With all of the media coverage around Hurricane Irene (Tropical Storm Irene by the time it hit where I live in MA), it has been pretty hard to miss anything related to it. One might say it’s been too much coverage. Luckily nothing happened to me and the worst part was my lights dimmed for a few seconds yesterday. I know others are not as lucky. I know this to be true because my friend, Michael Kenwood, was not.

I’ve known Mike since my freshman year of college. We lived on the same hall. We lived together the next year, and then again after college. I was the best man at his wedding. Needless to say, we were very good friends. We both shared a lot of common interests, not the least of which was computers. I can remember when we had a Dell guy in our room it seemed every other day fixing his 286DX computer. We were always playing some sort of game (Sierra Online comes to mind – Mike had one of those Roland external sound units for good music output long before good soundcards were in fashion). He had one of the 20MB hard disk cards. Ours was always the room to be in between the food, the entertainment (my laserdisc player), the Genesis, my Amiga, his PC … we were all set. Good times.

As good as he was with computers, he ultimately went to law school at Boston University and got a law degree. One of the reasons I’m good at contracts is I read a lot of his stuff while we lived together after college while he was attending BU. I visited him a few times when he moved out to Chicago to join a law firm. He ultimately moved back home to NJ, found a great woman to marry, and had a daughter a few years ago.

He never lost his love for computers and while he still practiced law, he started doing consulting. More and more the computer stuff took over to where law became a small part of his work.

During college he also volunteered as an EMT. He recently started doing that again for the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad. I know he missed it and I was happy he was getting to do it again.

As is the way life goes, we all get busy. We didn’t see each other often, but we did talk and e-mail. He was helping me out recently on some stuff for my business. He was always been great in providing an unbiased ear and gave great advice.

Last night, I was up doing some work late (I know, shocker) and heard one one of the national news channels that a Princeton EMT worker was injured seriously. I got a knot in my stomach hoping it wasn’t my friend Mike.

Unfortunately, it was him. I just found out Mike passed away due to injuries during a rescue attempt during Hurricane Irene yesterday. Needless to say, there are no words to express really how I feel at the moment. I’ve known Mike since the age of 17. We met around this time (late August), since this is when college started. It’s been 20+ years since that first year of college – over half my life. My only solace is that he died doing something he was passionate about and died a hero trying to make a difference.

EDIT: A friend found this article which described what happened.

You always hope that a day like this would never come. I’m turning 40 later this year and when it’s someone close to you – especially someone so young – it really gives you something to chew on. I’m lucky that my parents are still around and I’ve had no major losses outside of my grandparents years ago. This is a reminder to really stop and smell the roses because it can all go in an instant.

My condolences to the whole Kenwood family, especially Mike’s mother, father, brothers, wife, and daughter. He leaves a strong legacy and was one of the best people I knew.

Rest in peace, my friend. You will be missed.

Allan and Mike at a Phillies Game in 2010

Sometimes to be at your best you need to step away for a moment. It’s been a crazy, intense year so far and the rest of the year promises to be the same with my posted schedule and other things coming which I am not quite ready to talk about yet. While it’s all good stuff and I’m looking forward to everything, I was equally looking forward to the vacation I am now flying back from (typing and posting this from the first leg of my plane trip).

I started planning this particular vacation towards the end of last summer, and before I knew it, it was here. I spent from August 12th to the 22nd in California in the Los Angeles area. I’ve been to CA a lot, and it always is entertaining to hear people talk about LA. Places liek Anaheim or Oxnard may not be far, but I wouldn’t really classify it as LA. Downtown LA itself is pretty small. Although I’m not really here to give you a blow-by-blow of my vacation. It had some great points (real kosher Mexican food! The Go-Go’s at the Greek!) and some that I wish were better (lines, waiting, and general chaos at the D23 Expo – boy did I ding them on their survey). Overall, I did have fun, though.

So if my goal is not to regale you with vacation stories or pictures, what is the purpose of this post? Well, I’ve worked at too many jobs where you accrue vacation time and have a hard time using it for one of these reasons (there could be more, insert your own or add them in the comments):

1. Your project keeps slipping and your vacation time was cancelled.
2. You are always busy and can’t find the right time to schedule a vacatio.n
3. You are only allowed to take so many days at a time.
4. You’re made to feel guilty about taking it.
5. You’re worried things will go to hell with you gone.
6. It’s a use it or lose it policy, so you do want to use it but … (see #1 – 4)

I’ve said it before, but only you are really looking out for yourself in your career. Manage it accordingly. Sometimes there does come a point where you just need a break, and it’s up to you to make it happen. Especially in companies where you have a use it or lose it policy, remember those paid days off are part of your compensation plan. You don’t want to throw away money. Use ’em! Even if your vacation isn’t going somewhere else but spending time with friends and family or even just vegging out on the couch in front of the TV, do it!

I burn the midnight oil and both ends of the candle too often. Over the course of the 10 days I did no work. Nada. I did have my laptop with me and did check some e-mail just to see what was going on, but that was only in the early morning hours before going out and doing anything. Anything work related I’m starting to tackle now and ease back into things. It’ll take me a few days to get back into the swing of things.

You may say that even checking e-mail violated my no work rule and I wouldn’t 100% disagree, but my Outlook also has my personal e-mail account configured so it’d all come in anyway.Because I forced myself to limit computer time and really only use it to get directions or look some stuff up, I actually enjoyed my vacation. Rome didn’t burn; work and scheduled meetings are still there waiting for me tomorrow AM. I feel relaxed and my batteries are recharged and ready for another round. In fact, I’m really looking forward to what’s on my plate.

Take it from me, who will freely admit to being a workaholic: carve out some time to recharge your own batteries. Sometimes what we do can be really intense and you need the break. You’ll thank yourself (and me) later.