Returning to Work From Vacation Should Be Against the Law

After a nice trip to Arizona, I somehow made it through a week of work. Actually, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. It was as if the week woke me up to remember that I need to take more time out for vacation instead of just grinding it at work all the time. Such was the transition I had to head of my department over the last three years. Any readers who have had significant responsibility for a group of workers and everything that goes along with that likely understands. Sometimes when you get away you are not really away.

I am also facing some blunt realities in life. In just over four months, I will have three kids in college at the same time. Money is just a concept in my life -- something that exists in the abstract. This is the closest that I have come to understanding how those rich professional poker players go about their business. It is if money isn't really real. It is also like I am the great middleman laundering money, making sure it goes from my employer to the University of Illinois and several credit card companies. Don't cry for me, Argentina, though -- I am just complaining, something I basically tend not to do.

The whole notion of vacation spurred Mrs. lightning to think about how, with the kids growing older, we might have just one last shot for a family vacation. So, outside of a little remaining planning, it looks like we are going to go to New Orleans in July, stopping in Memphis on the way down (shouting out to Memphis MOJO here!). I am still working on whether or not we will stop anywhere or go anyplace on the way back, or if we might just be too tired (or too tired of each other!) to do more than veg in the van.

I do have a Las Vegas trip planned sooner rather than later, however. I'll be flying down and getting into Las Vegas late in the evening on Saturday, May 30 and then leaving the next Saturday, June 6, just after midnight. Thanks to Pete P. Peters, who is letting me crash in his room when I get in late Saturday night. My wife asked me if I have warned him yet about how bad my snoring is. Heh!

I'll be setting up shop for the week in The LINQ. This will be the first time for my staying there since the old Imperial Palace was redone. Unfortunately, Caesar's  Corp has apparently been unhappy with my decision to work instead of being more of a degenerate gambler in its casinos, and it has been very stingy with room offers to me. I am actually paying for a room AND the resort fee? Blasphemy!

So ... life continues on. The sun is shining and it is a beautiful spring day in central Illinois. My best wishes to everyone. And for those who are so inclined -- Happy Easter!