Understand that I spent the vast majority of my career self-employed. So the concept of paid vacation is completely foreign to me.
When I was at Utne Reader I was never able to take any because we were short staffed and there wasn’t anyone to fill in. I eventually got paid for that time though when the magazine was purchased by a corporate publisher and I was laid off.
Since I’ve been at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design I took a few days when my father-in-law was dying but I was hesitant to take any more vacation until my long-term disability insurance kicked in (there was a two-year exclusion because of my pre-existing end-stage renal disease). My reasoning was that I’d need that vacation time if I was hospitalized or became disabled. And let’s face it—the chances of me being hospitalized or disabled are way beyond even.
But here’s the stunner: the way the University calculates accrued vacation (by the hour) I actually accrue vacation time while I’m on vacation. Now that’s as weird as the picture of the Morton Salt girl holding a box of Morton Salt on the box of Morton Salt. It’s a glimpse of infinity.
I’m going to spend a part of my vacation looking into refinancing our mortgage. The way I figure it—with the US Federal Reserve lowering the rate to nearly zero—if I have my ducks in a row by spring, they’ll be paying me money every month, right?
