Now that I'm temporarily unemployed, I've come to work with Kelly the past couple days. She has thusly coined this to be "Take Your Unemployed Husband To Work" week.
Aside from her ongoing "I'm the breadwinner!" taunting and "Hurry up, Eric - you're going to be late for school!" faux-mothering, it has been an enjoyable experience. I'm about a third of the way through "Atlas Shrugged", I'm almost done with my pre-Italy planning, I've caught up with some old friends, and plan to catch up with more. Heck, I've even sent a "get the ball rolling" message to my high school classmates regarding our 10 year reunion which is over a year away. (Numerous people have asked me about it over the past few months, but - yes - I'm that bored.)
What's more, I have done all of this in what has to be one of the coolest offices on the UNC campus. Kelly shares the entire 3rd floor of the recently renovated Campus Y building with one other person. Her window overlooks the main quad, the South Building, and Old Playmakers and I have my own desk with a window that overlooks Gerrard Hall and Memorial Hall. The 1st floor has a study room with huge windows, hardwood floors, and leather chairs and the basement has a small cafe that brews good coffee. For the time that I'm not in Italy and China this summer, I suspect I'll be sitting here, doing my best to stay productive.
The "going to work with someone" experience has caused me to think back to the excitement of going to work with my mom or dad when I was a kid.
Going to work with my Mom as a youngster wasn't much fun. She's always worked in a doctor's office or hospital - BORING! When I was in high school, she actually "hired" me to match medical records from her office to those kept in a 150 degree storage building 15 minutes away. Not a bad deal, except that I had to take my 8 year old brother along. The $8/hour was not worth the time I spent shuffling medical records and wrestling Evan in an God-forsaken storage room oven on Franklin Blvd.
Going to work with my Dad, on the other hand, was a rare treat. He is in the NC Air National Guard and works on a super cool military base in Charlotte. My memories of visiting his office as a child include:
- The salute from soldiers armed with M16s as we entered the front gate.
- Touring the base in a golf cart and riding it up a REALLY steep hill.
- Playing Minesweeper for the first time.
- Playing ping pong and shooting hoops in the hangar.
- Firing blanks with an M16 on Family Day.
- Sitting in the cockpit of a C130.
- Watching a C130 dump thousands of gallons of water on a runway in a demonstration of the Guard's forest fire fighting capabilities.
- Visiting the top of the air traffic control tower at Charlotte-Douglas airport.
Aside from the stench of stale coffee everywhere, a trip to Dad's office was like a trip to Disney World. Plus, he never gave me a hard time about not having a job.
Aside from her ongoing "I'm the breadwinner!" taunting and "Hurry up, Eric - you're going to be late for school!" faux-mothering, it has been an enjoyable experience. I'm about a third of the way through "Atlas Shrugged", I'm almost done with my pre-Italy planning, I've caught up with some old friends, and plan to catch up with more. Heck, I've even sent a "get the ball rolling" message to my high school classmates regarding our 10 year reunion which is over a year away. (Numerous people have asked me about it over the past few months, but - yes - I'm that bored.)
What's more, I have done all of this in what has to be one of the coolest offices on the UNC campus. Kelly shares the entire 3rd floor of the recently renovated Campus Y building with one other person. Her window overlooks the main quad, the South Building, and Old Playmakers and I have my own desk with a window that overlooks Gerrard Hall and Memorial Hall. The 1st floor has a study room with huge windows, hardwood floors, and leather chairs and the basement has a small cafe that brews good coffee. For the time that I'm not in Italy and China this summer, I suspect I'll be sitting here, doing my best to stay productive.
The "going to work with someone" experience has caused me to think back to the excitement of going to work with my mom or dad when I was a kid.
Going to work with my Mom as a youngster wasn't much fun. She's always worked in a doctor's office or hospital - BORING! When I was in high school, she actually "hired" me to match medical records from her office to those kept in a 150 degree storage building 15 minutes away. Not a bad deal, except that I had to take my 8 year old brother along. The $8/hour was not worth the time I spent shuffling medical records and wrestling Evan in an God-forsaken storage room oven on Franklin Blvd.
Going to work with my Dad, on the other hand, was a rare treat. He is in the NC Air National Guard and works on a super cool military base in Charlotte. My memories of visiting his office as a child include:
- The salute from soldiers armed with M16s as we entered the front gate.
- Touring the base in a golf cart and riding it up a REALLY steep hill.
- Playing Minesweeper for the first time.
- Playing ping pong and shooting hoops in the hangar.
- Firing blanks with an M16 on Family Day.
- Sitting in the cockpit of a C130.
- Watching a C130 dump thousands of gallons of water on a runway in a demonstration of the Guard's forest fire fighting capabilities.
- Visiting the top of the air traffic control tower at Charlotte-Douglas airport.
Aside from the stench of stale coffee everywhere, a trip to Dad's office was like a trip to Disney World. Plus, he never gave me a hard time about not having a job.