sometimes, you just have to take a vacation with your family

At 2:18 last Thursday afternoon, I ftp'd all of my book's files to the printer, including the cover for the paperback, and the dust jacket for the hardback¹ It took 15 minutes to complete the transfer, which I watched the entire time, not because I was worried it wouldn't go through, but because I was so excited to watch it inch closer and closer to 100%. When it was done, I smiled, did a little jump, closed up my MacBook, shoved it into my backpack . . . and then ran out to the driveway where my wife and kids and dogs were waiting in the car.

They were waiting in the car because, my friends, I gave myself permission to take a full-on, non-working, no-internet, cell-phone-is-off-and-nobody-can-bug-me vacation for the first time in years. In fact, it's been so long since I did this, I can't remember the last time we did this. Five years, at least.
 
It was real, and it was spectacular.

Now that we're home, I have 2003 unread items in Bloglines, and 994 unread messages in Thunderbird (I had 1502 before the spam filter went to work. Sweet.)

There are many tales to be told, but before I can do that, I have some serious catching up to do. My Tuesdays are always hectic, but I think tomorrow will be positively hellish.

However, if a hellish Tuesday is all it costs for five uninterrupted days with my awesome family, I'll pay it off every chance I get, and hope that nobody notices how I'm totally getting the better end of this deal.

¹That's right, completists! My devilishly circuitous plan to sell you two books is one quarter complete . . . all I have left to do now is get Calculon's ears! Muwahahaha! (Actually, we just had more room to put stuff on the back of the hardback. This will all make sense when I show you the cover designs. And how about this parenthetical in a footnote? Pretty snazzy², eh?)

²How much do you love the word "snazzy?" And how about footnoting a footnote? Pretty neat-o³, isn't it?

³Don't worry, we're not going to keep doing this for each swell-but-out-of-date slang word for "spiffy" I use in this post. In fact, now we're done. Man, it's awesome to have a vacation and come home rested and feeling a little silly.