Slice Of Life

Slice Of Life, is a Weblog (BLOG) that I write, in which I try to tell some sort of story about something, or someone in my life. Sometimes it's happy, sometimes not, sometimes informative, sometimes...... HA, gotcha, did ya think that I was going to say not? Don't know me very well, do ya? :=) I will try to update the BLOG from time to time, whenever I can.

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Location: Chandler, Arizona, United States

My personality is outgoing, I use to be a wallflower, until I realized that it was all the outgoing people that were having the most fun. It was a tough conversion, but nobody I know today would even remotely consider me to be a wallflower. Basically, when I was young, my parents taught me that if you work hard, you can accomplish anything. I haven't quite found the "anything" part to be always true, but it has inspired me to always try to do, and be, my best.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Happy Anniversary.... To Me

Guess What? Today is my Anniversary. No, not that one, I mean my Employment Anniversary. Specifically, I have now been with my same company for 14 years! WHEW, incredible huh? You would think so, if you knew, that the previous former record for me staying with one company was 6 years….. And that was when I was a US Marine, so that time, I didn’t have much choice.

What makes this a special thing, is a policy that my company has for every employee that has worked for the company for 7 years, or 14, or 21 etc etc etc. Every 7 years, every employee is entitled to a sabbatical, which is 2 Months off….. with pay. Yup, Yup, that’s right, no working, and you get paid anyway, and your job is guaranteed to be there when you get back.

Sweet huh? Even better, if you have enough vacation time stored up, you can extend it to 3 months off. Why would they do this? Some people around here say that after driving you crazy for 7 years, they need to give you that time off, so that you won’t quit. Maybe so, maybe not, but I have to say that, as you can see, it has kept me around for more than twice as long as any other job.

In any case, I now have a 1 year to take the sabbatical, but that could be extended to 2 years with approval from my Manager. I haven’t decided yet whether to extend it, but at this point, I don’t see any reason to delay. I just haven’t decided exactly what date this year to start it, but I know what I’m planning to do….. International Travel.

See, when I was growing up, my family really didn’t have much money, so I never went out of the country, until after I got out of the Military. Shoot, the first time I ever even flew on an airplane was the one that I took down to Paris Island when I went to Boot Camp, and there’s NO WAY anybody would call those 3 Months of Living Hell a vacation. Since then though, I’ve made up for it in a big way.

My 7th year Sabbatical, I spent 11 days touring Italy, then 11 Days touring Germany. It was right after the Berlin wall fell down, so Not only was it a great experience to see all the art and culture of Italy, but I also got a chance to do a direct comparison between Democratic and Communist lifestyles. So not only did I improve myself culturally, I also got a chance to improve myself intellectually. OK, I admit it…. I also partied my ass off the whole trip.

Since a “Double Trip” was so successful last time, I’m thinking of going that way again. No, not back to Italy and Germany, but I have tentatively identified 2 locations that I’m strongly considering. First…. Australia. I’ve always wanted to go “Down Under”, and I’ve been looking around the Web to identify Australian Resorts. That’s right, I said resorts. I’m not planning on sleeping in any tents in the bush, so to speak, I’m more of a “4 star” type of vacationer these days.

The second, was an idea that I got from someone else…… Alaska. The plan, is to fly up to Southern Alaska, and take a cruise north. Then when I get to Northern Alaska, and I know all the cool places from the cruise trip, rent a car, and drive back down to southern Alaska, to the cruises origin point. In that way, I can stop and stay wherever I want to, and avoid the places I didn’t much care for on the way North. Does that sound cool or what?

Yes, Yes, I know it’s going to be expensive. Did you catch that part about me knowing about this time off for the last 7 years? A person could probably stash away quite a bit of cash during that 7 years…. If they were smart, I mean. Besides, I have this philosophy when I travel…… I don’t pay much attention to what things cost, because I don’t want to come back home “wishing” I had done something that I didn’t do, because it was too “expensive” When I go baby, I go ALL OUT.

So, It looks like sometime later this year, I’ll have to practice up on my “GDAY MATE”, and also figure out what kind of bait it takes to catch a really big Alaskan Salmon. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m REALLY looking forward to it :-)

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