40 hours and Blue Walls

One of the things that has been odd but nice is the length of my work week. When I first interviewed for the job the boss told me almost apologetically, "Now I want you to understand, it is only a 40 hour work week. You wont be able to get any overtime. You have to stop after 40 hours."

I was glad to hear this because I moved in order to start a church, and this job (whether I do it for 2 years or 20 years) is mainly a rewarding way to pay the bills while I do what I came for. I am enjoying the job very much, but I would not have taken it if I was expected to work much more than 40 hours.

But now that I am doing it, working only 40 hours is very strange. I have been either a salaried employee and/or self employed for over 20 years. There have been times that I worked about 60 hours a week in addition to being on an electronic leash at only one job. For the last 5 years I have worked at two jobs and I have worked 6 days a week for most of the last 10 years. Thankfully I loved both my job at church and my private practice in Santa Rosa.

Working 40 hours a week almost feel like cheating. It is like a working vacation, but what kind of idiot takes a 15 week vacation without his beautiful girls!

I guess I expected the 40 hours thing to be approximate. I expected that I would work until the job is done, but simply aim for 40 hours a week. I was wrong.

When Friday comes we have to know what we actually worked that week and leave early rather than even work 1 hour of overtime.

I will probably be leaving early every Friday.

Blue Walls: I saw something when I first arrived here, but noticed it again when I was traveling upstate for some training last week. On the side of the highways I often see thick ice formations cascading down the sides of mountains. These formations are right at the side of the road and are a so thick that they are a beautiful shade of blue. I do not have a picture to share. You can get away with a lot in the "Live Free or Die" state, but I do not think using my freedom to die by taking a picture while driving down the freeway is a great idea.