Back to Work; Sabbatical is Over

Having cast off for sabbatical eight weeks ago, today was time to plug back into the docking station.

Alpha mail. Thankfully, only 500 e-mails were waiting in my inbox and most could be discarded without reading more than the subject line. After accepting a few meeting requests and placing a few phone calls to ensure the other e-mails had been handled in my absence, I was able to get my inbox down to less than ten e-mails by end of day. That’s the result of having great coverage. Thanks, guys!

Breaking rules. Waiting on my desk was a bookstore gift certificate in recognition of some work I did immediately before sabbatical. During lunch, I bought First, Break all the Rules. After all, work bought me the book; I thought I’d return the favor by getting something that just might improve my on-the-job performance. Coincidentally, this morning I completed an organizational health survey. Upon starting the book, I recognized the twelve core questions. Maybe I’m not the first to have read this book.

Wireless mouse. Going through my drawers, I discovered mouse droppings. Wait — that didn’t come out right. My top desk drawer contained shredded paper napkins and mouse poop. That’s not good; I didn’t even have food there. Not that I suspect my coworkers, but I locked my drawers before sabbatical. Fortunately, the drawer held nothing of value and now the trash can does. Welcome back! I’m tempted to try a trap.

Beat by the Street. I looked up my employer’s stock. Great — there’s a definite improvement that coincided with my departure. Don’t tell upper management…

Staying on sabbatical. As part of my sabbatical, I took a political fast. Normally a political junky, I abstained from talk radio, political blogs, and political commentary. Amazingly enough, the world continued to spin without me. I’m considering continuing the fast or at least maintaining a slim political diet. My heart will thank me, I’m sure. I’ll have more time to do the other things I enjoy. Speaking of which…

Going nowhere not so fast. After a full, fun day at work I exercised today. Just the treadmill tonight, but my board short tan’s going to look pretty funny when I swim laps again.

Yup, I’m back. Good to see you all again. :-)