The 43

My Joe-batical goal of fervent decluttering and reorganization is biting me in the posterior. On the back half of the leave, I'm ready to say I'm Marie Kando-ed out ... I've actually achieved much over the past four days, and I'm in a place where I can wrap it up, get the storage in a decent place, make my office functional, and remove the spillover into other parts of the house that understandably occurred. But, I'm giving up on some of the stretch goals, and I'm content to tackle further organization later. For example, there are still a few crates of clothes deep in Michael's closet -- that he mostly ignores -- that can stay there until after he moves into the dorm (which is, yikes, only three weeks away). Reconsolidating the CD collections -- which I already did with the cassettes -- can wait as well, because the CDs aren't haphazardly stored and aren't creating clutter. I'm just ready to be done -- and be content that the things I wanted to

As Joe-batical continues, I'm finding something interesting: As I'm not working as a writer, I've had little desire to write outside of work. Usually, I'm so drained creatively that I'm not in the mood to write after work concludes or on the weekends. I thought that free from work, my creative juices would kick in again and I'd be productive. So far, that hasn't been the case -- I haven't even wanted to summer blog. Perhaps I needed this break to completely disconnect from the words, hopefully to feel refreshed enough to dive back in. Hopefully, that happens soon, because I'm nearly halfway through the leave. That said, the last several days have remained a mix of productive and relaxing. Ben is swimming in the state long-course meet this week, which is a little nuts, but otherwise, I'm enjoying the leave. I'm really looking forward to this weekend to get much done -- I feel like I'm on a cusp of getting my office, a big swath of storage

The first week of Joe-batical were an outstanding combination of productivity and relaxation. I started and finished a few projects, including streamlining and cataloging our DVDs, installing hooks on the garage to hang a sun shade over Michael's garden, sifting through books to donate, finally using Time Machine on my Mac, and other smaller initiatives. I also tested out the new lawn chair I got for Father's Day. And yesterday, the boys and I saw Styx, REO Speedwagon, and Loverboy at USANA Amphitheater.  What I haven't done much the last week is actually write, which I'm hoping to get going this week. Reviewing the past several days, the weather has been infernally hot (and getting worse this week as we head for consecutive days over 100), I've watched several movies (including "This Is Where I Leave You," "Tango and Cash" and "Rachel Getting Married"), and seemed to go to a store every day. Tomorrow, I may need to go again to buy a ne

The last 12 days have been a whirlwind of activity, travel, emotions, and transition. Do I go backward or forward as I recap? I'll start in the middle: I traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona, for my company's annual retreat. As a remote organization, we don't see each other much, so these 3-4 days are special. The weather was ungodly hot in Arizona, and the pools at the five-star resort felt like bathwater and weren't so refreshing. But everything indoor was heavily air-conditioned, and the outdoor activities had giant misters blasting. And the water slides were fun. Most importantly, I got to see coworkers and, especially, hang out with good friends that I only communicate with on Slack and Zoom. The event goes by too fast, but the next one is not even 11 months away.  I flew back Wednesday afternoon and got about 15 minutes in the house before Lori, Ben and I hit the road to drive to Grand Junction, Colorado, for a swim meet. We stayed in an Airbnb that worked out really w