If you live in Texas, you’ll agree with this statement about the last two days – it was fucking cold.

I don’t mean ‘Oh no it’s 60 degrees here and we’re not able to wear flip flops all day long,’ I mean ‘It’s 14 degrees and I can’t go outside without losing all but the basic function of my brain’ cold.

But you know what? I think we took it well.

It iced quite a bit here in San Antonio, which caused a lot of bridges (and basically every business in town) to shut down for a day, but it was a nice little vacation. Kelsey and I shacked up inside, wrapped ourselves in some blankets, and…well, she worked. I ‘worked’, but she actually had to work from home. I worked on finding a way to download the 2 free PS+ games for January without buying a PS+ membership.

Doesn’t that suck? Technology is great and all, but we don’t even get snow days anymore. Snow and ice? Just use your laptop to keep you warm. Hurricane? Sure. Your VPN can be used as a flotation device.  Alien invasion? You better bring your laptop with you when you get abducted onto the mothership.

It’s almost as if we can’t get away from work. Every technological advancement we’ve made in the last 20 years hasn’t been about making work easier, it’s just been about making it easier to work all the time.

Which I don’t think is right. I know a lot of people live to work, stay at work for hours and hours after closing time, and don’t ever take breaks to get away from it all, but guys, you need to step away. You need time away from it. Every day. Not just a vacation once a year. You need to get up from your desk and clear your head.

I go out for a walk every hour and a half. That does quite a few things for me. 1) It gets me moving, gets my blood flowing. 2) It gets my eyes away from this damn computer screen. And 3) It lets me see all the cool shit that happens outside. I’ve seen like, three decapitated birds out on the sidewalk in front of our building. Isn’t that hardcore? One time there was what I can only assume was a drug dealer or a prostitute yelling a man who was walking around the parking lot screaming ‘GIMMIE MY MONEY, JIMMY!’ You know, weird shit happens in the world sometimes.

I know some people wear this as a badge of honor – “I worked until 9:00pm last night.” – and sure, it might be if you do it once or twice a year, but it’s really not, man. If you do it every single day, it starts to lose it’s ‘cool’ factor and just becomes sad. You have no life. You have no one and nothing but your work. That’s the textbook definition of a toxic work environment.

So take a minute and go outside. Get away from your screens and just take some deep breaths. Smell the smells. See the sights.

Just not for the next couple of days. It’s too fucking cold.