Sweet Scheduling

First of all I want you to know that I'm a freak when it comes to trips. I love to travel and the excitement of each trip often starts for me the moment I realize that I'm actually going to get to go. That's even before the trip is booked. I plan so far in advance that Jeff is usually tired of hearing about the place by the time we actually get there. I read guidebooks and fiction about the place, scour maps, read website reviews, do Google image searches, and generally about two months out I start a countdown to the beginning of the trip. Did I mention I'm a freak?

So yesterday on my lunch hour I worked out my countdown to this upcoming trip in July. I listed out all the days on an excel spreadsheet until we leave. I then counted the number of days. But that wasn't enough for this one. I highlighted all the days that were weekends for me, so then I counted the number of work days and made that its own column. Workdays tend to go slower than weekend days and practically count double in my book. Then, because I really am a geek, I figured out the workday/weekend day ratio for each of the days. That's when I looked at my schedule and realized something incredible.

I only have one weekend until the beginning of August that is a standard two day weekend. The rest are all three day weekends or more. In fact I only have two full five day weeks until the beginning of August as well. I'm going to forget what a normal schedule feels like, and I'm really excited about that. One of the only bonuses of these stupid furlough days is that I'm taking a lot more three day weekends. Add that to my already odd schedule where every other week I have a Monday off and you get a pretty sweet looking schedule. And all the days off in June and early July are without having to take a single day of vacation. It's a pretty sweet looking schedule.

So I may not actually need this trip to help me relax. I may have a relaxing enough summer without it. But I'm not reading all those guidebooks and plowing through Michener's Alaska for nothing.

New Schedule

One of the bonuses of my job is the hours. They are mostly stable Monday through Friday. I don't have to work too much overtime and I only occasionally have to take work home. One of the other bonuses is that the state offers what they call an adjusted work week. For the last three and a half years I've worked the standard set week. On Friday I start my new schedule and it may impact the blog a bit.

The way it works is that I will start working 9 hour days most of the week. And then I get every other Monday off. I'm going to start this new schedule with the Monday after Christmas. What that means for me is that every other weekend is a three day weekend. What it means for you is that I won't always be good about getting a post out on those Mondays. You know how good I am about posting over the weekend. Spotty is the nice way to put it. Non-existant is the other.

My plan is for that Monday to be a writing day for me. A chance to work on some stories I have rough drafts on, or create new ones. A chance to get some painting done. If I'm good and spend time at the computer, then I'll get a post out. If I waste the day, like I might, I probably won't. It could go either way. I love that I have this option for a schedule. It allows me some flexibility for a writing day. It also allows me some time away from work. Plus I generally work 9 hour days anyway, so this is just an added bonus. I'll let you know how it goes. I just figured I'd warn you. I'll try to be good. But I can't promise that the allure of spending the day out won't trump sitting at home writing.