Snow Day

In Washington State, they have a special spur-of-the-moment vacation every so often called a "snow day." On those special days, you wake up to a winter wonderland of snow and you eagerly bound out of bed and turn on the local radio or TV and hope that your company or school is announcing a snow day.

Depending on the amount of snow, it's kind of like the lottery and you have to hope that you're stationed somewhere where the higher-ups are the skitterish type.

Should you hear your name, you're released from your obligation to go to work or attend school. Sure, they get it back by dinging your pay, asking you to work extra or use comp., and schools plan extra days at the end in case of snow months earlier. (A cruel trick, to be sure.)

But today's a day I would have really liked a snow day. Our financing plans have fallen through on the new home purchase, our home still has not had any offers, Rachel is recovering from a nasty fall (eye was still swollen shut today), I didn't get enough sleep last night (stayed up with Rachel for awhile) and this morning I had to bring the websites back to life after an upgrade last night that we knew would hose them all.

Now with 36 minutes to go, I'm counting down the time and looking for legitimate work to fill the time until then.

The weekend doesn't necessarily promise any downtime, either.