An ordinary day
Disclaimer: not an exciting post, but it's what I'm thinking about.
I start my day groping for the alarm clock. It's some odd number of minutes before 5:00. My wife is convinced that setting the clock seven or eight minutes ahead or behind gets her up in time. For me, it's too early to do any math - the clock is going off and it's time to get up. At this point I survey my wife and child (mental note: I'm a lucky guy). If the child is fussing, then it is time for a pre-breakfast (mental note: wash hands) diaper change. Otherwise it's off to the kitchen for a breakfast of two eggs, two slices of canadian bacon, and a slice of whole grain bread with some spicy bean dip on it and a glass of milk.
If I'm lucky, I manage to make it downstairs without stepping on or otherwise tripping over our fat cat, who is up and mewling. The fat cat never misses a meal. Or misses the chance that we might relent and feed him early. Or misses that the skinny cat didn't finish his portion.
Now that I've successfully finished my breakfast, it is upstairs for a shower and a quick change. My work attire is usually some variation on sweater and jeans during the winter and polo and jeans in the summer. Our company has a policy where the back office folk can buy a "Jeans Pass" (aka donate $20 to a charity) to wear jeans during the week - best $20 I spend every month.
If I'm lucky it's now about 5:30 and it's time to leave the house. I drive 30 minutes with little to no traffic to the office located near the Missouri Wine Country. It sounds scenic, but it is really just remote. As I'm getting in in the morning, it is just turning light in the sky. The building is much too bright at that hour, but like a fly to the bulb, I'm drawn in.
The early part of my morning generally consists of wading through my email and browsing my websites. By the time everyone else gets here, I've run out of procrastination material and have to launch into my day. 10:00 is snack time which consists of an apple and a cheese stick. 11:00-11:30 is lunch time which I've either brought with me or fetch from the cafeteria. Either way I'm generally eating at my monitor.
By the time 3:00 rolls around, I'm getting done with my day. I shut down my computer and grab my bag and coat on the way out the door. I don't strictly need to have a bag with me, but it is a good place to leave my pager and ID badge so that I don't forget them each day. Besides the bag is a good place to stow print outs that I'll read at work or print out at work for home.
Walking out of the door, I pop on my sunglasses and hop in my car. I'll tune into a sports radio station for some meaningless chatter on my way to pick up my son. I'll call my wife to let her know that I've left and that she should expect us soon. I stop by the day care and go in to pick up Oliver. I sign in and walk down the corridor to the infant room. I'm not entirely comfortable with the day care center so I try and sneak up to see how things are when I'm not around (I realize that this is a fallacy since they know that I'm usually arriving about now but ...). I pack him into his car seat and take him out to the car.
I call my wife and let her know that we are on our way. I pull into the parking garage in front of my wife's office building and she gets in the car. Oliver and my wife get to spend some time together and I catch up on the day's events with my wife as she tops off the baby. Then Oliver and I go home and my wife goes back to work. When we get home Oliver and I have a couple of errands to do from emptying the diapers and putting away the unused bottles of breast milk from day care to checking my personal email account. For the next two hours, it's father-son time. Depending on the weather, we'll go for a walk or lie on the living room floor. Sometimes it's great and sometimes he is fussy and won't eat. Usually by the time Mommy walks in the door, both of us are glad to see her.
I may have made something for dinner by then depending on how cooperative Oliver has been or I may have to whip something up while she gets some Oliver-time. If it is a TV night, we'll watch TV. Otherwise I spend some time running or engaged in one of my many hobbies broken by calls to change diapers. By 9:00 it's time to go to sleep. Depending on how tired everyone else is that may or may not happen, so the rest of the night is a tug-o-war between familial responsibilities and the 5:00am wake-up call that doesn't get moved back. And then I sleep.
I start my day groping for the alarm clock. It's some odd number of minutes before 5:00. My wife is convinced that setting the clock seven or eight minutes ahead or behind gets her up in time. For me, it's too early to do any math - the clock is going off and it's time to get up. At this point I survey my wife and child (mental note: I'm a lucky guy). If the child is fussing, then it is time for a pre-breakfast (mental note: wash hands) diaper change. Otherwise it's off to the kitchen for a breakfast of two eggs, two slices of canadian bacon, and a slice of whole grain bread with some spicy bean dip on it and a glass of milk.
If I'm lucky, I manage to make it downstairs without stepping on or otherwise tripping over our fat cat, who is up and mewling. The fat cat never misses a meal. Or misses the chance that we might relent and feed him early. Or misses that the skinny cat didn't finish his portion.
Now that I've successfully finished my breakfast, it is upstairs for a shower and a quick change. My work attire is usually some variation on sweater and jeans during the winter and polo and jeans in the summer. Our company has a policy where the back office folk can buy a "Jeans Pass" (aka donate $20 to a charity) to wear jeans during the week - best $20 I spend every month.
If I'm lucky it's now about 5:30 and it's time to leave the house. I drive 30 minutes with little to no traffic to the office located near the Missouri Wine Country. It sounds scenic, but it is really just remote. As I'm getting in in the morning, it is just turning light in the sky. The building is much too bright at that hour, but like a fly to the bulb, I'm drawn in.
The early part of my morning generally consists of wading through my email and browsing my websites. By the time everyone else gets here, I've run out of procrastination material and have to launch into my day. 10:00 is snack time which consists of an apple and a cheese stick. 11:00-11:30 is lunch time which I've either brought with me or fetch from the cafeteria. Either way I'm generally eating at my monitor.
By the time 3:00 rolls around, I'm getting done with my day. I shut down my computer and grab my bag and coat on the way out the door. I don't strictly need to have a bag with me, but it is a good place to leave my pager and ID badge so that I don't forget them each day. Besides the bag is a good place to stow print outs that I'll read at work or print out at work for home.
Walking out of the door, I pop on my sunglasses and hop in my car. I'll tune into a sports radio station for some meaningless chatter on my way to pick up my son. I'll call my wife to let her know that I've left and that she should expect us soon. I stop by the day care and go in to pick up Oliver. I sign in and walk down the corridor to the infant room. I'm not entirely comfortable with the day care center so I try and sneak up to see how things are when I'm not around (I realize that this is a fallacy since they know that I'm usually arriving about now but ...). I pack him into his car seat and take him out to the car.
I call my wife and let her know that we are on our way. I pull into the parking garage in front of my wife's office building and she gets in the car. Oliver and my wife get to spend some time together and I catch up on the day's events with my wife as she tops off the baby. Then Oliver and I go home and my wife goes back to work. When we get home Oliver and I have a couple of errands to do from emptying the diapers and putting away the unused bottles of breast milk from day care to checking my personal email account. For the next two hours, it's father-son time. Depending on the weather, we'll go for a walk or lie on the living room floor. Sometimes it's great and sometimes he is fussy and won't eat. Usually by the time Mommy walks in the door, both of us are glad to see her.
I may have made something for dinner by then depending on how cooperative Oliver has been or I may have to whip something up while she gets some Oliver-time. If it is a TV night, we'll watch TV. Otherwise I spend some time running or engaged in one of my many hobbies broken by calls to change diapers. By 9:00 it's time to go to sleep. Depending on how tired everyone else is that may or may not happen, so the rest of the night is a tug-o-war between familial responsibilities and the 5:00am wake-up call that doesn't get moved back. And then I sleep.
posted by mypetrock at 11:25 AM
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