When I quit I envisioned that I would be a couch potato for the first couple of weeks. I had at least 10 movies reserved in my Netflix instant queue. This is my fourth day already, but I have watched fewer than five hours of TV. This is even less than I normally watch when I worked.
So, what’s keeping me busy these days? Errands from my to-do list.
For example, today I woke up around 7, much earlier than the daily 8:15 alarm set on my Blackberry when I was working.
After spending some quality time with our two babies, MacGregor and Bellucci, and our two foster kitties, Bela and Victor, off I went.
Top of my to-do list was mailing the wedding gift for a friend who lives in Shanghai and whose wedding my husband and I missed due to work. Since I had to pick up from the Container Store some items I bought online, including two additional CableBoxes, I went to the post office nearby in Chelsea.
I walked to the post office, which took about 15 minutes. Then waited in line for about 20 minutes. Even though it was ten on a Thursday morning, there was a long line because only two clerks were working. First, I had to buy a Ready-To-Ship box to pack the gift. After I packed the gift and filled out the custom form, I had to wait another 5 minutes for the same clerk to be available. So, all in all, the entire shipping episode (excluding the walking time since I needed to be in the vicinity anyway) took close to 40 minutes, or 6 increments of “six minutes” if I were billing the time to a client!
Mailing was so easy when I was working at Simpson or Davis Polk. I only needed to bring the package and addressee information to work and let the mail room take care of the shipping and charge my personal account accordingly. No line, no waiting.
Just as I was missing the good old days of having back office support, I reminded myself that if I were still working, my friend probably wouldn’t see his wedding gift until Christmas!