I’ve been on vacation since 12/18.
We haven’t gone anywhere – I’ve been basically resting and recharging (and fiddling with my new camera, a Nikon D80… thanks Maryellen!! One of my first pics is at the end of this post.)
I have to say, this is one of the best vacations I have ever taken. That’s because I promised myself “NO WORK AT ALL”. And I largely stuck to it, this blog being the only “work” I have done. Good for me.
In all honesty, that’s quite an accomplishment. For me, anyway. I’m not a workaholic or anything, but I do get stuff done, and there’s always a lot to do. For example, I took a two week vacation this summer – we spent the first week with my family at a beach house in NC’s Outer Banks. But I took my laptop, and in that beach house, banged out 5,000 words of Do the Web Write in between fun and sun (I have to confess, though – I’m not a big beach person. Neither is Maryellen.) Then, the next week at home, I banged out another 30,000.
In November, Maryellen and I took a week and a half. We spent half a week at Salem, MA, and I spent the next week editing (and writing three new chapters for) the second edition of Start and Run a Real Home Based Business.
So while I took two vacations totaling 3.5 weeks up until December (throw in two or three long weekends too… hey, a home based business does have its perks), none of it was a “real” vacation. Such is life – trust me, I’m not complaining or anything. It’s just what I do. No biggie.
But this time was different. I had a very busy year client-wise, and also managed to write a book and a half as well. Know what? I’m tired. Just mentally wiped. So I shut down for two weeks plus. No books, no client stuff, no nothing. Just X-Mas, movies, X-Box, good meals, some working out at the gym, and learning to use this camera (not easy, but very interesting.) Basically, I posted here twice (including this one). Other than that, the closest thing to work is choosing the right camera bag (harder than it sounds 🙂 )
Anyway, here’s a neat shot of a plastic snowman decoration in the front yard. This was taken about 20′ away with the 70-300mm zoom lens (I also have a 18-200mm VR I bought to use as a general walking around lens.) Of course, I hope to take some nice shots I can use in business and on the web, too (IRS, please take note of this obvious tax deduction.)
I like the colors in the pic, and the whole blurred background thing (called “Bokeh”). Yes, you pro’s out there are laughing, but this was taken in the first hour – gimme some time to learn the thing, ok?
Ok, have a nice (and safe) New Year, everyone.