The Aerie
Well, this is my first weekend off in a while. It's rather nice not having to work seven days a week for a change, although who knows how long it will last. At the beginning of March my boss asked me to put in more time at work. We had one of these conversations over electronic chat (meaning that I captured it for posterity):
"how many hours are you burning per week?"
"Well, I'm burning about 45."
"is there anything preventing going up a little more? I am averaging 60"
So I took the hint and started putting in more hours. Certainly there was plenty of work that needed doing. Still is.
Fortunately this week some of my responsibilities were offloaded to another person. I could tell that in some senses this was viewed as some kind of "loss" for me, some kind of "win" for her. And within the corporate context of career employees, that's possibly true.
Whenever I've been part of such "wins," however, they are usually transient and meaningless. For one week you might be celebrated as an exceptional employee, but I have never seen long-term accruing benefits from such endeavors. Instead one's manager leaves or the business reorganizes, or one changes jobs, and then one might as well have sat quietly in a corner as worked like a fool, the end result is the same.
So I was happy to "lose" and hand some unwantd and unasked-for responsibilities off to the crazy person who stepped up for the job! What this change means, in addition to being able to relax on a weekend, or maybe even blog, is that I get to focus on the type of work I actually like doing and am skilled at. I'll probably still be called upon to work crazy hours, but at least I won't spend it, like I did last Sunday, fiddling with Microsoft Project and impossible milestones.
Yesterday I had the usual Saturday intentions of getting a million things accomplished. But in the afternoon I went biking with a friend (one of the planned things) and she suggested a different route. We headed out, and the next thing I knew I was a zillion miles from home on my bike, and a long way to go to return. I pedaled along diligently behind her for two and a half hours, but I am dreadfully out of shape and weigh twice what she does, so she was forced to wait up for me several times. I arrived home dog tired and sore in places I'd rather not discuss from too long on a bike. Towards the end I was even starting to get numb in my wrists from holding the handlebars, an attack of the carpal tunnel to which my wife is usually victim, not me.
So that was my weekend "oof" (I bet you thought I'd mistyped the title). Despite resting, I was useless for the remainder of the evening. I couldn't concentrate, and ended up getting little else done that I had planned. Today is taken up with church, and then family birthday party obligations.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to get some chores done tonight. But we'll see.
And then, weather and time permitting, I'll hop on my bike on Monday morning and pedal the twelve miles to work. Because I gotta do SOMETHING to get in shape. (Although I am proud of myself, I've been here at the cafe for more than an hour, and only eaten a yogurt and a sandwich, avoiding the tempting chocolate croissant.)
Hopefully my reduced workload will permit me a little more time for recreation.
Posted by Albatross at April 6, 2008 11:20 AM | TrackBack