The $64,000 Question

As I've been out and about lately (and for some reason our social schedule has been unusually full), everyone asks me the same question: So, you're back from Italy! What's next for you? Are you looking for a job?

Enrico and my friend Joan have both suggested I should "kick back" for the rest of the summer, which I think begs the question: Kick back from what? My month in an Italian villa? Yeah, that was really rough.

But I see their point. Summer in Seattle is spectacular, so if the events of my life have left me with no commitments right now, why push it? People don't tend to hire consultants (or even employees) in August. It's a slow time. If something fabulous happens to come along, I can always take it.

The key for me will be to fill my time appropriately, by which I mean things that are (a) socially productive, (b) really really fun, (c) self-improving, or (d) contributing to a richer quality of life for myself and those I care about. So, there is the afore-mentioned plan to train for the half-marathon (self-improvement). I've spent a couple of mornings lending a second hand to my friend Joan and her newborn twins (definitely contributing to her quality of life, I have no doubt). But yesterday? I took care of the laundry and the paper in the house. That's it. An entire day, spent laundering things and and sifting through piles of paper. How can those tasks take an entire day? I just don't get it.