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Taking a Brief Look at my 2009 Christmas Staycation

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Like many people out there reading the interwebs, today is my first day back in the office since Tuesday, December 22, 2009. That’s 12 days of not being in the office and, instead, treating myself to a staycation. Here’s a brief look at what I accomplished during my Christmas staycation.

Usable Web Solutions, LLC. In terms of what I accomplished over the break, I would have to say that the most progress was made on updating and upgrading certain aspects of my website company. Of these upgrades the most important include revising portions of my standard client contract for services and integrating a few important dates into my local copy of Outlook’s calendar system. Now I’ll be warned a few weeks ahead of time of contracts that are ready to expire and I’ll be able to offer my clients a new contract using the upgraded copy that I completed over the break.

I was also able to complete at least one new website over the staycation, but I cannot announce that website yet since it is not yet “live” on the servers. Maybe more important than completing that website, though, was the time that I spent pouring over the records of my website company to single out those deadbeat clients and marking those business relationships for termination in 2010. As a small business owner, I understand that I am going to run into some people who are just not good at creating lasting business relationships. I get it – it’s part of the game. However, I purposely keep my small business small because I have a day job as well as two other jobs (teaching) and I don’t need the aggravation of deadbeat customers. By the end of 2010, I should be rid of these deadbeat customers once and for all (in fact, I’ve already severed my relationship with one of those companies earmarked for removal).

Teaching/Learning. Since I am teaching two courses in the spring, there are a number of materials that I needed to prepare to be ready for the new semester. These two courses are new to me and one of them is new to the college where I am teaching it. I teach at two colleges – one is an all-online college and the other is a bricks and mortar institution. I accomplished the feat (and it was a feat, believe me) of learning the online teaching system for the all-online college. Through learning this system, I prepared myself for teaching the all-online class which actually begins today.

However, for the new course that I designed and created, I accomplished very little. That’s okay, though, since I have another three weeks before the course even begins. In the next three weeks, I’ll get all of the necessary course material prepare for this class so I have no worries about being ready to go in the spring semester.

And finally, I wanted to pick up the textbooks necessary for the course that I am taking at the local college, but the syllabus has not been released yet and thus I didn’t know what to buy! Nothing I can do about that one, I guess!

Relaxation. The most important thing that one needs to accomplish during a staycation is reaching a level of relaxation that makes the break worth the paid time off. I think that I accomplished that level of relaxation, though I have to admit that I’m not sure. Last year during this Christmas holidays I took off the same amount of time from the office as I did this year. Yet last year I distinctly remember feeling relaxed and completely refreshed by Thursday/Friday of the staycation. This year, I don’t know if I achieved that feeling of relaxation, though I do know that by Thursday/Friday of the break I was getting slightly stir crazy from being in my apartment so much!

All in all, I’m glad to be back in the office today just so I have something different to do with my time. However, I wouldn’t mind taking a few more days off so I can kick back and relax without having to worry about preparing for teaching two classes or dealing with deadbeat website clients. Maybe I’ll take some time to do that this summer…

Brief Thoughts on Christmas and Vacation Plans

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Can it be Monday again already? Geez… It seems like the holidays come quicker and quicker each year and they fly by just as fast. It’s amazing, really. I had a great Christmas this year which started with my Mom’s annual Christmas Eve Party with the family and into a great Christmas morning with my Mom and brothers. My younger cousin’s baby girl was at the Christmas Eve Party (she’s one and a half years old). She was opening presents that my Mom and the family got for her and she seemed to love it. You know, no one appreciates or enjoys the thrill of opening a present on Christmas morning (or in this case, Christmas Eve), than a young kid. They just love it and it’s fun to watch their excitement!

I’m on vacation from work this week (actually, my vacation started after work this past Tuesday night, but who’s keeping track anyway?). I don’t have to be back in the office until next Monday, January 4th, 2010. Including today, that leaves me with seven more days of vacation before going back to the office and I plan on doing as little as possible during the next seven days!

Last year during this same time frame I went on a “staycation” and it was the only time during the entire year that I actually relaxed and unwound from the office. While I have some preparatory work to do for the new class that I created and am now teaching at the local college this spring, I hope to achieve the same level of rest and relaxation that I achieved last year at this time. Between teaching the new class at the local college, accepting an online teaching position at a statewide online college, running my website company, serving as a Trustee on the national board of my fraternity’s foundation, and my day job – I’ve got a big spring season ahead of me. When factoring that I might have to pickup and move to a new place at the end of my current lease, everything becomes all the more complicated.

But hey, if you’re not busy, then you’re not living – right? 🙂

I have a bunch of backlogged entries to upload to the blog (last I counted there were some 20 entries waiting to be uploaded). So be sure that you stick around this week and see what’s going on at JerseySmarts.com!

Going On A Mini Staycation Through Labor Day

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Since I have the days off built up and I have to use a portion of them or I lose the ability to take the time off, I decided to take today, tomorrow, and Friday off. And because I have off for Labor Day, this creates a nice little six day break from the office for me. Let’s call them “mental health days” off since I really was feeling a bit stressed out at work. It’s not that I’m generally stressed out or anything like that, but rather that some of the elements of my job are controlled by folks who enjoy frenzy and pandemonium – neither of which are my style.

My plan for this staycation is to relax and accomplish some of the nagging errands and items that are on my “to do” list. For example, today I’ll go to the university where I’m an Adjunct Professor and sign-up for the free membership to the brand new gymnasium (built in the last few months). Sure, I already have a membership at my local gym, but it would be nice to have the option to workout on campus after I teach my class twice a week. Also, I’ll take care of the rent payments and some minor banking that I need to do during the course of today.

I also have some prescriptions to drop off at Wegmans and some phone calls to make for the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation (of which I am a member of the Board of Trustees). Then I plan on doing some work for Usable Web Solutions, LLC (which includes preparing future entries for this blog) as well as getting over to the gym to do some working out and reading on the treadmill before dinner. At some point I want to clean out my DVR today, too. Oh, and I brought just a little bit of work home with me from the office – to fill any gaps that I might have during the day.

I said this would be a relaxing vacation, right? 🙂

Beginning my Staycation Today!

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Today begins a much-needed 9-day break from my job. I’ll be off this weekend, the entire coming week, and the next weekend before I head back to work on October 27th. As I normally do, I overbooked myself in September and October between my day job, my two-hour daily commute, teaching at the local college, serving on a national Board, volunteering, and running my website company (among other things…like LIFE)! I’m feeling good, though – just ready for a few days of relaxation and being away from the office.

It’s worth mentioning, though, that I put together a large “to do” list for myself during this vacation. That’s right – I have tasks to complete during my time away from the office. I’m not going away on a vacation, I’m doing one of these newly popular “staycation” things where I stay around my house for a week. I’m doing this partly out of necessity (while I’m on vacation from my day job, I still have to teach twice this week) and partly due to the tremendous cost savings associated with not going away. Initially, I wanted to take a few days and go down to Nashville. Then I realized that I would go down to Nashville and spend a bunch of money on a flight only to get down there and wind up doing more work for the national Board that I sit on. I figured that I can do that from home so why spend the money on the flight?

To keep busy over the next few days, I’ve given myself four small pages of notes on things that need to be addressed. Everything from figuring out the problem with my truck to reading a stack of the books that are sitting in my room to making certain foods that I like to getting ready for next week’s classes that I have to teach.

It’ll be a busy, yet somehow relaxing week!