Month: July 2020

Two weeks in, I’ve now started to feel much more at ease with the sabbatical.  No longer caring what people are thinking when I’m walking around in a t-shirt and shorts at 11am on a “workday”.  Still no earth-shattering revelations of self, but am starting to shift my mindset to take advantage of this time to accomplish interesting projects and live new adventures with the family (witness the death defying hike up to the summit of Rundle mountain on Sunday).  Lots of other noteworthy moments this week:

Monday – Thought I’d start a new morning routine this week…began the day with a brisk walk. I’ve seen the older ladies in the neighborhood doing this and they seem happy. I think they’re on to something here. I also downloaded an audio book on self-betterment to listen to on the walk.  Two birds with one stone.

Tuesday – Picked up my lumber at Home Depot, have my picnic table design instructions downloaded from the web, so ready to go.  A wise carpenter (Jesus?) once said “Measure twice, cut once”. Disappointingly, my family had very little faith in me being able to accomplish this task successfully. But I nailed it.  Literally.  And all fingers accounted for (albeit riddled with splinters).  See glorious finished product above. Next up, ark?

Weds – Today Liverpool FC was officially crowned as “football” Champions of England for the first time in 30 years. This had little to do with me or my sabbatical, but needless to say it was the highlight of my day.  It also made me think about sports gambling as an alternate source of income during this break?

Thursday – Have had a Jeep Wrangler for 3+ years now without taking it off-roading. In fact, it’s hardly been off the road on which I commute downtown. So, today’s project was to remove the roof and the doors to at least make it “cool looking” for my city driving. Turns out the hinges and bolts have long since corroded together. This proved to be a very expensive project after a trip to the mechanic.  At least they are now removed and Jeep looks cool.  Hopefully it doesn’t rain for a while because it’s a real pain to put them back on.  (Note: it poured later that afternoon…)

Friday – Time for some more quality dad and son time, so took my eldest to an empty parking lot and started to teach him how to drive a manual transmission car. He’s big on the “Fast and the Furious” movie series.  This was hardly illegal drag racing of super-cars (Honda CRV) on the mean streets of Havana (SW Calgary) but I could tell he enjoyed it. Not sure if it was the smell of burning clutch, the repeated jolts from the engine stalling, or the 80’s music on the radio, but it vividly took me right back to the same moments I had with my dad. Just another reminder of how fast time has gone by. That’s why I’m doing this.

Not sure what I was expecting, but I wouldn’t say that I had any great spiritual awakenings this first week. To be honest, it didn’t seem all that different from the past 3 months of COVID working from home. Except less Powerpoint, more chores.

My wife has seized upon this opportunity to top up the job jar. She’s feeling great about the sabbatical so far, while I’ve only gotten moderate fulfillment from cleaning mildew off the shower ceiling.

Amazing how the week flew by. I’m going to have to focus more on making a plan.

Here’s this past week’s highlights:

Monday (day 1) – Slept in till 9:30. Felt great, but not going to be a sustainable practice if I want to get sh*t done. Played my first round of golf of the season. A bit cliche, but seemed appropriate.

Tuesday – As I stepped outside our front door first thing in the morning, saw friends from down the street driving to work. Sucks for them. This is starting to feel real.

Weds – Weigh in day. The scale is unforgiving. Making a fitness plan. Dropping a few lbs will be one key measure of sabbatical success.

Thurs – Have always daydreamed while driving in to work of just enjoying the summer mornings with a walk along the river. Did it. Me and my youngest son walked to the pastry shop for a pain au chocolat and a crepe. Best morning.

Friday – Came up with my first project. Literally my first project, as I’m not handy and have never built anything. Going to build a picnic table from scratch for the back yard. Ordered lumber. That felt empowering. Tune in next week to see how it goes with the electric miter saw.

PS: The fact that I’ve even been able to create this blog platform on the interweb this week may prove to be the greatest achievement of the entire sabbatical.