By Denise Dubie
Network World, 12/24/01

When Donna Liotta needs to power down after a long, hard day at work, she gears up and gets rolling.

As director for Internet development and security at Business Consulting International, in Schaumburg, Ill., Liotta's daily tasks run the gamut from developing the company's Web sites to installing Secure Sockets Layer certificates on BCI's network to managing up to as many as 20 people on the network team. When she gets stressed out, Liotta turns to inline skating.

And we're not only talking about laps around the park track - although there are those at least once a week. Liotta recently completed a weeklong inline skating tour of Switzerland that took her from town to town, about 25 miles per day.

Liotta plans inline skating weeks like this when she knows she'll be coming off an especially stressful time. "I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes I plan my next vacation on my busiest days just so I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel," she says.

Change of scenery

Tom Brown also hits the pavement when he needs to unwind from his job as source manager at American Greetings in Cleveland. He dons running shoes and jogs during lunch with friends and co-workers, who all abide by a strict policy not to discuss work.

"It's a great de-stresser. I come back to work refreshed and ready for whatever they may throw at me," says Brown, who has been taking his lunchtime runs for eight years.

In his position, Brown handles change management, upgrades and licensing for network software used at the greeting card company's headquarters. Brown says his 30 years in IT have taught him another lesson: "Don't even turn the PC on at night." Instead, he says, do something "completely opposite from work."

In Brown's case, depending on the time of year, that means woodworking or gardening. And Brown says it's been a while since he's really been stressed to the max or on the edge of a stress breakdown.

"It's important to recognize when you're nearing your stress limits and do something before you reach them," Brown says. "Planning a break will save you from going insane."

Katherine Stroud, network administrator at Bloomington Hospital in Indiana, also plans professional and personal getaways to ensure her sanity on the job. Professionally, one thing she does to help her four-person staff relax is treat them to a lunch away - far away - from work. And sometimes they discuss work, but the change in atmosphere relieves the pressure.

"You can't get a bunch of network administrators together without them talking about IP routing on [operations support system] layers, but the mood is less formal, and often we get a lot more productive insight into our jobs," Stroud says.

After the busiest workweeks, Stroud camps with her family. She makes sure the campground is near lots of antique shops. Something about browsing through the older merchandise - simpler things in life - helps Stroud put work into perspective.

Leave work at work

Having children around can make powering down really easy, says Aaron Spencer, a network engineer at Barr Labs in Pomona, N.Y. Going home to two young daughters washes away his stress instantly, Spencer says. Regardless of the day he's had, the sheer joy his kids experience simply running around at the park brings him back to a more peaceful reality.

"It seems almost too simple, but they have so much fun and are so happy to see me that I can't help but forget the stress," he says.

Kimberly Kloskey, senior WAN data network engineer at Aurora Health Care, a healthcare provider with more than 100 sites in eastern Wisconsin, agrees that the best way for forgetting work-a-day woes is hanging out with the kids. Leaving work at work is a must for relaxing, she says.

"Knowing some user is mad at me about something doesn't always seem as large an issue when I'm playing Barbie with my daughter or catch with my son," she says.

And at work, Kloskey keeps situations for staff and co-workers light and tries to laugh about the user-support issues they face daily. She says after tense meetings she'll joke with her staff, try to make them see the positive side of a bad situation and even offer them a treat from the big candy dish she keeps fully stocked.

"We joke about how much candy we go through. We opened a new hospital last week, and we ate seven bags of candy bars in a week and a half," she says. "Hopefully all the stress of running around will make sure we stay thin!"