Planning a trip away from the office, for any length of time, takes a bit of finagling.

One must….

1. Put out all the fires which have magically invaded all aspects of your week prior to departure.
2. The more fires you put out, the more fires arrive which make you contemplate taking up drinking.
3. You try to never leave during the first week of the month – it is an unwritten rule in IT. If you are absent the first week of the month you wish everyone luck and then turn your phone off (<– this is wishful thinking. I have been hunted down because I didn’t answer my phone. IT people don’t mess around!)
4. Drag your work laptop with you. You will inevitably need it.
5. Never forget to set your “Out of Office”. People don’t pay attention to it but, you can at least say you set it to CYA.
6. Try to finish up all the projects you can – you will fail due to all the fires but, you still try.
7. Never look back on the day you leave. If you do look back, someone is going to stop you with a question, or need help, or want you to look at something, or….you will never make it out alive!
8. Run! Run and never go back! At least until you miss the madness and the crazy pull of the IT world sucks you back in. Or, you remember how many emails will be waiting for you when you get back and you surrender to the overwhelming thought of, “Why didn’t I take up drinking?”

Yours Faithfully,
R3b3l G33k