Wednesday, January 9, 2013

If I'm not here, I'm probably there.

2012 was a year of travel for me. Every three or four days, I changed cities. Generally, I moved back and forth between Seattle and Portland which calculated to a commute of roughly 15,500 miles over the course of the year. I've gotten pretty good at knowing which city I'm in at any given moment - even in the semi-conscious state between wakefulness and sleep - but most of the time I don't know what day it is and I have to remind myself which city I'm in when I'm in an airport.

Every week is split in two so that I have two mini-weeks comprised of two Mondays, two Wednesdays, and two Fridays bookmarked by travel days and an odd weekend day during which I catch up on laundry and cram in family and social obligations. And during each half-week I have double the housecleaning, bed changing, grocery shopping, and bill paying. Somewhere in there is work, not that it's immediately obvious.

Even though it only takes 2.5 hours to move between those two cities, it's hard to be productive on travel days. If by "productive" I mean "work"  then travel days are useless for avoiding work. I have found it nearly impossible to cram travel, work, and avoiding work all into one day. Which is why, if you don't see me here, I'm likely doing one of the other two things - travel or, when required (as suggested by my employer), work.

I would like to be here more - wherever that really is. In my head, on this page, in your head, goofing off with you. 'Tis the season, though, when there will be less and less goofing off. I just thought I should explain my absence.

Am I excused?

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