Furlough Fridays

So the 6% pay decrease in exchange for every Friday off at noon is actually much more worth it than it looks on paper. Life is priceless, so they say, therefore half of a day extra to play with my girls is infinitely more valuable than 6% of my paycheck. Yes, we are blessed that we are not scrounging pennies for survival and such a loss can be absorbed (thanks to yoga money), but even if we were I think in the back of my mind there would still be a warmness and gratitude for the blessing in disguise. Because our jobs consume so much of our time, so much of our life is missed. It's nice to be forced to experience a little more of it than the past would have allowed. Today was the first beach day for the girls and I had the opportunity to be there. ... it was a missed opportunity however because after driving 45 minutes from my office to the beach there was not a single parking spot available (keep in mind said 6% decrees means I enjoy life, but am also a cheap bastard who won't pay $15 to park at Bolsa Chica for an hour). So I drove around for another 30 minutes or so (and "drive" means I sat in one spot way in the back of the queued cars waiting for a spot) before I decided to just pack it in. At least I had the opportunity to join my girls at the beach. ... that's more than most people had today, right? Plus I got to see pictures. So it was like I WAS there, with out the sunburn.