Planning My Planning

I've been trained to think in terms of contingencies. There's always a "Plan B" and a "Plan C" and sometimes I run out letters. Maybe I do take things a bit far with my planning and scheduling. Despite the level of detail and all of the different types of random elements and catalysts that you take into account when developing a plan, there is usually something that was not taken into consideration. The impact can be just as bad as a chemistry experiment gone wrong.

I recently took a trip to China and had an overlay trip across the USA with multiple flights, hotels, and people involved. If I had printed out the entire plan, it would have killed a few trees. In the plan, I outlined every contingency that I could conceive to get me to one of my connecting flights. I failed to consider the flight that connected me back home in between trips could be the one that caused the schedule to fall apart. I had to think on my feet in order to fix the mess that this caused.

You can schedule and plan all you want, but what ultimately matters is how you deal with the issue at hand. Falling back upon your schedules and plans isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it just takes that leap of faith. That might be the best contingency of them all.

See ya.

Some Call It Magic

With recent events in the financial markets, it's pretty easy to get caught up in seeing the stock market falling, as noted from an old Bloom County comic strip, down a well. The temptation for me has been to work a bit harder in order to keep ahead of the curve. But then again, the impetus for hard work really shouldn't be predicated upon external factors. It's just another one of those excuses that we workaholics like to use to justify our routine. A few weeks ago, I recall mentioning that I'm just wired to be a workaholic. It's literally a part of who I am as a person.

Despite the intrinsic hard-wiring of my work ethic, I've recently been guilty of getting myself caught up in the past for a bit. Although it's only been a few months, it seems as though I haven't seen several of my closest friends in years. I do miss the music, the laughs, and the memories with friends and family a lot. To that end, I really need to take some time off. Yes, it's vacation time for me once again, if only for a long weekend. It took a really long time for me to come to the realization -- It's not about memories past. It's about making the time today, so you can have the opportunity to create those memories. That's where the magic begins. I'm off to Albany for now. See ya.