I Painted My House Before I went On Vacation

I’m going on vacation tomorrow. Today at work, I painted my house. Well, I didn’t use any paint brushes. I used email.

Have you ever bought a house? I’ve both bought existing houses and during one crazy period, we built a custom home. Oh wait, I did that twice. When you move into a new house, you notice things that you want to fix or change. Some of them you change or fix, some you keep meaning to, but never really get around it.

Sometimes those items are just annoying. I once lived in a house with no baseboards for several months. My house has a faucet that leaks. . .sometimes. Other items are more disturbing. My current house needs a new driveway and my front steps are slowly, very slowly sinking into the street.

But, a funny thing happens with you sell a house. All of a sudden, you fix everything. My baseboard-less house got its baseboards when we were preparing to sell it.

You paint. You fix the leaky faucet. You repair the sagging door. Your house is never in as good a condition as the day you list it for sale.

And that’s what I did today. Except it was with my email inbox. I closed out several open tickets. I paired my inbox down from 135 items to just under 30. I created an out of office message. I lined up people to back me up. But, mostly, I paired down inbox. I sent out status updates. I cleaned the windows.

The ironiy about moving, is why don’t we fix the house up so nicely prior to moving? Why don’t we plant flowers in the front garden?

Why don’t I keep my inbox paired down all the time. Why don’t I send status out?

Maybe I will. Just as soon as I fix that leaky faucet.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.

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