important enough to set up this particular meeting. The guy defending himself has a bigger cubicle than me) didn't get around to scheduling the meeting until the afternoon, so I didn't exactly get to leave early.
Before going into the meeting, I'm told, "Don't get confrontational." I say OK. After all, I think the guy is right anyway. What am I going to confront him about? So we go into the meeting, the guy defends himself well enough. But somehow I'm made to look like the doubting thomas who wanted the meeting in the first place. Yeah, that's why I ditched vacation. (Give me a minute, maybe I can sound a little more bitter.)
So I came out of that meeting with more work to do. Stayed a little late on Monday to get it done (after all, I was already there). The thing about making progress, though, is that somehow it always leads to another meeting. This time I needed to include people in LA. So I asked them if they could schedule it for next week - and they scheduled it for Wednesday. Can't complain there, these people have offices with actual ceilings and doors, not just cubicles. So I took off Tuesday. You can look below to see just how productive that day was.
Wednesday came and the conference call was scheduled for 12:30 (central time) and I was planning to bolt as soon as it was over. It got pushed back to 1, then 2, then 3:30 then 4:45. So I spent all of Wednesday at work too. And instead of coming up with a solution from this conference call - you guessed it. More work for me and another meeting.
So I said the work would take a couple of days and took Thursday off. I fully intended to call in today, but I didn't. I just slept as long as I could and then held the couch down. And kept a good eye on the TV. They can be tricky, you know, that living room furniture. I'm not feeling guilty about wasting the day. I got out my Christmas decorations -- see? They're strewn about the floor by the TV. And I tried recreating a recipe from a restaurant. Polenta with gorgonzola and mushrooms.
It's hard to find good gorgonzola cheese. Polenta takes a little practice too. And the mushrooms could have used a little more something. I'll figure it out eventually.
Books: I started a dream diary, does that count? No, I guess not.
Monday someone scheduled a meeting I needed to attend. This someone is quite a bit higher up the corporate ladder than me, so their meetings win over my vacation if I'm within a three state radius. The settup for the meeting went something like this -- "I don't think this person is right. How bout you two set up a meeting and we'll make him defend his position, because I think there must be some mistake." Now, I don't think there is a mistake, and I said so several times, but hey. Look who has the bigger cubicle. Not me. So I decide to start my vacation a little late and come in Monday for this meeting. The person who had agreed to set it up (because I'm not important enough to set up this particular meeting. The guy defending himself has a bigger cubicle than me) didn't get around to scheduling the meeting until the afternoon, so I didn't exactly get to leave early.
Before going into the meeting, I'm told, "Don't get confrontational." I say OK. After all, I think the guy is right anyway. What am I going to confront him about? So we go into the meeting, the guy defends himself well enough. But somehow I'm made to look like the doubting thomas who wanted the meeting in the first place. Yeah, that's why I ditched vacation. (Give me a minute, maybe I can sound a little more bitter.)
So I came out of that meeting with more work to do. Stayed a little late on Monday to get it done (after all, I was already there). The thing about making progress, though, is that somehow it always leads to another meeting. This time I needed to include people in LA. So I asked them if they could schedule it for next week - and they scheduled it for Wednesday. Can't complain there, these people have offices with actual ceilings and doors, not just cubicles. So I took off Tuesday. You can look below to see just how productive that day was.
Wednesday came and the conference call was scheduled for 12:30 (central time) and I was planning to bolt as soon as it was over. It got pushed back to 1, then 2, then 3:30 then 4:45. So I spent all of Wednesday at work too. And instead of coming up with a solution from this conference call - you guessed it. More work for me and another meeting.
So I said the work would take a couple of days and took Thursday off. I fully intended to call in today, but I didn't. I just slept as long as I could and then held the couch down. And kept a good eye on the TV. They can be tricky, you know, that living room furniture. I'm not feeling guilty about wasting the day. I got out my Christmas decorations -- see? They're strewn about the floor by the TV. And I tried recreating a recipe from a restaurant. Polenta with gorgonzola and mushrooms.
It's hard to find good gorgonzola cheese. Polenta takes a little practice too. And the mushrooms could have used a little more something. I'll figure it out eventually.
Books: I started a dream diary, does that count? No, I guess not.
