This week only has 168 hours

January 12, 2024

As the title suggests, this week has been over-full. Thus, a short entry today.

The schedule would not have been quite so bad except for the weather forecast.

I have made commitments on a couple of what we now call side hustles, and which we used to call moonlighting. These are jobs that are not one’s day job, but something extra to fill the time and to collect a little money.

In the context of being retired, the terminology hardly makes sense, but let’s go with it.

I have at least three active side hustles in play now. One is this blog; another is a related computer-intensive endeavor; the other involves muscles and sweat.

Having started the week with a customary immersion in the digital world, I was suddenly caught up with the sweaty work when customers placed unanticipated orders.

Don’t these people know I have a schedule?

Actually, they don’t. And it’s not that they don’t care. They are simply not in a position to help.

So… to the place where I do the sweat.

It is an unheated shed, which is better than real outdoors, but wintertime temperatures can be daunting. The weather forecast for this weekend puts highs in the single digits.

Therefore, I spent a couple of days working the sweat thing while temps remained in the lower 40s. Much more pleasanter than waiting for a nasty weekend.

And I do like the work, even though it has crowded out some other priorities.

It puts me in mind of what that old boy Solomon said about 3500 years ago, words to the effect: Enjoy your toil, for it is a gift from God. (Ecclesiastes 5:19)

The U.S. labor force participation rate, by the way, has historically been around 66%. It is a measure of how many adults who can work, actually work.

The participation rate bottomed out at 60% during COVID, and has recovered only to 63% recently.

By my back-of-the-envelope scratching, I think that means about 8 million of our fellow Americans have chosen to NOT enjoy work, which is the previously noted gift from God.

Jus’ sayin’.

Enjoy your weekend. If you are in the colder climes, you might want to stay inside.

But go to church Sunday morning, just to see who else shows up. The forecast here is 5 degrees. Bragging rights!

Curt