Bearded...

So for a short while I decided that I would really and truly try to grow a beard. Those of you that know me, know that in fact, a beard for me wouldn't really so much as be a challenge as a fashion statement of sorts. Well right before Thanksgiving, I went and had some new tires mounted for my car. I went to the shop where The Fart Sniffer works over in Cary to have his guys do it, because that seemed like the right thing to do. He was sporting a beard, and so I took it as a personal affront to try and top that one that he was growing, so off I went. The last day I shaved was Thanksgiving day, and I was pushing for March for the timeframe when I would shave again. As you can see for yourself in the picture attached above, the beard growing was a resounding success. Of course, there was a lot of white going on in there, and I needed some Just For Men for beards and moustaches, but instead of that, it started to wear on me, and started getting really fuzzy and annoying, so off it went. I couldn't help it. The March timeframe was just a pipe dream. My goal was to look like Sean Eaddie (a track racer from Australia who grew the most kick ass beard ever, while still racing his bike, and shaving his legs no doubt). Through this little experiment though, I found out that indeed, I am not a beard kind of guy. I can't stand having that hair on my face for too long, and March would have been a long time coming for me, so off it went. Ah well, maybe next time I'll keep it for months on end. Although, since I am flying this weekend to go home for Christmas it's probably a good thing that it is gone, because I'm sure that security would have loved to have taken a longer look at me. Beard, dark complexion, and the fact that when I do have a good stubble going the people I work with think I look like a terrorist, well, strip searching probably wouldn't have been out of the question. That would have been disturbing methinks.

I have been off from work this week thus far, which has been a great time for me. I've been able to kick back, relax, ride the bike (when the sun is out and when it's sort of warm out), and essentially just live a normal life for a short while. Work this year has been, shall we say, rough. I have a bad case of burnout that's for sure, meaning I don't think I could have been there for another week this year without flipping out in some way, shape, or form. I can see now possibly why people go really super crazy and go into work and start shooting people. Not that I would do this, but I can see how one could. If I got to that point, I'm pretty certain that I'd just quit, and maybe go work at a McDonald's or something for a short while to get the head back in order. You know, something low key and easy to do, no pressure. Just go to work, do work, and go home with nothing to worry about later on down the road. That would be the best bet right there. Luckily, I haven't gotten to that point, but a vacation was required. I've been off since last Friday, and I'm not going back until the 2nd of January, which again, is a nice long time off for me. I haven't had much in the way of vacation time this year, so this is a nice break. I wonder how I'll manage next year since I won't really be taking any vacation until December anyway, at which time I'm getting hitched, so then I'll have a couple of weeks off at the start of the month, and then another week towards the end, lumping lots of vacation into one month again, but that means another 11 months or so with little/no time off. Maybe I'll just have to be "creative" shall we say with "sick days". Don't even sit there and scratch your head like you don't know what I mean, because you do. Normally it goes something like this, "Hey (insert your boss' name here), I can't make it into work this morning, I must have eaten some bad fish last night or something like that..." Does anyone's boss really think that many people get that sick on fish every year? They play along with the game though as well, so they can't speak. At least I know that my boss takes more so called "sick days" than I do every year that's for sure. Well, that and for my boss, days off to go to field trips with her kids, days off to take her kids to school, days off when her kids are sick, days off when she wants to bake cookies with her kids, and so on and so forth.