Sabbatical Decisions

I wrote before that I had a sabbatical coming from Red Gate Software this year. It’s a fantastic perk, one that grants all employees 6 weeks of paid time off every five years. The time is supposed to help you grow in some way, not necessarily related to work.

I had lots of comments on my piece, and I’ve thought about it quite a bit. With my schedule at home, and other items on the agenda, I’ve decided to do the following:

1. Learn something
2. Help someone
3. Wander on my own with a project

Those broad ideas boiled down into these actual physical items.

1. Take a class at a local community college. I have an interest in woodworking and I’m looking to go through one of their summer classes. I’ve not made the time in the past, mostly because of the distance to travel to the school, but this is a good time to experiment with the idea.
2. Volunteer with a charity part time. I have a soft spot in my heard for Habitat for Humanity, and I plan to volunteer with them in both their stores, and on some local builds.
3. Make something with my hands. As I mentioned, I have an interest in woodworking, but I don’t always get the chance to work through a large project with so many other things happening at the ranch. I decided that I’ve wanted to build aflagpole, strictly for me, and that’s my project.

Now that my surgery is done and I’m on the mend, I’ll be working through each of these, setting up the details and getting ready for time off.

My sabbatical is scheduled for Jun 2-July 14, though I won’t be back right away as I will be heading to England right away for SQL Bits XII.

The blog will likely switch from data topics and SQL Server to some progress on the sabbatical so you can follow along if you like. I won’t syndicate these posts over to SQLServerCentral, as they’re not really relevant, so if you’re interested in how it’s going, subscribe here or keep checking back.