I sit here on day 9 of my self-imposed exile from the work-at-home office.

For what it’s worth, I have a laptop issued by my employer, and one issued from the proceeds of the bad decision to take a 401K loan about 6 years ago.  If I had fully understood then what I know now…..

Even still, I paid that loan off early as my enlightenment to personal finance set in, and will never do that again.

Back to the two laptops, they’re both hooked up to the same monitor set up via a docking station.  I just switch one cable between the laptops to determine which one I’m working on.

Bored yet?

Yeah, me too.

There’s something to be said for being out of office when I’m technically not really in an office to be out of.  I don’t know exactly what that something is which is to be said, however I do know there’s something.

I just don’t know what it is.

Anyway, day 9 and the last day of my annual September vacation event comes the day after I broke a ten year old streak of avoiding a youth-sports related sunburn.

There was a time in the decade that my son played baseball that I could never display the presence of mind to put some sunblock on my exposed extremities whenever I was outside at a game.  The resulting fruit of such neglect was that the sides of my face just below the ball cap and sunglasses, that one semi-circle yarmulke on the back of my head where the adjustable strap for the ball cap resides, the back of my neck, my arms below the short sleeves, and the area between the bottom of my cargo shorts and the tops of my ankle socks where my impressive calves reside all don a brilliant shade of red consistent with what used to be on that ’65 Mustang that’s parked up the street.

Yesterday I attended a football game in which my nephew was on the line as one of the few select ironmen.

It probably goes without saying that this kid has been discussed here before.  For those of you who fail to remember something I posted nine years ago about the young lad, you can read about it here.

There was another point a few years later where he insisted on a simple “yes” or “no” answer from his uncle, without all of the additional details involved.

Anyway, I won’t go into any detail about the football game, save for sharing the observation that the winning team possessed the ball the longest throughout the game, and never, ever threw the ball.

Furthermore, the casual bystander and supportive uncle in the stands who was dressed in the same garb he used to dress in at his son’s baseball games all those years ago and the same garb he uses today when working from home, managed to get burned while scoffing at Wifey’s instance on using an umbrella.

Never mind the beautiful farmer’s tan he’s curated this year through multiple patrols of the neighborhood with the old lady LabJack who’s been at his side since the lockdown started, and the newly onboarded Silver Lab. 

The sunburn showed up just above the knees where the cargo shorts usually cover, but since I was seated, they had risen a little.  The burn also showed up on the left side of my face, which by my calculations around the time of day the game took place where the winning team couldn’t even put a spiraling pigskin in the air, I was facing south.

Upon further reflection, I guess I do know what it is which can be said for being out of office when technically I’m not in office in the first place.

Put some sunblock on.