Sunday, February 22, 2009

What would you do on a furlough?

I pulled weekend reporter duty this weekend, so when the clock struck 11 p.m. last night, I skedaddled away from my desk. The voicemail message had been changed. An out of office message had been set up for my e-mail. My desk was even clean enough so you could see the desk top without having to move piles of paper.

I was ready for my week-long absence from the working world.

It's furlough time boys and girls.

I admit. At first I wasn't too thrilled with this whole idea of a week off of work without pay. But as it got closer. I realized I was looking forward to it. Not sure why, but for some reason I think it's a good time for me to be taking a break. And since it only took me 36 minutes to get a real, live person from the unemployment office on the phone Friday, I feel OK knowing that I'll at least get some cash coming in the week I don't work - which will be a little bit more thanks to a decision our governor made.

So what's a girl to do during her furlough? Plenty. I present the Furlough To Do List:
  • Catch up on back episodes of 24. I need my Jack Bauer fix.
  • I've got a hot lunch date with a bunch of first-graders on Monday. Seems my niece is dying to have me come to have lunch with her at school. Should be fun.
  • A mid-week trip to the western part of the state to visit a friend.
  • A Friday get-together with my college roommate - who's just been laid off from her job - in Milwaukee. The Titanic exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum is on the agenda.
  • The apartment? It needs a good cleaning.
  • I've been slacking at the gym the last two weeks - mostly in preparation for the furlough - so I'll be getting back on track by squeezing in some good runs and bikes and hopefully even hitting the pool once or twice.
  • Relax.
That's the furlough plan. Should be an enjoyable week away from work. And maybe even a few stories to share.

4 comments:

Deloris said...

Too bad you have to take a week off without pay. But I would also look forward to it. Sounds like you have a busy week ahead of you!

teacherwoman said...

RELAX.

Enjoy your week away from work!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy yourself! I'll have to pick your brain later about dealing with unemployement for the furlough, as mine comes up in April. I'm bummed about DMB this summer, but what would you say to Jason Mraz? I've heard he'll be in Madison on May 3, tix go on sale on March 3. Let me know.
-Amanda

Deloris said...

How was your week off?