Reviewing our vacation

When I set goals for myself for the year, one key one was to have two uninterrupted weeks of vacation, something I really hadn't accomplished in years. I more or less did that. I monitored my email but mostly didn't answer it. Those emails I did answer were done so very succinctly and in the "I'll get back to you when I'm back in town" vein. For the most part I didn't look at markets and I didn't read the news or even the finance or policy sections of the issues of The Economist I brought with me.

Which isn't to say I wasn't occupied. I had logistics to attend to: I drove a thousand miles or so, took a couple of train trips, planned and shopped for a bunch of meals (Mary insists that this is burdensome work at home). Some of this had some stress associated with it, especially with Mary laid up with COVID when it was hot as fuck outside. And then there was finding restaurants Mary would eat at which means navigating the proscription against seafood and beef, no mean feat in mostly coastal areas of France and Spain (try it, I dare you).

Reflecting on the whole journey this morning at Al Anon, I decided I'd check with Mary and see how she thought I did on managing stress and generally being a pleasant person to travel with for a couple of weeks. Bear in mind that we hadn't been on the road like this since our honeymoon. She said I did OK.

Right now I'm continuing to decompress and prioritize things. I am for the moment largely taking a break from the rate race of Duolingo competition. Part of me wants to quickly ramp back up on Ukrainian and push myself to the top of the Diamond League, but I know that's kind of silly, especially since most of you are probably sitting there thinking: "what the dickens is he even talking about?" Which is a perfectly reasonable question and really not even worth answering. The one thing I am not letting go of, it goes without saying, is the Grouse. I have a long-term track record over here that must be maintained, for obvious reasons.

But if vacation was ok for me, it did mostly kind of suck for Mary. We will have to go on another one soon.