Vacation: Relaxation with a working twist

Not a bad view from the vacation office-by-the-sea.

CARMEL HIGHLANDS — I’m reporting to you from the deck of my hotel room on the Monterey Peninsula. Call it a working vacation, one that’s a great deal more vacation than work.

We’re having a great time this week. We’ve visited Cannery Row and spent an afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We shopped at Del Monte Center, an open-air mall in Monterey, and found a new Mexican restaurant in Monterey that we both like very much. We’ve seen a couple of movies, first, “Lincoln” and then “Les Miserables.”

I recommend both to any of you who haven’t seen them, Academy Award nominations notwithstanding.

“Les Miz” was a treat. We saw it at a one-screen theater that has the best seating I’ve ever seen and a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling screen and outstanding sound to match. Think of a true IMAX theater on steroids, but without the domed screen.

We’ve read books and magazines, done a bit of sightseeing and some shopping, and spent time just relaxing, including a couple of days where we barely ventured off the hotel property.

Then there’s the work.

Since I left the office Friday night I have written a couple of news articles, this column and the crab-feed manifesto that published in Friday’s edition. I’ve edited some copy. I’ve managed my email, and had limited bursts of interaction with our vice president for information technology about the ongoing development of the software we use to produce material each day for the website and the newspaper.

At one point during one of those exchanges, I mentioned that I was here on vacation. That prompted this response: “Stop working if you’re on vacation.”

My response acknowledged the wisdom of the advice but also pointed out the fallacy. I ended with this: “It’s not so bad when I can do so from a room with an ocean view. Much more pleasant than my office view of the cash advance business.”

It’s not that I can’t let go, although my wife may disagree. It’s just that I, like so many managers in so many industries, have certain duties and responsibilities that do not go away simply because I am away. Those I take care of. The rest I leave to the team of professionals back in the newsroom, journalists who have a deep passion for what we do to serve the community. I have full confidence in each of them to take care of business while I’m away.

It’s also the journalist in me. News doesn’t take a holiday, even if journalists do. Reporters, photographers and editors at the Daily Republic know that news can happen at any time. They tackle it aggressively. If they see or hear about news after they’ve left for the day, they inform the newsroom or, if it’s big enough news, tackle it themselves. It’s what we do.

All of which allows me to write this column while gazing at the sea from the deck of our hotel room, a cold wind in my face. So cold, in fact, that I think I’ll go back inside. I know it’s freezing overnight in Fairfield, and it’s not that much warmer here.

I’m back Monday, rested and ready for what the news has in store for me, and for you.

Reach Managing Editor Glen Faison at 427-6925 or gfaison@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GlenFaison.

Glen Faison

Glen Faison joined the Daily Republic as managing editor in September 2009. He has worked as a reporter and editor for daily and weekly newspapers in the San Joaquin Valley for 20-plus years. His experience includes time as editor of the Golden Eagle, a military paper serving the Lemoore Naval Air Station. He graduated from Fresno State University with a bachelor's degree in journalism and bleeds Bulldogs red. He is an avid Washington Redskins fan, and attended the 1988 NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings at RFK Stadium. He married his wife, Jill, in 2005, and has three children: Courtni, Tyler and Hayli.

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