Introduction

I'm starting a new blog site today, 37DaysOff.  It's named quite simply, because that is what I am about to undertake, I have taken the next 37 days off from work, essentially the entire month of December and into the first week of January.  To make a long story short, I haven't had a lot of time off lately and ended up with way too many days of paid vacation.  To give you a sense of my problem, I rolled over 40 days of vacation from 2011 into 2012.  And was about to have the same thing happen this year.  So when things got kind of quiet around the office this winter, I decided to make my move and say, "You know what, I'm taking the month of December off, I'll see you all in 2013.  Peace out."  I suppose a few jaws dropped upon hearing that.  Some people at work were probably not thrilled.  But it's all good, I have definitely been looking forward to the time off.  One coworker said, "you probably deserve it."  Probably?  I'm happy to give myself the benefit of the doubt on that one.

The natural question most people have on the tips of their tongues once they hear I am taking this amount of time off is, "oh so where are you going?"  They expect that I have booked some kind of exotic travel itinerary to Tahiti, or the Galapagos.  Backpacking in Europe, snorkeling in the Bahamas, throwing down my life savings on the table at Le Casino Royale in Monaco?  So they kind of look at me with some disappointment when I say "Nowhere.  Just gonna stay local."  I suppose it's kind of like asking what I'm going to do right after scoring the winning touchdown at the Super Bowl, and I respond, "I'm heading down to Taco Bell and buying me a Chalupa Supreme!  And a soda!"  That actually sounds kinda good right now.  Um, focus!

So yes, it's true that I don't have an actual vacation plan in place as of yet.  I am sure this gives some people with OCD tendencies the willies.  No plan?  You'll just squander your 37 days by sitting on on the couch, surfing the net and eating potato chips.  Fear not though, it's not like I am totally drifting in the wind like a dandelion seed.  There are some general ideas and themes and even a few actual events coalescing in my ever-roaming mind, like sprinkles of nutmeg in a mug of lukewarm eggnog that is starting to curdle.  Oh that sounds really good too.  You can tell I haven't had dinner yet.

Let's get down to brass tacks here.  I'll probably make a list of things I want to do.  That list will be fairly long.  I have a lot of hobbies.  Some of them include driving my sports cars, shooting my guns, taking interesting photos, eating great food.  So I will have a lot of goals that involve those things.  Will all of those things be interesting?  Perhaps not to the average person.  But they are immensely interesting to me, and that is what counts.  This blog will be my journal as I undertake this journey.  It might not always make sense to anyone else who isn't me.  I'm not here to impress you.  Well not entirely.  I'll do my best to entertain you if you take the time to read all this.  But really this journal is for me, so that I can later look back and remember what I did.  Because I might not ever get another chance to have so much "me" time again, at least not until I retire.


Remember in the movie Robocop, the protagonist had a set of prime directives, rules by which he had to abide or risk system shutdown?  Well let me set out a few prime directives right now that will guide my 37DaysOff.  Since I don't want to risk my own system shutdown, they will be, haha, fairly open ended.

1. Make myself a better person.
2. Make the world around me a better place.
3. Be creative.
4. (CLASSIFIED)

#5.  Find some lip balm ASAP.  Uh, never mind.

Who knows, maybe we will discover what directive #4 is along the way.  I might not achieve all of them every single day, but that can be a goal.  It should be interesting, I certainly hope it will be.

Because in the end I do believe that it is what you do, that defines who you are.
Let's begin.