Memories. Ahhh Yes, Memories of My Life

What I Did With My TWO Weeks 'Off'

What I Did With My TWO Weeks 'Off'

         I want to tell you about the 'fantastic' two weeks off I had. I do hope you hear a level of sarcasm in my writing here.

         Over Christmas and New Year's, we have two weeks of off time, except I never take those two weeks off. Don't get me wrong here, most instructors do take PTO these weeks, which I heartedly encourage everyone, including myself, to do. But this is always such a laid back time for us, why 'waste', errr, spend 2 weeks of your vacation time on it? Back in the ancient days, before we moved to the old Corporate Tower, before I moved to Bloomington, and we worked out of the office, having these two weeks off was nice. We all had cubes in cube city there, but still, it was a laid back lifestyle. That's why I never took the time off. In today's world, I work from home as you might know. To me, when I'm not teaching, it's a week off. Most weeks I do put in 40 hours, sometimes more, sometimes less. But still...

         These two weeks I have worked, but not eight hour days. Our manager sent an e-mail that essentially said to not worry about putting in 40 hours, relax all we can, etc, etc. But, I have a class sometime this year, maybe. It's not on my schedule yet, that's why I say maybe. For this customer, we are not the Prime Contractor, and everything will go through them (the Prime Contractor). They want to review the course materials before the delivery. I was asked about preparing them back in September, but with the health issues I had going on, doctor's appoinments, and my delivery schedule, the only time I could get it done was over the holidays. So I planned on working these two weeks. I haven't worked 8 hours each day. But, I have worked some on weekends and holidays (Christmas and New Yeas Eve for example). I could not complete the preparation of the course materials though because the information I asked for has not been received. It's okay, I'll have it ready in a few days. Then we'll see what the Prime Contractor has to say.

         What I am doing is taking three courses, and tailoring them for this customer. I've looked up their Logo (The customer is the Mass Transit Authority, Long Island Railroad) and used it, I've removed almost everything they won't need, and really tailored things to their needs. The course that needed the most work was the Networking course. That course is built around a 'Trunked' Radio System, where specific IP's are used by every customer. This customer is not doing that, nor is their system a 'Trunked' radio system, they are Conventional. Yes, we do have specific IP's for Conventional Systems, but they are not even using those. So I changed a lot so their addresses are used during slide discussions, in the hands-on activities, everything. It's the other two courses that I need info on their system, and have not received. I'd say that overall, I'm about 80% through with things, and a lot of that 20% left to do is waiting on that info. I have a few things to 'tidy' up on the Powerpoint slides, I will review everything again before I say it's ready for the Prime Contractor.

         So there you have it, how I have spent my 'two weeks of off time'. Due to the upcoming surgery, I now have plenty of free time in January, and yep, you guessed it, I will spend that time working on course materials for other courses. It's what I do. Besides teaching of course!

         That's all for now. Aren't you glad? Till next time, y'all be good, take care of yourselves, and love those who love you. And of course, keep on writing!