Summer Down, Fall Forward

Another Labor Day weekend is now a memory here at the Jersey Shore,  and the busy tourist season has officially come to a close. The boardwalks will remain open as long as the weather, along with lowered beach and parking fees, encourage business. From the reports I have read, the area shore towns did not reap the revenue they needed, post Superstorm Sandy. Whether it was from a lack of available rentals or the economy or a combination of both, I really don’t know. Local residents, like me, are glad to have the beaches devoid of crowds on one hand but, on the other, feel for the local business owners. With kids back in school and weekend activities now taking place at home, the tourist season is done.

At lot of other changes take place after Labor Day. My old boss used to use the day as a marker to when things would improve in his retail business. He would always say that sales would pick up after Labor Day when people were no longer away. You could talk about a raise after Labor Day. That would inevitably be moved to the New Year which became the spring until summer rolled around again. “See me after Labor Day.” he would say once again.  

I notice that the hummingbirds, which carried out aerial warfare over the feeder outside my office window, have in one weekend, dwindled down to a straggler or two. Do they have a built in seasonal alarm that says when you see the first yellow school bus and fly like hell to Mexico? Here at the shore, when the cold days do arrive, many locals throw a winter coat over flip flops and shorts and hope it never snows. If it does they may put on shoes. Some of my neighbors have already torn out the summer annuals and planted mums. To me a mum without a pumpkin is a fall faux pas. Wait until October. Why rush the season. Do you really want to get older faster? 

Why is September special to me today when I hated it as a school kid? The weather is fine, the surf fishing picks up and I am the only one on the beach with my feet in the wash. See the picture above with me missing. If I had not taken it I would have been the only one in it. Should the fish stop biting there is no competition for sea glass collecting. Everything, from apples and squash to corn and tomatoes, is at its peak here in the Garden State right now. Even the price of lobsters and clams goes down at the passing of Labor Day. The restaurants are not crowded and they compete for my business. There is no longer bumper to bumper traffic getting to and from the beach that forced me to use my secret route in summer. The grass is green again and I look forward to seeing the first signs of fall foliage. If you live in a temperate climate, as I do, open your window at night when you go to bed and just listen. What you hear is the music of the night, all night, and it is beautiful. To some it is just bugs making noise; but to me it is a free concert.

 Do not worry Dear. The real part of September that is special to me is our anniversary. Maybe I should have opened the last paragraph with that. Ya think? 

New Working Environment - Will It Help?

"I feel for you, Buddy",

Although I swore I would never do it again, but I just moved us. It was only from one unit in our complex to another but I am really to old to do that.

 We arrived back in New Jersey two years ago after escaping from the reptile tank that they call Pinellas County, Florida. When we got here we rented a single floor condo in a private community above the Manasquan River. The owner lived in a home near the ocean in Bay Head. When Superstorm Sandy slammed into the area, her home flooded up to the second floor. She lived, temporarily, in another home that was vacated for the winter by her sister's family. As summer approached she had to leave and we had to relinquish our place so she could live there while waiting for her home to be remodeled and raised.

This was really not a bad thing as we left a view of the dumpster where I got to watch cotton haired busy bodies taking out the trash and hanging out. Now I have a view of trees and birds and hear the sound of children playing at a nearby daycare and camp. I also have my own office and a sun porch, for warm days, where I can work out of earshot of the TV. I can shut myself in and have peace and total focus to quench my ADD and accomplish much. Or will I?

This is my second day working in my new private office. I am surrounded by unpacked boxes and the corrugated cardboard odor associated with them. It forced me to open the door and window for air. A catbird has decided to showoff its vocal repertoire directly outside my window which is melodious but distracting. My wife is on the phone and her voice, and the voice of her mother on speaker, is traveling down the hall and through the now open door. To add to my distraction the doctor prescribed new medication for me. I just realized that one of them is a water pill. See ya.

Working Through It. Should You?

Depending upon where you live, you either call in sick or call out sick. They both mean that you are not showing up for work today. People like me, who write from home, do not have that luxury. First of all who would I call?  I cannot call a client and say I am going to miss a deadline because that would be unfair. But so would turning in substandard work. So I work through it by resting frequently, taking Advil and drinking whatever homemade concoction my wife raked from the internet from Punjab. Once the piece is done I take another nap before proofreading it and correct all the inevitable errors, hoping that my watery eyes found them all. Once done, I pass out again.

Last Thursdays situation was as bit unique however. At days end on Tuesday I was alerted by a potential client that they wanted a sample work to decide if I was a match for a well paying opening that they had. They sent a format and said that it must be completed for review by 11:00 AM Thursday. I had several commitments for Wednesday but I figured I could easily write it Thursday morning, with plenty of time to proofread and tweak.  I was feeling a little rough in the chest Wednesday as I worked through getting my commitments completed. I went to bed early that night. The following morning I awoke at 5:30 feeling worse. I had developed a deep recurring cough that would leave me breathless. It was about 9 AM when I finally pulled myself together enough to write the test article. It was a constricting, non-sales, format regarding a well known public utility service provider, fact filled and technical. Five minutes before deadline I was sweating and coughing and trying desperately to proof read the piece. At 11:00 sharp I hit send. At 11:30 I was at the Ocean County Emergency and by noon was admitted to the hospital where I am writing this page. I am also being treated for pneumonia. Was it worth working though it? Probably not. It would surprise me if I wrote anywhere near my best while feeling so ravaged.

I was reminded by this experience that I had forgotten to practice what I had been taught so many times in so many tasks, writing being only one of them. You owe it to your client or employer to provide nothing but your best work. If you can't, politely bow out and hope for another opportunity. It is your integrity that will eventually define you.