RR

[cwh]

Been meaning to do a post about moving to AK for a while now, but that will wait till I've got even less to do.

We (girlfriend and I) moved up in December of 06. Since then, I've taken a 4 day weekend to hunt bears in PWS with Dan (Dan in AK), and that's been it. I did that on purpose, because I like to stockpile a little vacation, and my last job wouldn't let me accumulate vacation time. Work charged me one day for my 2 days off, because I've worked too many weekends anyway.

The point is, it feels good to take a couple days off... it's been a while since I even had a weekend, and 4 consecutive days feels foreign and good.

I'm thinking that folks have found something good with this slope schedule, and I'm going to pitch it to the powers that be when I return.

How many of you take a regular vacation, and what do you do with it?

 

[Big Stick]

I've never not been happy...but 6 months off,don't make me mad.

So very few folks truly know how to have fun,be it work or play................

 

[cwh]

I've never not had fun at work, on a long enough timeline. Though I've been through spells, especially when confined to an office, that were not exactly the young and the restless material. 2 years at my last job, averaging 65 hours a week, for 40 hour pay, made me look elsewhere. But the guys I worked with are still my buddies to this day - I'd not hesitate to ask them for anything, and they'd be welcome to a kidney if they needed it.

I never worked on a job where the point was to do nothing, but I've been close enough to piss me off. My dad tells me about coming off working for himself to working for the school district, and nearly got into a fight about "working too hard". That kills me, and no doubt it could be my undoing as well.

At play, I've never felt at a handicap, though I'll admit to having a bit of a poker face. On a boat, glassing shoreline, on a wheeler, glassing everything, on foot beating the shit out of my feet for stupid birds, they are all way up there, though while in action, don't rate a shit eating grin.

Poker face never felt like a handicap either, and folks at work have latched onto it as the launch pad to every prank around. Guess I could work with a worse crowd.

 

[cwh]

Should add though, that "6 months off" ain't the way that many look at it, and that says something. Lots of folks don't know what they've got, and many aren't happy with the advantage they have.

A lot of people, not that different than me, grind shit out in a factory 8 hours a day, day after day, and thank god for it every day.

Life could suck. Thank someone/something it don't.

 

[Uncle Dave]

Only regular vacation I can think of, is trying to make it to Cabo at least once a year...twice is better.

 

[cwh]

After the wedding, there will certainly be an annual trip to somewhere thawed.

This year, she proposed heading to OR for the wedding, buying a new truck, and driving home. Gotta love that woman. Don't want a new truck/payment, but I do like the precedent.

 

[Big Stick]

Contentment...is solely about attitude and I've had it since before I could walk.

Tomorrow will be great too...and I'm not even there(yet)....................

 

[Paul H]

I'm looking into a rotation myself, as 3 weeks vacation a year just isn't enough.

I've been fortunate to work gigs where I get paid for the hours I work, albeit straight not time and a 1/2 on o/t. I figure if I get 2-3 weeks of leave a year, I should use it. I can work in the office pretty solid for 3-4 months, but need some sort of a break. I've never had a set 2 week straight vacation every year, but take a few days here and there, and a week here and there. Now that I have a 9/80 schedule, I get a 3 day weekend every other week, and will often add another day off before or after to make it 4.

I've long held the thought that work is what provides pay for living, but work by itself isn't living. Perhaps seeing my dad who had his own business and put in 10-12 hours day 6-7 days a week, and after 30 years basically walked away even with the creditors helped put things in perspective to me.

I figure if I'm working like a slave, I'll only do it for 2-3 years with enough pay that I could be debt free at the end of the stint, i.e. house paid free and clear. If not, then I put in 40hrs/week and all thoughts of work vacate my cranium the second I'm out the door.

It's a darn good time to be an eligible employee in the state if you can break into the oil patch, whether town based or on the slope. Most folks would snap if they knew how much our salaries have jumped the past few years, and we weren't being nothing before the jump.

 

[2muchgun]

I worked 300hrs/month 3 of the last 4 months(hunted in November). I'm now off until I decide to go back to work. Because of the nature of my work, I'm either working a ton, or not working at all, usually. Feb/March is my slowest time of year. Once spring hits, it's balls out again. I kinda like it this way. It all averages out in the end, but I get lots of free time, as opposed to a 40hr/week gig.

In March I may go for a 10-12hr day/40 day straight gig, but I'm not sure yet.....

 

[Big Stick]

I was right,today didn't suck.

'Bout 2" of snow in my yard and tomorrow will be a cursory evaluation of various water levels,as a means of quantifying Fish'n efforts.

After having worked 6 days a week for years and in both tough working and living conditions,I can't say that I mind the 2/2 gig.

Couldn't fathom a bitch...................