RRC Archives

paid time off / unemployment

As a graduate student at UK, I typically was able to climb outside one weekday every week. It was easy to get up early and work, or stay up late working after getting home. Its amazing what you can get done when you are motivated to get out climbing. Now as a professor, that rarely happens. Then again, I guess I will have three months off this summer. Maybe I will get some climbing in then.

Pig: I work 2 very flexible jobs but I am very lucky. I will be rematriculating in the fall and I have been very fortunate to have several wise oracle-like people advise me on a health care career path that will be the best combination of career satisfaction and quality of life (time to climb). No job is worth a lifetime of limited or no climbing. Temporary interruptions, are of course, ok. It's funny, I grew up in the country dying to get to a big city; now I would be incredibly happy to live somewhere like Stanton or Beattyville that is cheap and near rock.

I certainly don't consider myself a weekday climber, but every once and a while I take one of the many vacation days I've amassed over the years. Of course I can only do that now that the kids are older (16&18), work is under control (which is basically a 50 hour week, 10 hour days from door to door) and the weather cooperates. It's taken years to get to the point where I can say, "hey, the weather looks good and I'm thinking of climbing on tuesday" and have both the employer and the spouse reply with a "go for it."

It's not always easy to get the stars to align, but when they do, I'm not sure there's much sweeter. Put's a smile on my face.

Until about a year ago I owned a consulting business and climbed during the week 1-2 days a week. Now, I work from home and take vacation days when the weather looks good and I can get a babysitter.

You won't need a babysitter much longer.

full-time student - for 1 more year. then no more week-day climbing. unless it's a school holiday, or winter break, or spring break, or summer break, or an occasionally "dr's appointment"

Michelle has flex time and I have 4 weeks of vacation time. I can get 13 extra half days of climbing in a year with only 1 week of vacation.

SCIN wrote:...can get 13 extra half days of climbing in a year with only 1 week of vacation.

Brilliant. Man, I would definitely be taking this route if I lived closer to the gorge.

Louisville is only an extra hour, but it makes a difference.

Saxman wrote: It's funny, I grew up in the country dying to get to a big city; now I would be incredibly happy to live somewhere like Stanton or Beattyville that is cheap and near rock.

I'm with you on that, I grew up in far west KY and always wanted to go somewhere with stuff to do. Now i'm 2 hours away from good rock, when back home there were climbing areas in So Ill, west ky, and TN, all just 45min-1hour away from my house.