Lots going on in the background, but nothing that I was ready to post about on the blog. Mostly I was being hammered by long hours at work. I think since about the middle of summer, the amount of over-time falling into my lap was both lucrative and challenging.

It started out simply as an hour or two a day. Not every day. Just a lot of days.

Then I got a few special assignments that required me to work long double-shifts. Nothing back to back, but I started feeling as if I wasn’t catching up on getting any rest.

Run down. No time to get anything done outside of work. Oddball hours made exercise in any sort of routine manner difficult and usually the first thing on the to-do list that got bumped.

Was there any dramatic “life falling apart” types of things going on? Nope. Just tired, very very tired and finding myself having to make conscious decisions to let some things go in order to keep up with the demands of my job.

It helps that I enjoy what I do for a living. If I hated working in news, well, maybe I’d put more effort into avoiding the extra hours. As it was (maybe as it is), I didn’t mind volunteering or stepping up when he opportunity for an interesting assignment came my way.

The political conventions nearly killed me.

Sure, that’s exaggeration, but truthfully, I’ve never worked as hard as I did in Tampa and Charlotte. My reporter (Dave Bryan) and I managed to get the job done, but we were pretty beat up after it was all over.

I got some rest and went back to my regular routine of having a routine that regularly gets changed. Some days I work nightshift and some days I work day shift. Some days I work at home before going into the station.

Mostly I just work.

I needed a break. I needed a vacation. I needed to have some time where I didn’t have to “do” any of the things that I’ve been doing and as much as possible, cut myself some slack.

That was last week.

As things sometimes have a way of working themselves out, After a pretty cool start over the first weekend of my vacation, I got sick on Monday and was pretty much down for the count the rest of the week.

A lot of friends and family sent sympathy through Facebook and cell phones. Most felt it was sad that my vacation was wasted on being sick in bed.

Everyone was pretty wrong about that.

I spent my vacation doing exactly what I wanted to do.

Blissful, heavenly, nothing.

I mostly watched TV, got my level 84 Warrior finally to level 85 and read books and magazines until I was almost caught up on my reading (there’s always more to read, thank goodness).

For the first time in quite a while, I was able to relax and not do anything. That’s really all I needed.

Some people feel as if every day has to be filled with doing something. Well, I do a lot, but for me, just the act of doing something isn’t enough of a purpose. I need a clear head and I need time to think. Even if I’m simply laying in bed and staring off into space, that’s precious to me. In a life where I get to go and do and see more than most people, sometimes I want the opportunity to simply see and observe.

So, again, that was last week. This week, I’m heading back to work.

I’m rested. I’m ready. I’m looking forward to going out and covering the news.

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