Get a Life!: Vacation time

I took a little vacation last week, and if you didn’t notice, it was because I left a blog that appeared while I was away. When I worked for the government, I would sometimes turn in an assignment at the last minute before I left, giving my boss something to remember me by while I was away.

It took a few days for my vacation daze to clear when I returned, and in the process, I learned a few things that might be useful. 
 
First, I forgot to remove my out-of-office message. That gave me an extra day or two to clear out e-mail messages since the traffic was down. Might be good to keep those messages going during your re-entry.

Then, I scanned my e-mail for critical messages needing immediate action. Most were of the FYI or “cc” variety, requiring little from me and easily deleted. Actually, I had checked once while I was away to make sure I had not missed a deadline or something really important. That is probably a bad habit, interrupting the vacation feeling.

Next, I went through the pile of snail mail and found most ready for recycling." Delete" and "shred" are two of my favorite words.

Mostly, I wanted to keep my vacation “float” feeling going. So I looked through the vacation photos on my digital camera to see if I had a good one for a screensaver. One other tip: Try to keep in mind something you said on vacation about what you would do differently at work or home when you returned.


Food Drive Update: The U.S. Postal Service’s one-day Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on May 10 collected a new record amount: 73.1 million pounds of food donations left at home mailboxes and collected by letter carriers. The effort was supported by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. The food was delivered to local food banks, pantries and shelters to help needy families in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.