Since everyone else is posting

OK, why not...

You guys probably won't believe this, but I don't even *know* what my benefits are as far as time off goes.

I think I get two or three weeks vacation, but in the past ten years I've only taken about 10 days off of work (most of that was to go pick up the ShoWagon in New Hampshire and drive it back to Alaska.)

I did take half a day's sick leave when I had hernia repair surgery (I scheduled the surgery for a Friday afternoon so I'd have the weekend to recuperate.) There are maybe 8 or 10 days a year they don't let me come to work because of some holiday or something.

I am good enough at what I do, and have been doing it long enough and reliably enough, that I can do pretty much what I want here at work. If I want to take three hours in the afternoon to go over to the stereo shop, nobody will say a thing or even wonder where I've gone. If I want to play DOOM or Quake3 on my computer in the middle of the afternoon, the boss will come over and make fun of me because I let Xaero kill me yet again in the final level.

The money's not great, but it's enough to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly and pay for what few toys (empeg; ShoWagon; a few odds and ends) that I covet, and barring any really unforseen circumstances (hyperinflation to pay for President Bush's adventuring in Iraq comes to mind) I could quit working tomorrow and live the rest of my life in modest comfort.

It's not so much that I like my job. I revel in my job. I would much rather spend time here at work than face the uncertainties and discomforts of vacationing in some strange place where I'd have to make decisions in unknown circumstances and they wouldn't cook the food the way my Mommy used to make it.

The old saying about "...nobody on his death bed ever said 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office' " may not really apply to me.

And yes, I do have an appreciation of just how incredibly fortunate I am to be in such a position.

tanstaafl.