Choose the Work Schedule Best for You …

So you are trained, or schooled, or simply ready for work. Now it’s time to find a workplace you can enjoy. That will involve location, hours, and pay. There are all kinds of work options. Know what you want and choose what’s best for you. Most of my teaching career was Monday through Friday with normal work hours. Summers I worked 4 ten-hour days and discovered I really enjoyed the 3-day weekend. Then I became a public school administrator with increased hours. No complaints from me. All was work I chose, did my best at, and can look back upon as productive and enjoyable.

If I was looking for employment now … just to be clear … I am not, there are other options I might consider. Men I knew were teaching English in Japan and another was teaching in China for a year. Each took the summertime to travel before moving onto another country to teach English. Often I hear individuals in the world of teaching taking time to teach and travel this way.

While I was traveling in Morocco, Africa, I met two women who were travel nurses. When in Salida, Colorado, I spent time with a travel medical technician. What I found fascinating was their choice of location and hours for their employment. They seemed to enjoy the option to work 3 months, then travel for a month before their next employment. They could choose where in the world they wished to work. Often they were filling positions difficult for a hospital to fill, thus evening hours were often available. Pay could be higher if they could endure the night work. Some do since they know it is only for 3 months. Others choose normal hours and maybe at a location they really only want to be in for 3 months. It’s their choice as they accomplish what they want in a year’s time.

The medical profession seems to be the number one profession for “travel” work. But individuals bicycling around the world or travelers needing work while on the road also find work for a period of time. Seasonal work at an agricultural location, such as to pick fruit, or an industrial place to help ramp up and be ready for holiday time. It seems, in my mind, it must take a particular personality to combine travel with the varying work locations, especially since your next paycheck is what allows you to eat, sleep and travel on.

Kudos to those of you who are not following the traditional work week or schedule. May you find the combination that works best for you to accomplish your goals. I wish you well.

Bird Photography Takes Work!

Taking time off the tennis and pickleball courts to learn about birds and photography has been my escape during the pandemic. It allows me to be outdoors, easily physically distanced from others, and on my own timeline. During the hot summer southwest USA days, one needs to be up with the birds to capture them in the trees or on bushes. Those locations are most natural for a photo.

I do not have hummingbird feeders at my home so I decided to go where I know there are some feeders. My challenge has been to capture a photo of a bird flying toward or away from a feeder AND to have a sharp image! Ah yes, therein lies the real challenge that I must continue to work on!

But when one sees 3 different hummingbirds in one day with one being a new bird for my life list, I do not care if it is not the sharpest photo in town!

Two hummingbirds: rufous on left and magnificent (rivoli’s) on right.
Female rufous hummingbird for my life list!

Obviously I need to work on this project some more. Feeders are nice to have but my goal still remains to capture each bird in flight. I was watching a couple of broad-billed hummingbirds flitting around a bush also and was so excited when one landed for a moment. Whew! a photo in focus!

Broad-billed hummingbird.