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amanda_loddenI'm in Phoenix right now. It's blessedly, wonderfully warm. This trip was a comedy of errors that managed to work out only through blind luck, but in the end it worked out fabulously. (Though I've promised myself that I will never ever do a 7am flight again, because it requires getting up at Stupid O'Clock in the morning, and I don't do mornings well.) For as many times as I considered canceling the trip (including after I paid for the non-refundable plane tickets and then found I'd missed out on the hotel's convention rate), I'm glad we came.
It turns out that there are a lot of things that I complain about but am actually very grateful for. And since it is a time of giving thanks, perhaps it's time I acknowledge the good sides of the things I whine incessantly about.
I complain frequently about the endless stream of roommates, and how nice it would be to have our house to ourselves. However, in planning this trip (and the last trip, and the cruise coming up in February), I never had to figure out pet care. "Who will feed the cat?" is a no-brainer, because Chris and Marina are there. I also don't need to worry about making sure the mail is brought in or discouraging burglars while we're away by making the house look lived in, because the house is actually lived in. And when I forgot something and asked a friend who is coming out tomorrow to bring it with him, I didn't have to worry about how to get him a key to the house. Roommates, it turns out, can be a good thing.
I am also exceptionally thankful for my job. I'll wait a moment, to give those of you who listen to me rant and rave a chance to compose yourselves. Pick your jaw up off the table, you're drooling all over everything.
The truth is, I've bounced between jobs for most of my life because I get bored silly. I hate getting up early in the morning and I hate having to go into an office and do the same things over and over again. It's not that I'm not level-headed in a crisis and generally dependable, it's just that I can't stand being bored. Once in a while, when no one's looking, I've been known to create a crisis at previous jobs just so I'd have something to solve. Not often, mind you-- I have to be bored for months at a time before I get that bad. Maybe twice, total. No, I'm not going to admit which crises were my two and which were natural occurrences.
Running a business, on the other hand, is rarely boring. The extended periods of quiet come with such infrequency that they're not boring, they're a chance to catch my breath. I've learned skills I would never have bothered to pick up normally, and some that I wouldn't have thought myself capable of. I've commented in a prior post that I've gone through some of my old code and discovered that it was horrible and I'm ashamed to admit that I wrote it, but the flip side of that is that I've become a much better coder. I doubt I would have done so had there not been sooooo many opportunities to practice.
And, to put it bluntly, I'm spoiled. I don't have to get up early, because I can pay someone else to come in and answer the phones until I get in. This means that if I don't want to roll out of bed until 9am, I can do that. I've had Tuesdays off for years, because I prefer to run errands when the stores are less crowded. The trade off is that during busy times I have to do some work on weekends, but I can do that work from nearly anywhere, including my nice comfy couch with the TV on and my feet up. Oh, and that task that I find annoying and don't like to do? Teach it to someone else, and make them do it! (Did you know I can teach stuff to others? I didn't either, but it seems I'm halfway decent at it. Remember my comment in the previous paragraph about "skills I wouldn't have thought myself capable of"? That's one of them.)
Mind you, I'm not going to stop whining about either of these things, or about the myriad of other things I complain about. But I can acknowledge that everything has a good side, and you are free to take my inevitable whining with a grain or two of salt. May I recommend you put it around the edge of a glass, and then fill it with lime and tequila?
It turns out that there are a lot of things that I complain about but am actually very grateful for. And since it is a time of giving thanks, perhaps it's time I acknowledge the good sides of the things I whine incessantly about.
I complain frequently about the endless stream of roommates, and how nice it would be to have our house to ourselves. However, in planning this trip (and the last trip, and the cruise coming up in February), I never had to figure out pet care. "Who will feed the cat?" is a no-brainer, because Chris and Marina are there. I also don't need to worry about making sure the mail is brought in or discouraging burglars while we're away by making the house look lived in, because the house is actually lived in. And when I forgot something and asked a friend who is coming out tomorrow to bring it with him, I didn't have to worry about how to get him a key to the house. Roommates, it turns out, can be a good thing.
I am also exceptionally thankful for my job. I'll wait a moment, to give those of you who listen to me rant and rave a chance to compose yourselves. Pick your jaw up off the table, you're drooling all over everything.
The truth is, I've bounced between jobs for most of my life because I get bored silly. I hate getting up early in the morning and I hate having to go into an office and do the same things over and over again. It's not that I'm not level-headed in a crisis and generally dependable, it's just that I can't stand being bored. Once in a while, when no one's looking, I've been known to create a crisis at previous jobs just so I'd have something to solve. Not often, mind you-- I have to be bored for months at a time before I get that bad. Maybe twice, total. No, I'm not going to admit which crises were my two and which were natural occurrences.
Running a business, on the other hand, is rarely boring. The extended periods of quiet come with such infrequency that they're not boring, they're a chance to catch my breath. I've learned skills I would never have bothered to pick up normally, and some that I wouldn't have thought myself capable of. I've commented in a prior post that I've gone through some of my old code and discovered that it was horrible and I'm ashamed to admit that I wrote it, but the flip side of that is that I've become a much better coder. I doubt I would have done so had there not been sooooo many opportunities to practice.
And, to put it bluntly, I'm spoiled. I don't have to get up early, because I can pay someone else to come in and answer the phones until I get in. This means that if I don't want to roll out of bed until 9am, I can do that. I've had Tuesdays off for years, because I prefer to run errands when the stores are less crowded. The trade off is that during busy times I have to do some work on weekends, but I can do that work from nearly anywhere, including my nice comfy couch with the TV on and my feet up. Oh, and that task that I find annoying and don't like to do? Teach it to someone else, and make them do it! (Did you know I can teach stuff to others? I didn't either, but it seems I'm halfway decent at it. Remember my comment in the previous paragraph about "skills I wouldn't have thought myself capable of"? That's one of them.)
Mind you, I'm not going to stop whining about either of these things, or about the myriad of other things I complain about. But I can acknowledge that everything has a good side, and you are free to take my inevitable whining with a grain or two of salt. May I recommend you put it around the edge of a glass, and then fill it with lime and tequila?
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-05 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-11 10:13 pm (UTC)'Tis good to be thankful. I'm thankful I have a job I like and that doesn't bore me to tears, even if it scares the willies out of me to think that I'll have to con the government out of money on a regular baisis to continue doing this job. ;)