I’m taking a moment to catch my breath and rest my feet, here in my office, and as I look around I am once again struck by how annoying all of this clutter is. I may not be the most organized human ever to grace the surface of the planet, but I’m also not terribly fond of messy spaces. Every so often I’m able to perform upkeep on my immediate working space, but most of the time I simply lack the time and/or energy.

Let’s see…

• Three sets of writing utensils
• Two sticky pads
• Two stacks of “important” printouts
• One stack of old hard drives
• One stack of computer cards (one video, one network, one sound: the old “holy trinity” of the hand-built PC)
• Five baggies containing random computer-related paraphernalia (such as: screws, cords, connectors)
• One PCI slot cover
• One PS/2-to-USB converter
• Two sets of keyboard/wristrest/mouse/speakers
• Three monitors
• One flashlight
• One stack of KVM gear
• One paper clip

That’s just what’s on the surface of my desk. I won’t bore you with the contents of the shelves, or what’s on top of the filing cabinet, let alone what’s inside the filing cabinet, or what’s piled up alongside both doors to my tiny office. Did I mention there’s a workbench in the server room with its own drawers and shelving?

I think, sometimes, that what I need isn’t a technical lackey but rather an administrative assistant…

While I’ve carefully tracked my vacation hours this year, and have spent them fairly wisely, I realized this morning that there’s one additional source of paid time off that I tend to forget until it’s too late.

Entercom grants all employees one pick-the-date “personal holiday” per year in addition to the regularly-scheduled major holidays. I’ve worked here full-time for over eight years and, to the best of my recollection, I’ve never yet taken that holiday. (Anyone who’s known me for more than a year or two is welcome to chime in with a correction at this point.) I’m going to take it this year, however, in addition to the couple more vacation days I need in order to get firmly under the “carry over” cap.

And so, I’m going to take payday (tomorrow) and Wednesday the 28th off as vacation days, and Winter Solstice (the 21st) as a personal holiday. Mind you, it’s not so much personal as it is merely convenient, but in this case my “sense of proper” is overruled by my “sense of mercenary practicality.” I’m sure my pagan friends will understand.

The annual company holiday party is something of a necessary social occasion, from my point of view. It gives me a chance to rub elbows with my coworkers in a situation that doesn’t involve phrases like, “The Internet’s broken, can you fix it?” I like (the majority of) my fellow employees, really.

Mind you, this year’s party sent me packing in fairly short order. Let’s see… Loud, crowded venue? Check. Not a non-alcoholic drop to drink other than water? Check. Food selections consisting almost entirely of bread-based snacks? Check. (Anything meat-based was carried around by a server and doled out piecemeal, so gods forbid you wanted another one of those yummy coconut shrimp.) Jazz band in the corner contributing to the decibel levels so I can’t possibly hear what anyone’s saying? Check and mate.

Nevermind that on a day when, early in the morning, I was assured by the weather service that it wouldn’t be raining for about a week so I left my umbrella home, it started sprinkling just as I was leaving the office to walk over to the venue… well, it was just better for all involved if I left after a nice, brief turn around the tables, you know?