Last week was school vacation week in Massachusetts. Most of the public schools give kids the week off, and many EMC employees in the NorthEast took the week off as well. I was out all week.
It was an incredible stretch of weather. I have solar panels on my house and they cranked out about 60kw hours of power last week. There were few clouds to be seen.
Now it’s Monday, it’s raining, and I’m back at work, practicing post-vacation behavioral advice that I give to everyone:
Bite Your Tongue.
You see, after a particularly good vacation, I find myself honestly quite annoyed to have to return to work. So when that first co-worker walks into my office and asks me when I’m going to finish that specification, or asks me what I’m going to present at tomorrow’s meeting, or is curious about my opinion on building our software, my first thought is usually along the lines of…..
Who cares?
Sometimes I feel ambivalent after a particularly good weekend, never mind an incredible seven days of sunshine and baseball. Great weekends have given me plenty of practice in biting the tongue. It clearly is the way to go. Why is this?
Get the Juices Flowing
For me it’s usually a matter of hours before I’m back in the saddle and fully engaged in all the cool things that are on my plate at EMC. Surely the mark of a good vacation is when you forget about everything that is on your plate! Inevitably the neurons will start firing and it all starts coming back. During that phase (first couple of hours) I did have one pal of mine come in and start the techy talk. I put my feet up, practiced patience, nodded my head, and internally sobbed.
But then I made the mental list of all the stuff I’ve got going on right now. Here it is:
- My team and I are working on building a really cool product. I like it.
- I’m in the middle of helping to put together EMC’s 2008 Innovation Conference
- I’m in the middle of proposing a coding challenge
- The merry band of EMC bloggers is gathering at EMC World in a couple of weeks. Most of them I’ve never met in person. Can’t wait.
- I’m preparing for a business trip to Russia to work with people of my team
- The idea I proposed at last year’s Innovation Contest is being built by an EMC research team in China, I’m consulting and will demo it in May.
- I’m visiting customers to learn how some of them are using Centera, CLARiiON, and Celerra (as well as other EMC products).
- I continue to meet and interact with EMC’s worldwide employees via our internal social media site. It’s a good time. It makes EMC seem like a small place. I regularly interact with senior VPs, QA engineers, Ed Services folks, PR, HR, ….. you name it. It’s a level playing field of interaction.
- I’m starting to work on a paper I’d like to publish this year.
I’m Back
I’m interested to hear other people’s experiences of how long it takes them to get over the hump when returning from vacation or a particularly good weekend. It’s never long for me. That’s why I bite down when tempted to gripe! EMC simply has too much variety and possibility. I’m lucky.
Let me know if it’s the same where you’re at!
Steve
Are you going to visit Center of Excellence in St. Petersburg?
Yes my plan is to visit the CoE in St. Petersburg. I was there in November. I loved the city.
Why didn’t you just tell your friend you were not ready to get all techy just yet? Sobbing internally cannot be healthy….
I am taking the week after my daughter’s college graduation off – I hope I can come back as relaxed as you sound. I have made the mistake of taking classes that are too related to my job, and the semester starts at the beginning of my vacation. I’ll probably be excited to come back to work. There is something wrong with me I think.
When will they open submissions for the Innovation Conference?
Gina,
It’s my office and I’ll sob if I want to (or not)!
Look for innovation submissions in early June.
See ya
Steve