Family and Vacation Update
January 4, 2008
Unfortunately, my extended holiday vacation is drawing to a close. The last day I worked was Dec 6 and I have been on vacation since. This is the longest vacation in my career that I have taken from work. I will be back in the office on Monday.
My company has a “use it or lose it” policy on its vacation time given to employees. We can carry a maximum of five days of personal time off to the next year. Business conditions made it hard for me to take any time off the last third of the year, so I had a bunch of time to burn or lose. I normally plan to take off three weeks around the end of the year. This year it was four. I had originally been thinking about going back this past Wednesday and ensuring the maximum carry over time off, but the kids were off school so I extended.
I cannot count the number of board games and video games that we as a family have played over the last month. We have also caught up a bunch movies. I was also able to give Cruise Talk Central a new face lift and put in some serious hours on developing the next version of an internet forum application that I contribute to.
All in all, it has been a wonderful vacation. The time with Suzanne and the kids has been well spent. They have also had some time off from the dance studio. I think they were a bit burnt out on that and needed the time off. Next week, we all get back in the swing of it as the kids also start back at school.
The upcoming year will also be a busy one for us. it starts with Showstopper Regional Dance competition in February. In March, we head off to the San Antonio area of Texas for a Pechuls family reunion. June has us traveling to Michigan for a Klasen family reunion. When July rolls around, its off to Anaheim or the Showstopper National Dance competition. Currently, the rest of the year is clear for us from a travel standpoint. Just might have to consider booking a cruise to fill that gap.
First Day Of My Yearly Xmas Vacation
December 7, 2007
Today, I began my annual Christmas vacation. Inevitably, the year has been very busy and I have a hard time taking vacation. Thus, at the end of the year, I always have a bunch of vacation that I have to take or lose. This year wasn’t any different. I haven’t decided if I will be going back to work on the 2nd of January or the 7th.
Things have been heating up at work too and its likely I may have to go in a day or two to work on some new efforts. It’s one of those catch-22 things. I’d rather not go into work, but yet, it would be really nice to land those new efforts. So, we shall see.
Unfortunately, I woke up with a bit of a cold this morning. That’s not exactly the way I wanted to start my vacation. Hopefully, it will be short lived and be long gone by the time Christmas gets here.
Suzanne and the kids are really busy right now. Next Saturday is their Christmas recital for the Alma Dolores International Dance Studio. So most nights and then all day tomorrow will be done rehearsing. It gives me a chance to get some work in on my internet open source project. We are shooting for a Beta release of the next version in January, so I could use the time.
We finally got our Christmas tree and got it up. Next step will be to put some lights on it and decorate it. Suzanne and the kids like to be part of that, but are really busy right now. Maybe we can get to it on Sunday. We are thinking about throwing up a few decorations outside too. Its always a hard decision because living in the country, not many people would see what we do.
We have started looking for travel reservations for the Klasen family reunion in Michigan next June/July, but its not pretty. The lowest priced tickets right now are going for over $425. For four family members, that gets expensive. We also have to go to San Antonio in March for a Pechuls family reunion. They will make for a busy family year. We are still undecided if we will book a cruise next year. We really want to, but have to consider all the other commitments.
Incidentally, doing this post from my new laptop while watching a movie. The movie, Hair Spray, is pretty bad and not very enjoyable. Suzanne and the kids seem to be enjoying but I needed to do something to stay awake.
-
Subscribe via Email
Sign up to receive the latest Mr Papa's World site updates! -
Subscribe via RSS
