Yesterday I had started composing a post discussing the downturn in the solar conditions from those 28 days ago. I learned just a few hours ago I won’t be able to put much of an effort into CQWW WPX this weekend. Call it an oversight on my part, but also a lack of communication on the part of “other” individuals.

Instead of having “BIC” time for WPX and working towards my 1 million point goal, I will be “BIC” at work, moving trains instead of moving a key, sending CW. Depending on my desire level, I will possibly have 10-15 hours to participate. Not sure I will take advantage of it or not. There is a good chance I will put in 2 hours at the start of WPX tomorrow, but don’t believe it will extend much into the night time and the low bands.

So much for 3 months of planning. What actually happened centers around my accrued “off time” at work, which is vacation time. For the past 2 years I have been working on rebuilding my bank, but with contesting and family responsibilities I have not been able to get more than 15-20 hours in the bank before using 8 hours a pop to take a day off from work.

Unfortunately I took a day off in April and another in May (for 7QP) but I forgot to subtract those 16 hours from my total off time. So while I thought I had enough in the bank to cover 16 hours (2 days off) for WPX, the truth was I only had a bit over 10 hours. This means I need to surrender one or both of the days. I decided to work both days and not put in sort of effort.

That’s life! I am suffering from a bit of a let down right now, especially with all the preparation I have put in to achieve my goals. Nonetheless, this means I start refurbishing my station this week, as opposed to next week. It should give me enough time to add some cabinets and extended the raised platform I currently sit at.