This past weekend, the company I work for had their annual holiday party. Those of you who I’m Facebook friends with have seen some of the photos from the night. One of the things that happens every year is that our President and CEO each give a speech before dinner starts. Each person focuses on different aspects of the year and the company as a whole. This year, our CEO surprised many of us (again) with some extra blessings. One highlight for many was that everyone is getting an EXTRA week of vacation in 2013. Provided the Mayans were wrong, we’ll all have 5 extra days out of the office next year.
For an old timer at the company like me, this means a couple things. One, my what I consider an already ridiculous amount of time at 4 weeks is now bumped to 5. (Actually, it’s 6 weeks if you include 5 days I’m rolling over from this year into the first 3 months of next year. First world problems, right?) Two, what am I going to do with all this time? I’m starting a list:
- Travel and visit some friends in far away lands like Mississippi or Evanston.
- Travel to new places I’ve been meaning to go like: Iceland (northern lights, natural hot springs, awesomeness)
- Learn how to do stuff around my house from my super-handy neighbor.
- Take a day off every other week all year.
- Sleep. A lot.
- Other stuff
I absolutely realize the “problems” I have are great ones to have and it makes me reaffirm my choice to still be with the same job I started at right after college. This immense amount of time does get me thinking I should consider some bigger adventures, even if they are local but simply require more time to do. Others, like my dream trip to Iceland, may require saving a few dollars first.
Keep your ears open soon as I may be hitting some of you up for ideas on what to do or a time to visit. This guy has many days he’s free to be away from work. Watch out world! Or don’t.