Aaron's Status

5:55 am

Death Valley

We’re all going to Death Valley in two weeks. This will be my third visit, but the last time I was there was over ten years ago so my already poor memory struggles to recall the details that far back.

I took some pictures on past trips and I’m really looking forward to finding new and different ways of looking at the same bizarre and awesome surroundings. Definitely leaning into the black and white lately and I think the Valley will lend itself to that.

We are traveling with my best friend and his family and of course we’re flying into Vegas because there’s really no other way to do it. We’re going to stay one day there to celebrate his daughter’s 16th birthday; how cool to be in Vegas for your 16th birthday rather than a fucking trampoline park or whatever the kids do these days?!

We’ve also made the decision to rent off-road Jeeps for one day so we can trek out to the Racetrack, which is that playa where the rocks seem to move on their own (spoiler alert: they don’t move on their own). It should be exciting to get into the more rugged terrain that few casual tourists get to see.

In preparation we’ve procured high-power radios so that we can talk between our separate cars and coordinate our explorations. It’s kind of incredible how much radio you can get for $35 these days. Sure, these aren’t mil-spec like my Yaesu, but they’re allegedly twice as powerful at 10 watts and support all of the amateur radio bells and whistles that we don’t even need.

Coming up

Today I have another podcast recording session, and at work I have a get-to-know-you chat with a new guy and just a load of work to do on this huge project I’ve been working on for most of the year. I’ve gotten to a point where even two short meetings feels like way too much and can we please not?

The wife is doing a community climbing competition at our gym tonight so it’ll just be “the boys” this evening and I’m honestly looking forward to a low-key night. Last night I went climbing as we usually do and met up with a bunch of our other climbing friends and sent some fun stuff. I climbed until I couldn’t climb anymore, so mission accomplished.

I felt really good about my back and knee, though this morning my back is feeling a little sore and it definitely needs rest and stretching.

Capacity

Thinking about these meetings and obligations today, it makes me realize that what I have decided I can “put up with” has changed a lot in the last couple of years. Over at $PREVIOUS_JOB I was in meetings most of the day on most days; I had a team of 40, six or seven direct reports, and I would routinely do skip-levels because I think it’s important.

Those days could feel draining but I did it for a long time. Years. Now I wake up and I see two 30-minute meetings on my calendar and I’m like, Oh to hell with this! But here’s the thing…

It isn’t like I have reduced my capacity, it isn’t like I’m less able to take meetings and be collaborative and productive in them, and it isn’t like I’ve forgotten how to do it. It’s that I’ve recalibrated my internal metric for what makes me feel sane and happy.

The truth is, those meeting-filled days were awful. I left work feeling exhausted, irritable, and frustrated. Just because I could do it doesn’t mean that I ought to have done it. Now, I value the sustainability of my lifestyle over the productivity of it.

Food for thought.