The switch to daylight saving time has stolen a precious hour of sleep from me and the weather is pinballing between huge snowstorms and sunny, 65-degree days. In other words, it's springtime in Utah.
And if it's spring, it's time to start thinking about summer vacations.
This year, my family will take several trips while the children are out of school. The question, as always, is how to make my paid vacation days at work stretch to cover all of these trips.
Don't get me wrong — I consider paid vacation to be one of the miracles of the modern world.
I remember the first time I had a job that offered paid time off. I anxiously watched my vacation days accruing every pay period.
Then, when I took a few days off, I remember thinking, "I'm sitting here in a hotel room, but I'm getting paid as if I was at work. Cool!" The feeling was as savory and sweet as bacon mingled with maple syrup.
As I've spent more time in the work force, the magic has worn off a bit. Partially, that's due to age, experience and my ever-growing personal grumpiness. As I've added more responsibilities at work, I find that I often have to check in with the office while I'm away, which dulls the luster of vacation.
But I'm still a big fan of paid time off. The only question I have is, how do people make it last?
I've always been a "take-it-as-you-accrue-it" guy. With family in South Dakota, Iowa, Texas and California, we're traveling every year for reunions. And, since we have four children, we're traveling by that other modern marvel, the minivan, so our trips tend to take a while.
I have many friends at work who are in a different situation entirely. Some of them have taken almost no vacations over the years, accruing hundreds of hours of vacation time. Their reasons for not taking time off vary, but mostly they're related to working in a small department and feeling guilty about leaving other people with an increased workload while having fun in the sun.
I, too, have sometimes felt "vacationer's guilt." (Although I did not have even a twinge while I was in Hawaii with my wife last year. Interesting.)
But I'm also convinced that time away from work is a necessity for my mental and physical health, not to mention for fostering better connections with my immediate and extended family.
I believe those feelings are supported by research like the "Expedia.com 2009 International Vacation Deprivation Survey."
According to that survey, 34 percent of U.S. adults said they usually did not take all of the vacation days they received each year. Meanwhile, 37 percent reported regularly working more than 40 hours per week, and 24 percent said they checked work e-mail or voice mail while vacationing.
The survey also found that 34 percent of U.S. adults reported feeling better about their jobs and more productive upon returning from vacation.
Based on this survey — and my own experience — I'll be a better employee, husband and father if I take a vacation every now and then.
And as a manager, I should do a better job of encouraging the people on my team to take vacations. The short-term scheduling headaches are worth it if it means my team members are happy and have the chance to recharge their batteries once in a while.
What do you think? Are you a vacation-taker, or a paid-time-off-hoarder? Why? Do you feel emotionally and physically healthier and more motivated after a vacation, or do you stress out the whole time you're gone thinking about the work you're missing?
E-mail your comments to gkratz@desnews.com or post them online at deseretnews.com. Follow me on Twitter at gkratzdesnews.