Lay Down Your Burdens

"Work to live, don't live to work."

My friend Nate said that while we were catching up a few weeks back in Kansas City. And I needed to hear it. I've been working a lot of overtime lately - more in the past four weeks than the preceding four years. I've never been much for extra hours on the clock - I'm there to get paid, and I am paid enough that I don't need to stay late. But the project I've been working on has been my responsibility; I'm what's called a Project Engineer, which means I'm the engineer of record. All of the Work Items (documents that describe the details of the work, guiding the shipyard during construction) have gone out with only one name on them in the title block - mine. So I have more than a passing interest in the timeliness and quality of the work.

Last week I put in 60 hours on this. And it's such a stupid project - mostly redesigning kitchens on a cargo ship. It shouldn't be this hard.

But here's the sweet news - it is done. We passed in the CD today. Sure, there are odds and ends left, but the major effort is now in our wake. I can go back to doing what I want to do on the weekends, and actually having time to bike and swim after work. It's a very exciting time.

Other exciting news includes the return of my friend Sarah to work (permanent hire this time), the engagement of Jane and Gigantor, the upcoming wedding of Katie P., and the 1st Anniversary / Stateside Reception for Chris and Kelly, which I will be attending back in Bristol.

And I'm almost, finally, done reshelving my library. Library of Congress System or bust.