Let’s begin with the usual President’s Day business. Eight years ago, I wrote this blog post that recognized my top 10 favorite U.S. Presidents. As someone who used to obsess over presidents, it is mildly surprising that it took me until 2017 to finally write such a post. Anyway, read the post and let me know if we share an affinity for any of our past commander-in-chiefs. Oh yeah, it is a completely non-partisan list.

Alright, let’s shift to new President’s Day business: As an employee of Eastern Washington University, I get today off! When I worked at both Washington State University and Coastal Carolina University, we had to report to work on this day. The institutions decided to substitute President’s Day for a day off during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Going back even earlier in my career, I did get President’s Day “off” when I was at the University of Montana but it didn’t mean much because I worked in intercollegiate athletics and would usually report to work anyway.

Thanks to Eastern Washington University’s holiday schedule, I get today off.

Thus, it has been roughly 16 years—or my entire professional career—since I had President’s Day off.

I wish it didn’t take this long. Call me crazy, but I prefer a Monday off in February versus a state-granted day off in the middle of the Christmas season. The truth is that most universities officially or unofficially (“wink wink”) transition to reduced operations between Christmas and New Year’s Day. This makes it easy for employees to easily (and gladly) use their annual leave to fill the holiday week gap without fear of falling behind or being the only one absent from the office.

Taking a day off in mid-February is a much-appreciated luxury I am going to savor. Without President’s Day, it is a marathon grind between MLK Day and Memorial Day without a state holiday. That’s a long time!

Going to sleep last night with the comforting feeling that I had today off was nice. As much as I love Monday mornings in February (#sarcasm), I am making no qualms about taking it easy today. Thank you, Eastern Washington University! Don’t Blink.