The Goat Pen

the grateful dead reference is more an ode to your age then comparison with rush.

you are now officially old if you play grateful dead music

my top 5 groups are

Zeppelin
Zeppelin
Zeppelin
dire straits
fleetwoodmac

hedge wrote:"I haven't had a real vacation day where I was not called or attended a meeting telephonically in 2 years."

"I'm never truly away since I've always got my phone with me."

Good lord. When I go on vacation, I am out. Don't call the office, don't get any calls from the office. Nada. I don't even take my phone when I go out of the country. Of course, you guys make way more caiiissshh than I do and I'm sure I'd make myself available 24/7 if I was making significantly more than I do now...

Having my phone (and laptop for that matter) means that I can get emails and quickly respond and stay in touch without disrupting the vacation. When I'm out, work rarely gets in the way since there aren't a lot of quick turnaround things that my group deals with. But, if there is an issue with one of our long-term projects, then I have to be available. For example, I was just down at Disney with the family and I planned around it so that work would not be an issue. Of course, something did come up and I had to get on a call that, because it included people from Asia and Europe, was very hard to plan so I couldn't ask for a different time. Then, while on the call, I found out that I had to give a presentation at a conference we were hosting the day after I returned from Florida. So, between the call and beginning to prep for my talk, I had to spend the morning in the room while my wife and kids were at the park. I felt kind of bad about being away but I feel like I have to make that trade to stay in the gig that allows us to do things like trips to Disney. It's vicious circle.

I have faith that if somebody needs to sell some soybeans while I'm gone, the guy at the office can handle it. And if one of my trucks breaks down, fuck it, I'll get it fixed when I get home. But, as noted, such problems are a far cry from trying to coordinate b/w Asian and European customers. The furthest afield I have to worry about is Roberson County...

"you are now officially old if you play grateful dead music"

But not Rush? I would actually say that the Dead are more popular with more younger people b/c of the popularity of jam bands. The Dead will always be the godfathers of that genre. Of course, most of those kids don't like the Dead as their favorite band, but they are probably familiar with them and like them. Hell, you're starting to get a little long in the tooth if Widespread is your primary jam band (sorry Cletus)...

There can't be anyone under 50 who would say Rush is there favorite band. I can't imagine there are many people over 50 who would say Rush is their favorite band...

our policy is based on years of service - and a few years ago they combined sick days with vacation so now you just get a big lump to take whenever you want - I think I'm at like 7 weeks now but of course no one ever takes that much - you won't have a job very long if you're gone seven weeks out of the year

to counter balance the lump sum sick policy , if you are sick more than 3 days in a row, then you have to go on short term leave which is a different bucket of time - but its also a pay reduction one you are on it, so people that get sick, just say they are sick for 3 days, take a vacation day and start over again

The young hippie tattooed waitresses that are pervasive in uptown are big GD and WSP fans. My 58 yr. old colleague (who's wife doesn't give a shit as long as she has her horses) is out and about with them every night.

I am getting much better with the leaving the work behind on vacation than when I was younger. I used to drop everything when clients would be demanding. Now, I don't care if they leave if they are going to be ass holes, and its usually the smaller clients that are ass holes so no big wup. My larger clients are quite cool about stuff.

(who's wife doesn't give a shit as long as she has her horses)

Yeah, yeah, we know all about horses and such in here. He better hope the wrong horse doesn't kick the bucket at the wrong time though, whew, marriage killer.

Cletus wrote:

hedge wrote:"I haven't had a real vacation day where I was not called or attended a meeting telephonically in 2 years."

"I'm never truly away since I've always got my phone with me."

Good lord. When I go on vacation, I am out. Don't call the office, don't get any calls from the office. Nada. I don't even take my phone when I go out of the country. Of course, you guys make way more caiiissshh than I do and I'm sure I'd make myself available 24/7 if I was making significantly more than I do now...

Having my phone (and laptop for that matter) means that I can get emails and quickly respond and stay in touch without disrupting the vacation. When I'm out, work rarely gets in the way since there aren't a lot of quick turnaround things that my group deals with. But, if there is an issue with one of our long-term projects, then I have to be available. For example, I was just down at Disney with the family and I planned around it so that work would not be an issue. Of course, something did come up and I had to get on a call that, because it included people from Asia and Europe, was very hard to plan so I couldn't ask for a different time. Then, while on the call, I found out that I had to give a presentation at a conference we were hosting the day after I returned from Florida. So, between the call and beginning to prep for my talk, I had to spend the morning in the room while my wife and kids were at the park. I felt kind of bad about being away but I feel like I have to make that trade to stay in the gig that allows us to do things like trips to Disney. It's vicious circle.

I hear you on all of this. Same situations, different locales. What I do is not THAT important (except for the beneficiaries of my firm's clients), but there is a real Key Man problem with me and the firm. I'm trying to alleviate that. I need another six months and I won't be so important.

Even when I'm in the office, there are meetings that can not start until I get there...even when my boss and one of my subordinates are there. That's a hellish problem, especially considering from the period of 9 - 5pm, I have an average of 6 hours of meetings every day.

aTm wrote:

(who's wife doesn't give a shit as long as she has her horses)

Yeah, yeah, we know all about horses and such in here. He better hope the wrong horse doesn't kick the bucket at the wrong time though, whew, marriage killer.

poor guy - and some sumbitch burned up his Ford Explorer too

He did get to blow off some steam on that Goat Pen trip to Vegas he planned. I know I didn't make it, but Im sure some of you other guys went...

Did the Greatful Dead even make music?

aTm wrote:

(who's wife doesn't give a shit as long as she has her horses)

Yeah, yeah, we know all about horses and such in here. He better hope the wrong horse doesn't kick the bucket at the wrong time though, whew, marriage killer.

I thought he was talking about heroin...

You're the expert.

Shit, I feel like I can never get away from my job with the paper and I get paid shit, I mean absolute shit. In the past year or so, I've just started to let shit go and not try to be on top of everything. Even though I work for a little paper in a shitty little redneck town, being involved with news, or sports in my case, means somebody always wants something. Aside from my wife's 10-15 calls a day, more than 85% of my phone use is work related and I only get $20/mo. from the company for my phone.

I wish I had a job in which my income was directly correlated with the amount of work I do. Want to go in and bust your ass for 12 hours over the weekend and make an extra $1,000? Hell yeah, I'd be there every weekend. Shit, I'd do for an extra $500. Want to work 12 straight days for another $2,000? I'd do it for an extra $200. Want to put it 50+ hours every week to add another $1,500 to your paycheck? No problem and I'd do it for an extra $750 per pay period.

What am I saying? I've done all these things and haven't had a raise in 7 years on a shit salary to begin with.

I'm starting to think I'd be better off still living in SF and smoking crack...

hedge wrote:I have a couple of times a year when I wouldn't plan a vacation. Luckily, most of that is in September and November when I probably wouldn't be wanting to take a vacation anyway...

I thought your vacations were when the lady and her daughters leave you at home when they leave town for a few days

Saint wrote:Shit, I feel like I can never get away from my job with the paper and I get paid shit, I mean absolute shit. In the past year or so, I've just started to let shit go and not try to be on top of everything. Even though I work for a little paper in a shitty little redneck town, being involved with news, or sports in my case, means somebody always wants something. Aside from my wife's 10-15 calls a day, more than 85% of my phone use is work related and I only get $20/mo. from the company for my phone.

I wish I had a job in which my income was directly correlated with the amount of work I do. Want to go in and bust your ass for 12 hours over the weekend and make an extra $1,000? Hell yeah, I'd be there every weekend. Shit, I'd do for an extra $500. Want to work 12 straight days for another $2,000? I'd do it for an extra $200. Want to put it 50+ hours every week to add another $1,500 to your paycheck? No problem and I'd do it for an extra $750 per pay period.

What am I saying? I've done all these things and haven't had a raise in 7 years on a shit salary to begin with.

I'm starting to think I'd be better off still living in SF and smoking crack...

well I don't have to tell you that you are in a dying industry and I also assume there are limited job options in a small town. Sounds like your job wouldn't allow you to work a second job part time either.

that said, I would have to be doing something I really love to go 7 years without a pay increase. The thing is - with writing - that is now a work at home job in the tech industry (and I suspect many others). We have technical writers on our staff that create manuals, user guides, white papers , etc and while they have some technical background, I doubt any of them came into the job knowing it. I'm not saying I can get you a job at my company - but I am saying there are other options out there for your skill set - better paying with real benefits without having to sell your home and move.

Owlman wrote:

hedge wrote:I have a couple of times a year when I wouldn't plan a vacation. Luckily, most of that is in September and November when I probably wouldn't be wanting to take a vacation anyway...

I thought your vacations were when the lady and her daughters leave you at home when they leave town for a few days

Ain't that the truth. I don't even look at that as vacation, though, but just the barest respite required to keep going for the rest of the year...

"Aside from my wife's 10-15 calls a day"

I would stop answering those calls after the second one of the day. Fuck that shit...

hedge wrote:"Aside from my wife's 10-15 calls a day"

I would stop answering those calls after the second one of the day. Fuck that shit...

you have to convince her that you hate talking on the phone and that instead,you cherish the time you have to talk to her face to face - and that's when she should tell you about catty co-workers, what her mother did, that new song from the boy band she likes and how we just have to try that new recipe with <insert whatever new item some fad chef is pimping> along with all the other stupid ass shit that forces you to DVR sportscenter and watch it later.