One hundred and fifty-two days until my sabbatical, which I’m taking from June 5th through August 1st. Plus I need to figure out when to take off an additional 16 days of regular vacation time (December 28-31, which I had off, counts towards this year’s vacation – I have four weeks per year and God Bless Tenure) and one floating holiday. If nothing else positive occurs during 2010, just the amount of time off I have from AcronymCo will make it a great year. There’s still the writing and photography work I have to do, but it’s SO much easier to handle when I’m not at my job job.
I have begun planning our vacation, and I’m torn. I wanted to do a Boston/Montreal/Quebec/Portland thing, but as Bill pointed out, that won’t give me much time HOME, in Maine. He knows me well, and if I don’t get a good “recharge” in Maine, I’ll be whining about being homesick again that much sooner. So now I’m thinking we might just do an overnighter in Boston (I want to walk the Freedom Trail, I think Bill would get a kick out of it, history buff that he is, plus there’s Cheers and the Sam Adams brewery), a few days in Portland (somewhere in the Old Port), head up to Bar Harbor for a few days (I’d love to stay at the Bar Harbor Inn, but I think it might be outside of our price range), back to Portland for a few days, then home again. It’d basically be the same cost, though it would be much cheaper to stay with my uncle in New Gloucester rather than a hotel Portland. I know he would be happy to put us up in the apartment I used to live in when my ex and I first got married, which would give us more money for Moto GP in August… I’ll have to think about this one. Anyway, I’m going to get our passports together regardless. Decisions, decisions, that are not breaking my heart. Perhaps exploring Canada can wait until we actually live on the East coast. Which, pray God, won’t be too much longer.
I need to get my hands on some razor clams, and a lobster roll at the Two Lights Lobster Shack, and Italian sandwiches, and crab legs from J’s Oyster, and Humpty Dumpty potato chips, and strawberries, and Cole Farms french fries and American Chop Suey, and pier fries at Old Orchard Beach… and I’m going to have to budget a gain of ten pounds into this, I think. I need to spend eleventy-bazillion hours at the ocean. I need to visit my uncle and my cousin and the Marshalls and see my sister and her gang. I need to stand on the top of Cadillac Mountain. I need to be surrounded by pine trees and drive all the old familiar back roads. I need to slow the hell down and recharge my spirit. I cannot WAIT to go home.
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Positive: Vacation planning!
Productive: First day physically back at work and I need to get my in-box straightened around.
Plan: Doing some cardio as soon as I get home.