Time to Stop and Breathe

I had an amazingly busy day, between various meetings at work, finishing my taxes, mailing a couple of packages, and trying to get sort of ready for Pesach. I still need to make another supermarket trip, mostly to buy fruits and vegetables. (Somehow, I have developed a Pesach tradition of making ratatouille. And eating a lot of strawberries.) But each of the stores near me sells an entirely different assortment of kosher l'Pesach items, which makes things more complicated. (I will also note that it seems I find something new every year. In this case, Giant had rye matzoh, which seemed worth buying a box of to try.)

I also still need to actually mail my federal taxes. I do Virginia on-line, since it is free. If the feds really want me to file on-line, they shouldn't charge me for the privilege. I also need to increase my deductions, as the impact of home ownership is significant.

I decided not to torture myself with a business trip next week for a meeting of marginal utility. However, I have developed an elaborate calendar color-coding system for my amusement. It involves a yearly calendar (with date boxes). I start with the holidays my company gives me off in pink. The government holidays which I don't get off are in orange. Jewish holidays which I take off for (basically, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and the first two days of Pesach) are in blue.

Then there's the stuff I do to myself. Vacations are in yellow. Weekends out of town which don't involve vacation time are in green. Days when I am in town but have something to do after work (or on the weekend) are in purple.

The original goal of this was to be a handy visual reminder to avoid double booking. In practice, it mostly serves to confirm the impression one of my friends has that I am the busiest person on the planet.

Please pass the white-out.