day 362 - last time in the office this year

 Today is the 5th day of the 52nd week, the 28th day of the 12th month, the 362nd blog post this year, and:

• Call a Friend Day
• Endangered Species Act Day
• Holy Innocent's Day or Childermas - in Spain and Latin American countries the festival is celebrated with pranks (inocentadas), similar to April Fools' Day (Catholic Church, Church of England, Lutheran Church)
• National Card Playing Day
• National Chocolate Candy Day
• National Download Day
• National Short Film Day
• Pledge of Allegiance Day
• the third day of Kwanza - collective work and responsibility 
• the fourth day of the Twelve Days of Christmas - or 'four calling birds' if you are singing along
• and Voyager 1 is 22h 34m 20s of light travel time from Earth

Quote of the day:

"One faces the future with one's past."

~  Pearl S Buck, American writer and novelist

The turmoil online in that one social network that I wrote about two days ago has continued to percolate through our little community.  The person who posted the meme that so saddened me also posted another, and then scolded the moderator for being willing to post other beliefs but not his.  Of course there was a pile on after that [and yes, I was there too] pointing out that it wasn't the posting of HIS belief that was found offensive, if was the scolding of other's beliefs and traditions as "wrong" that was the issue.  

The real problem is that he has been censored pretty heavily in the past.    You see, for example, after I posted my son's story, he wrote a long screed about how cancer didn't exist and we were all participating in a fallacy cooked up by medical personnel to control us.  That was one of the milder things he has written, always very long posts with links to questionable sites and he tries to educate us about health, the government, and the flat earth.  He isn't trolling, this is his belief system, and we try to walk a fine line about engaging in arguments with him because he really is a very nice person of a good character, just....  fixated on things most of us find implausible.  

And no, he is not a Pastafarianist, but the cartoon does make my point is that we really don't know, do we, so arguing about the right and wrong of someone else's beliefs and traditions is a waste of time and energy while causing ill-feelings.  

So in 2024, I hit the 15 year mark, and for the first time in over a decade, there is a radical change in the amount of PTO that I have, adding 40 hours which brings me to a grand total of 34 days!  So I stared at the company vacation calendar wistfully, but only put my usual week right around December 16th on it.   There are a couple of factors coming into play with advance planning that have to be considered:

1. avoid end of quarters like the plague and preferably stay away from the end of month as well
2. dance around my direct report's needs and schedule as both of us representing Loan Servicing cannot be out on the same day
3. do not hog all the pre or post holiday time since in an office this size, not everyone can be off the same day
4. and last, try to make sure I am off on days I have to be in the office

Add to that worrying about keeping time freed up so I can rush to Nashville if needed [and hopefully  two visits just because we want to see Tommy] or if I get sick unexpectedly like what happened in August 2019.   I want to go and visit my friend in Las Cruces - haven't seen them since the spring of that same year - used to go every other year but first COVID and then my son's needs have intervened - and I have to check with their schedule.  Kit wants time spent with her, helping her manage her affairs and taking her to doctor appointments.  I need to be helping out my son-in-law more than I am, and seeing more of my granddaughters.  I should be aggressively downsizing and looking about for a new place to live.   And to be honest?  I just want time to laze about and relax with nothing that has to be done, especially in those months where there isn't a long weekend.  

You know what?  

This is definitely does not need to be decided today.   There are a lot of things that I have looked at while here in the office and muttered that this is not a 2023 problem.

And that is both my belief and my tradition, and deeply rooted in my past