|
It is hard being on the road over 200 nights a year...away from your family, isolated in many ways. It definitely isn't for everyone. This blogs represents the thoughts of just one such person. Read along and find out if the road is for you.
This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Georgia, Gainesville, Unity of Gainesville, English, John, Male, reading, RE Investing. :)
|
Thursday, September 04, 2003
It's that time of year again...
Most people do their reflection/evaluation of their year at the New Year. I have always done it in the Fall. There have actually been some leaves that have fallen at my house and what with the weather lately along with Julie getting laid off, it has been a time of reflection for me.
So, overlall, I am a little down at the moment. I am pushing hard on real estate deals, because something inside of me is adding urgency to my actions. Maybe, someone knows something that I don't.
I am just about to hit the wall at work. I have just come to that realizaiton this week. I thought Da Group was going to take some time off in August, so I didn't schedule any time off until I knew the plant. I was going to take some time in September, but couldn't get agreement from Julie on where to go. Da Company has pretty much filled out my time for September and I am not sure that they would let me off at this point. So that leaves October. I am at least going to take a long weekend.
I feel like I am behind the curve right now. I don't have as many houses as my goal was here six months back.
Maybe part of my depression is that I spoke with the customer that had wanted to hire me and they didn't mention future employment with them once. Not that they are in a position to at this point. They are still working out their purchase from the parent company.
Maybe that is what is provoking these thoughts. I do love what I do, but I don't want to do this forever and one of the guys in my unit who just got a promotion of sorts told me his main logic was getting off of the road. Is there ever a time that I will get off the road? It is becoming increasingly difficult to attain my life goals doing what I am doing. So something has to give.
On the up side, I spoke with the woman from the cusotmer that I am smitten with. She just makes you smile just hearing her voice. They actually scheduled me to come back much sooner than anticipated just so she could see me. How cool is that?
That seems like a good place to leave.
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 3:35 AM
Monday, September 01, 2003
"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes
Overall, a very relaxing weekend. And not a second too soon I might add. I didn’t get much of anything done and for once, I don’t feel guilty. I will pay for it this week as I get out the pool service billing and work on another real estate deal, but this weekend was for me to relax and enjoy life. And for once, I did.
After arriving from an overnight delay from Phildelphia to Atlanta on Thursday evening, I arrived at the customer at noon. I stayed till 6, only billed him for 5 hours and didn’t get home until about 8 that evening. So Friday was just a blur, but unlike other days like this, I wasn’t so beat up that I couldn’t enjoy the newest addition to the family, the little kitty named Freeway.
Perhaps he had made this weekend be so enjoyable. It is fun just to sit back and watch him play (except for when he thinks you look like fresh kitty food and wants to bite you). Freeway is just flat out fun to watch even if he is just sleeping.
Saturday amounted to going out to a presentation on Mars with Julie and a friend. It turned out to be too cloudy to see Mars in the telescope, but we still had a good time overall.
Sunday, we invited some friends over and I barbequed. I have always enjoyed barbequing for a crowd of folks. But I must admit that this year has been a challenge for me since I am still getting used to the new gas barbeque that Julie got me earlier in the year (Father’s Day????). But I am at the point that I actually think I am getting better at it and the rubs/marinades are actually being tasted rather than overdone meat.
Nevertheless, the mixture of chicken and steaks, along with barbeque corn on the cob went over well and we talked about life in general until late in the evening. I was so appreciative of not having to take a flight out where I would miss out on the socializing that went on.
I did something today that I cannot remember doing in a long, long time. I actually slept in both Sunday and Monday (technically I just went back to bed on Monday, but close enough). I felt like a millionaire sleeping in both days. As I said, I let everything go this weekend and it felt wonderful not getting up early to do the lawn, take care of the pool service business and hurriedly flying out of town.
Weekends like this past one make me think very seriously about the job offer that was made to me last week and is expected to be sweetened this week. The only question is…would working a regular job spoil all the other things that I enjoy? Would I get any more done than I currently do in just 1.5 days that 7 days at home would provide?
I don’t know. I am not even sure I want to find out yet. But Julie and I stopped at Starbucks this afternoon before I took the shuttle to the airport. I am confident that I could be as successful as these folks are. So that has me thinking as well.
But I have already made overtures about buying out the pool supply business where we currently get our supplies from, so how much more can I put on my plate?
I have a million things that I want to do with my life. I just had a friend talk to me about quitting Da Company and working in a consulting business that involves life coaching. That is something I have always had an interest in. How many things can 1 person do? I want to do so many. I admire people like Natasha who are going back to school. I would enjoy that too. I have even given it some thought, but like everything else in my life, when would I fit it in? She is much smarter than me in so many ways and has political connections to boot through her husband. It seems like I have to do everything the hard way…rolling up my sleeves and digging in.
On the other hand, I do find the time to do some of the things I want J Shouldn’t I be happy enough just doing those?
And what about relationships? Is the life I am leading that far out of whack with the real world?
Are my wants and needs just selfish? I don’t have these answers and am not sure I want them at this point in time. Julie told me last week that there is a good chance she is going to be laid off. She wants to work on the pool business, where I would welcome the help, but there isn’t any money coming into my house from that business till next year. I have also talked to her about opening a store on E-Bay (which I might just do myself). If she does get laid off, money will be a little tighter. Not so much in the spendable income, but the saveable income would be effected and that bothers me.
As you can see, my life probably mirrors yours…a lot of things happening and the plans you make are not necessarily the plans that come to fruition. I will let you know what happens.
Blog on!
|
|
