You know how it is.

Sometimes when people share their plans for summer travel, it sounds like a fun trip. Other times, not so much.

But this morning, while listening to the woman who has been giving me haircuts since Tom Foley was Speaker of the House, I heard about a vacation trip for which I'm ready to sign up.

She and her family are going down to scope out the big trees in northern California. They will do lots of other stuff, too. But the trees are what interested me. I've always wanted to see them.

Have you?

What did you think? 

Not everyone works Monday through Friday.

And not everyone has a desk job.

But for some of those who do, the arrival of the weekend marks a welcome respite from a mildly frustrating seasonal scenario.

That is, trying to reach people via email and getting the out-of-office bounce-back. Over and over. 

Of course, you could argue that's better than being clueless about why you aren't hearing back from anyone.

Do you know people who are so competitive about being busy that they probably spend most of their vacation talking about how they don't really have time to be taking a vacation?  

But when your vacations are noted as part of the public record, so to speak, friendly strangers seem a bit disappointed to hear that, no, you didn't go anywhere.  

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When you ask someone about his or her summer vacation, you are…

A) Not really listening to the answer. B) Sincerely hoping to hear that the person had a happy, restorative time away from work. C) Ready to compete by jumping in and explaining why YOUR vacation was so utterly superior in every way. D) Just making small talk. E) Not really sure how you will handle it if the individual gets miffed and says “Didn't you follow my tweets?” F) Good for about two minutes of listening but after that you sort of drift off and start wondering whatever happened to that one woman who used to be on Q6. G) Hoping against hope that the person will not describe some dumb yahoo pursuit and suggest that “Ya gotta love it” when you know perfectly well that, no, you don't gotta. H) Other.