Showing posts with label vacations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacations. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
the illusion of four weeks (with tips!)
A conversation I had with a first year associate at my new firm reminded me of one of my least favorite aspects of Biglaw. At the conclusion of our conference call, a fourth year, the first year, and I started chatting about associate life. The first year, who has been at the firm about three months, I think (read: longer than me) finally asked, a bit nervously, "Can I ask you guys something?" I was excited. An opportunity for mentoring! I love mentoring!
"Of course!" we both answered enthusiastically. The fourth year must love mentoring too.
"Well, my hours are kind of low. But.... I don't know. I wanted to take this vacation in July. Do you think I'm allowed?" Oh boy. I bet she thought this was an easy question.
Officially, associates at my firm are entitled to four weeks of vacation per year. This is the case at most Biglaw firms -- it's totally market. So it seems like the answer to this poor first year's question would be a "Yes" as long as she hasn't somehow managed to already take one month off when she's only been here for three.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
the "vacation" ends - part V
I'm happy to say that the horror of our "vacation" ends with part IV. By some miracle, things just stopped going wrong. The following morning, the plumber came and snaked the tree roots out of our sewer line. Then the disinfectant clean up guy came and sprayed everything with some kind of germ-destroyer. We washed 1,000 loads of laundry, loaded the car, and headed off to Fire Island with our friends, where, I am happy to report, none of the predicted rain actually materialized.
But you can see why, in the aftermath of all that, coming home was a little bit stressful. I originally wrote a list of all the clean-up related chores I've been doing, but that was boring, so I deleted it. Instead, I will say that I am grateful that somehow, in the midst of all that chaos and bad luck, we were able to have fun -- a fact which shocks me.
I think the vacation series has gone on long enough, so I will leave this post at that, and let you know soon what else we've been up to around here.
But you can see why, in the aftermath of all that, coming home was a little bit stressful. I originally wrote a list of all the clean-up related chores I've been doing, but that was boring, so I deleted it. Instead, I will say that I am grateful that somehow, in the midst of all that chaos and bad luck, we were able to have fun -- a fact which shocks me.
I think the vacation series has gone on long enough, so I will leave this post at that, and let you know soon what else we've been up to around here.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
the "vacation," part IV
When we got into town, we called our friends, and found out that the clean-up crew recommended calling a plumber as soon as possible, since what was leaking into our basement was actually sewage. Which explained why the water level was going down so slowly. The sewer pipe was blocked. So the water would get pumped out by the sump pump, dumped into the laundry tub, and then flow directly back into the blocked sewer pipe, then back into our basement, in some kind of circle of death. Resourceful things that we are, we booked the plumber for 9 am the next morning, scheduled the clean-up crew to come back after he was done, and went to the county fair. Bam.
The county fair was one of the most fun things I have ever done in my life. Here are some things you should know if you find yourself at one:
- The Gravitron will make you want to throw up, even if you could go on it 10 times in a row when you were a kid.
- If you ask whether there are any animals at a county fair, the people will look at you like you are a mutant. Of course there are animals. It's a county fair.
- You don't actually need to tell the woman letting you pet her baby bull that you are from New York City. She already knows that. By how you want to pet her bull, and how you are afraid of its tongue.
- There is a relatively large market for handmade potholders, and wooden signs specifying that coffee is 5 cents.
- In a tractor race, the tractors just go one at a time and then try to beat the time of the other tractors. So watching is kind of boring.
(we are all actually as afraid as we look)
After a full day at the county fair, our happy, sweaty, countrified selves piled into the car and started to drive back home, listening to country music and eating Slim Jims.
When we were about halfway home, it started to rain a little. Which would have been fine, except that I had pulled the fuse on the windshield wipers, remember? So Kathy pulled over and started to get out. "STOP!!!" I screamed. "My dad says you should never open your door on the side of the freeway!! What are you thinking? I will have to just put it back in with you sitting there." Kathy disagreed, and said she should just get out of my way, but I won. The fuse box on our car is underneath the dashboard on the driver's side. Which means that I had to lean across the car, put my head in Kathy's lap, and rummage around under the dark dashboard, to try to put the fuse back in.
the "vacation," part III
(read parts I and II here and here)
We did not encounter a bear on our hike. This is a really good thing, considering that B and C had decided that they could totally handle the bear: they would throw a rock at his head, which would either hit him in the eye, damage his brain, and kill him instantly, or would miss his eye but still hit his head and knock him unconscious so we could make our great escape.
When we arrived back at our campsite, we were in high spirits, but soaked. The rain had lasted long enough to drench the knee-length grass we were walking through, so our socks, shoes, and pants were saturated. When I walked over to the clothesline, though, I was relieved to find that the towels and sheets hanging there were barely damp, and would probably be completely dry in an hour or so.
We stripped off our soggy shoes and socks and draped them over the cement edges of our fire pit to dry. The fire pit was basically shaped like a C, with one side open so that you could add wood without lifting up the grill grate on top. When we had a good fire going, we settled in around the picnic table, which was no longer shoved under a sagging tarp, and played Apples to Apples Junior while we ate snacks. As Kathy was required to continue to slam her her hand on the top of her beer to open it, we realized we hadn't bought a can opener while we were in town (although we did pick up milk and sugar!). When it was time to cook the dinner, we pulled out two cans of beans we could not open.
We settled on a group of bikers to ask for a can opener. I walked down the hill to their site with a can of beans in each hand, while Kathy added another log to the fire. After a while, kind of out of nowhere, a log rolled out of the open side of the fire pit and headed toward our picnic table. PANIC! Kathy tried to use a stick to pick up the flaming log and shove it back into the fire, while I stomped on smoldering bits of ash that were scattered around the ground. At least it was wet. When Kathy had the log almost back in, A screamed, "Your pants are on fire!" Although we had been diligently moving our stuff away from the fire as it dried so that it would not catch on fire, we were distracted by the flaming log rolling toward us, and didn't notice when the bottom hem of one of my favorite pairs of pants went up in flames. I used a shoe to smack the flames on the smoldering hem of my pants, then noticed that A's shoes (canvas converse high tops) had also caught on fire. Also, a sock.
We did not encounter a bear on our hike. This is a really good thing, considering that B and C had decided that they could totally handle the bear: they would throw a rock at his head, which would either hit him in the eye, damage his brain, and kill him instantly, or would miss his eye but still hit his head and knock him unconscious so we could make our great escape.
When we arrived back at our campsite, we were in high spirits, but soaked. The rain had lasted long enough to drench the knee-length grass we were walking through, so our socks, shoes, and pants were saturated. When I walked over to the clothesline, though, I was relieved to find that the towels and sheets hanging there were barely damp, and would probably be completely dry in an hour or so.
We stripped off our soggy shoes and socks and draped them over the cement edges of our fire pit to dry. The fire pit was basically shaped like a C, with one side open so that you could add wood without lifting up the grill grate on top. When we had a good fire going, we settled in around the picnic table, which was no longer shoved under a sagging tarp, and played Apples to Apples Junior while we ate snacks. As Kathy was required to continue to slam her her hand on the top of her beer to open it, we realized we hadn't bought a can opener while we were in town (although we did pick up milk and sugar!). When it was time to cook the dinner, we pulled out two cans of beans we could not open.
We settled on a group of bikers to ask for a can opener. I walked down the hill to their site with a can of beans in each hand, while Kathy added another log to the fire. After a while, kind of out of nowhere, a log rolled out of the open side of the fire pit and headed toward our picnic table. PANIC! Kathy tried to use a stick to pick up the flaming log and shove it back into the fire, while I stomped on smoldering bits of ash that were scattered around the ground. At least it was wet. When Kathy had the log almost back in, A screamed, "Your pants are on fire!" Although we had been diligently moving our stuff away from the fire as it dried so that it would not catch on fire, we were distracted by the flaming log rolling toward us, and didn't notice when the bottom hem of one of my favorite pairs of pants went up in flames. I used a shoe to smack the flames on the smoldering hem of my pants, then noticed that A's shoes (canvas converse high tops) had also caught on fire. Also, a sock.
(fire damage, after being washed. I am thinking they would make cute shorts?)
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
the "vacation," part II
(read part I of the "vacation" here)
Kathy and I decided to make coffee and formulate a plan of action while the kids slept in. We had gotten the camp stove for Christmas from Kathy's mom, and while we had never set it up before, it was similar to one I had previously owned, so although we struggled with it and almost blew ourselves up a couple of times, we got it going without too much hassle. One thing we had managed to pack was the coffee pot -- an essential if you feel like we do about coffee. I love coffee so much that I vividly remember the day I figured out how I like it best (2% milk, no sugar). Kathy loves coffee so much that if she has a particularly bad day, she says to herself as she climbs into bed, "At least this day is over, and when I wake up, I can have coffee." The only reason I don't like to work out first thing in the morning is that it interferes with that first sleepy taste of coffee, as it rolls down my throat and through my warm, sleepy body. If you've already run three miles, that feeling is diminished. On previous camping trips, before we owned the camp stove or our blue speckled percolator, someone had to get in the car and drive to the nearest town to buy coffee at whatever 7 eleven or gas station that town happened to have. So really the whole point of the camp stove, for us, was coffee.
Kathy and I decided to make coffee and formulate a plan of action while the kids slept in. We had gotten the camp stove for Christmas from Kathy's mom, and while we had never set it up before, it was similar to one I had previously owned, so although we struggled with it and almost blew ourselves up a couple of times, we got it going without too much hassle. One thing we had managed to pack was the coffee pot -- an essential if you feel like we do about coffee. I love coffee so much that I vividly remember the day I figured out how I like it best (2% milk, no sugar). Kathy loves coffee so much that if she has a particularly bad day, she says to herself as she climbs into bed, "At least this day is over, and when I wake up, I can have coffee." The only reason I don't like to work out first thing in the morning is that it interferes with that first sleepy taste of coffee, as it rolls down my throat and through my warm, sleepy body. If you've already run three miles, that feeling is diminished. On previous camping trips, before we owned the camp stove or our blue speckled percolator, someone had to get in the car and drive to the nearest town to buy coffee at whatever 7 eleven or gas station that town happened to have. So really the whole point of the camp stove, for us, was coffee.
Monday, August 29, 2011
the "vacation," part I
Two weeks ago, I was on "vacation." I haven't posted in ages as a result of this "vacation." Although my intention was to just take the week off, it's kind of gotten out of hand.
Typically, we try to take the kids to do something fun for one week each summer. Last year we spent the week on Fire Island, and seven days of five people in our one room house proved to be a bit too much for some people (me). So this year, we thought we would divvy up the vacation into two chunks, and spend part of it camping and the other part at the beach. It turned out that the only weekend our friends from Pittsburgh could come visit this summer and go to Fire Island with us was the weekend right before our vacation. Then, we found out that our friends from Michigan were going to be in New York the week of our vacation and wanted to see us. So our week was planned to go something like this:
Friday through Monday - Fire Island with Pittsburgh friends
Monday through Thursday - Camping with kids while Michigan friends house sit and explore NYC
Thursday through Sunday - Fire Island with 3 kids and 2 Michigan friends in one room house
Sunday of the first weekend, while we were out on Fire Island, it rained. It really, seriously rained. I had flooding nightmares all of Sunday night, which I thought was a little weird. But whatever, we came home and started loading up the car to go camping and I chatted with my Michigan friends. I went into the basement to get the tent, and when I stepped onto the carpet, something weird happened. It sunk. I realized that the carpet was actually floating on top of about two inches of water in our basement. I also realized that I had ESP or had some kind of prophetic dream the night before.
I said something to Kathy about how the water seemed kind of gross, grosser than usual when the basement floods, but we decided that the storm sewer must have backed up or something. We called the clean-up company and scheduled an appointment for them to come dry out the basement and get rid of the carpeting. We set up the sump pump to pump out the water and bring the level down. We wondered where our box with extra tarps that we had ordered from Campmor was, since it was supposed to arrive Monday, but it never showed up. C complained that he was hot, and we found he had a slight fever (one degree). He was tired, but he had just gotten back from an RV weekend with his father where it sounded like he barely slept, so we chalked it up to that. We hemmed and hawed and debated, then finally decided to just go camping anyway. After all, the water was going down, and we had our friends there to meet the clean-up crew, and a one degree fever is pretty much nothing for an exhausted 5 year old.
Typically, we try to take the kids to do something fun for one week each summer. Last year we spent the week on Fire Island, and seven days of five people in our one room house proved to be a bit too much for some people (me). So this year, we thought we would divvy up the vacation into two chunks, and spend part of it camping and the other part at the beach. It turned out that the only weekend our friends from Pittsburgh could come visit this summer and go to Fire Island with us was the weekend right before our vacation. Then, we found out that our friends from Michigan were going to be in New York the week of our vacation and wanted to see us. So our week was planned to go something like this:
Friday through Monday - Fire Island with Pittsburgh friends
Monday through Thursday - Camping with kids while Michigan friends house sit and explore NYC
Thursday through Sunday - Fire Island with 3 kids and 2 Michigan friends in one room house
Sunday of the first weekend, while we were out on Fire Island, it rained. It really, seriously rained. I had flooding nightmares all of Sunday night, which I thought was a little weird. But whatever, we came home and started loading up the car to go camping and I chatted with my Michigan friends. I went into the basement to get the tent, and when I stepped onto the carpet, something weird happened. It sunk. I realized that the carpet was actually floating on top of about two inches of water in our basement. I also realized that I had ESP or had some kind of prophetic dream the night before.
I said something to Kathy about how the water seemed kind of gross, grosser than usual when the basement floods, but we decided that the storm sewer must have backed up or something. We called the clean-up company and scheduled an appointment for them to come dry out the basement and get rid of the carpeting. We set up the sump pump to pump out the water and bring the level down. We wondered where our box with extra tarps that we had ordered from Campmor was, since it was supposed to arrive Monday, but it never showed up. C complained that he was hot, and we found he had a slight fever (one degree). He was tired, but he had just gotten back from an RV weekend with his father where it sounded like he barely slept, so we chalked it up to that. We hemmed and hawed and debated, then finally decided to just go camping anyway. After all, the water was going down, and we had our friends there to meet the clean-up crew, and a one degree fever is pretty much nothing for an exhausted 5 year old.
(the ceiling of our tent, which will make sense later)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
packing list
Next week, we are going on our family vacation. Last summer, we spent the week on Fire Island. As each member of the family has gotten bigger, and our one-room house has stayed the same size, we thought a week in one room might be a bit much for us. So this year, instead, we are going camping for four days. I love camping. So. Much.
I am generally terrible at packing. I can't remember the last time that I went on a trip where I didn't show up missing something essential. When we went to Europe in July, I did not bring a single sock with me. I've forgotten my toothbrush at least 100 times and have gone on trips with no underwear. I don't know why, I just can't seem to keep it all in my head. Making a list does not help, especially since, for some reason, I make the list then ignore it.
The exception to this rule is that I am a hyper-organized camping packer. We already have a staging area set up in the basement, and the non-perishable food items are organized into bags that have the day we are supposed to eat them written on the side. We have three separate lists going (food, gear, and clothes). I'm not sure where this mentality comes from. Maybe it's from miserable rain-soaked weeks at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival where I wished I had brought just one more emergency poncho. Maybe it's because, even though I know we are going to a state park under 2 hours away, I feel like we are going to be in the "wilderness" and unable to buy anything we forget. But I am in organization overdrive.
None of this changes the fact that last time we went camping, we forgot matches.
I am generally terrible at packing. I can't remember the last time that I went on a trip where I didn't show up missing something essential. When we went to Europe in July, I did not bring a single sock with me. I've forgotten my toothbrush at least 100 times and have gone on trips with no underwear. I don't know why, I just can't seem to keep it all in my head. Making a list does not help, especially since, for some reason, I make the list then ignore it.
The exception to this rule is that I am a hyper-organized camping packer. We already have a staging area set up in the basement, and the non-perishable food items are organized into bags that have the day we are supposed to eat them written on the side. We have three separate lists going (food, gear, and clothes). I'm not sure where this mentality comes from. Maybe it's from miserable rain-soaked weeks at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival where I wished I had brought just one more emergency poncho. Maybe it's because, even though I know we are going to a state park under 2 hours away, I feel like we are going to be in the "wilderness" and unable to buy anything we forget. But I am in organization overdrive.
None of this changes the fact that last time we went camping, we forgot matches.
Friday, July 29, 2011
London - my top tourist picks
(see number 3)
I've only been the two times to London, but since I glossed over or omitted some of my favorite tourist sites in my more detailed posts, I thought I would provide a condensed list of my recommendations should you find yourself in this amazing city. I am sure there is much more to do that I haven't experienced, but here are my personal top picks, if you're interested. There are 9, and although I wish there were 10, I have been highly selective about this list.
Friday, June 10, 2011
booked, for real
Last night, I wrote the post below.
Kathy has to go to Munich and London for work this summer. I am currently unemployed and we have a lot of frequent flier miles. What does this mean? I GET TO GO TO EUROPE for the first time since 2001. More importantly, I get to go to Europe for the first time since 2001 practically for free. To say that I am excited is a vast understatement. We booked our trip about 5 minutes ago, and I am bouncing off the walls. There is but one snag.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
ski vacation
Hello! It's been a while. That's because we were surprised to learn, when we arrived at our ski house, that it doesn't have internet. I'm not kidding. There is a vacation rental house in the United States without internet access. For real. So, I have a little catching up to do. The drive with the kids went smoothly; they loved Harry Potter (and we still have half the book left for the drive home). We saw Kathy's dad in Pittsburgh and spent some time with our friends. The weather did not really cooperate on Monday for skiing, so instead, we went rollerskating.
I haven't been rollerskating since well before college. It was so fun. The kids kept asking me how I knew how to do it. I kept telling them that really, people used to go rollerskating all the time. Whatever happened to rollerskating? How is it not popular anymore? Also, I find it so fun that they have not updated rollerskate styles since I was a young kid. I don't even think they make rollerskates with anything other than orange wheels and brown laces.
Tuesday and Wednesday were the only days that we had signed the kids up for ski lessons. Remarkably, they were also the only two days that the weather was decent for skiing. Monday night we got about 8 inches of new snow, and it stayed cold enough through the end of the day yesterday so that we could get in a full day of skiing both days. No one was sick, either. It was kind of remarkable. Is it possible that our luck might be changing? We can only hope.
I have to be honest about skiing. You would think, from all the chirping about skiing on this blog lately, that I love it. I do not. It's fun for about a day, but then I am definitely done. Yesterday I took one for the team and put in a full day of skiing when I wasn't really that into it. But Kathy loves it so much, I figure a couple of days of skiing more than I would like is a small sacrifice for how excited she gets about it. Anyway, I fully expect her to tolerate more beach days than she would otherwise be excited about, come summer.
Anyway, I am pretty sure I am being charged by the minute to write this, but I will try to post at least once more this week. Tomorrow we are driving home, and Kathy discovered that Hershey, PA is not too far out of our way. 1 car. 7 hours. 3 kids. And a tour of a chocolate factory. Wish us luck.
(my feet)
I haven't been rollerskating since well before college. It was so fun. The kids kept asking me how I knew how to do it. I kept telling them that really, people used to go rollerskating all the time. Whatever happened to rollerskating? How is it not popular anymore? Also, I find it so fun that they have not updated rollerskate styles since I was a young kid. I don't even think they make rollerskates with anything other than orange wheels and brown laces.
Tuesday and Wednesday were the only days that we had signed the kids up for ski lessons. Remarkably, they were also the only two days that the weather was decent for skiing. Monday night we got about 8 inches of new snow, and it stayed cold enough through the end of the day yesterday so that we could get in a full day of skiing both days. No one was sick, either. It was kind of remarkable. Is it possible that our luck might be changing? We can only hope.
I have to be honest about skiing. You would think, from all the chirping about skiing on this blog lately, that I love it. I do not. It's fun for about a day, but then I am definitely done. Yesterday I took one for the team and put in a full day of skiing when I wasn't really that into it. But Kathy loves it so much, I figure a couple of days of skiing more than I would like is a small sacrifice for how excited she gets about it. Anyway, I fully expect her to tolerate more beach days than she would otherwise be excited about, come summer.
Anyway, I am pretty sure I am being charged by the minute to write this, but I will try to post at least once more this week. Tomorrow we are driving home, and Kathy discovered that Hershey, PA is not too far out of our way. 1 car. 7 hours. 3 kids. And a tour of a chocolate factory. Wish us luck.
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