JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE
Every so often I like to document a typical day's activities, just to record for my future review what kinds of things preoccupied my time and thoughts at different points in my life. Today was a particularly fun, busy, and varied day, so why not record a running diary?
7:30am -- Wake up, 90 minutes after my two alarms went off. Though I try to get to get up at 6am or even 5am (I love getting a jump on the day), some days my body doth protesteth. Today it needed the extra hour and a half.
8:30am -- Finish my private time with God. Sometimes my prayer and Bible times are good, sometimes they're boring. But it's nice I'm in the habit of meeting with God, that there are less days that lack of sleep and poor planning squeeze this time and leave me heading into the day feeling rushed and naked.
9:00am -- Hit the showers after a few sets of pushups and situps, which I try to do two or three times a week (running on the other days, with one or two days per week of no exercise thrown in).
9:30am -- Head out the door, having showered, put on my clothes, ate breakfast, and read the paper. Usually I make lunch, but today I have a lunch appointment. Five minutes and three-and-a-half blocks later, I arrive at my office.
10:00am -- Catch up on emails and phone calls. Dial for dollars (fundraiser next week) and helpers (assembling an advisory committee for my young entrepreneurs). Get my lesson plan ready for this afternoon's class. Check in with staff members to make sure everyone's OK -- we've got a lot going on with our after-school youth program, and several of my staffers are feeling under the weather and under the gun.
11:30am -- Take the subway downtown to pick up my tux for my friend's wedding this weekend.
12:00pm -- Try on the tux -- wrong size pants! Luckily, replacements are available. I phone the groom to let him know where I am; he tells me to meet him at 69th Street Station.
12:30pm -- Emerge from the station and locate his car; we drive out to Paoli for one last counseling session, which his pastor wanted to have with him and the bride AND the best man (me) and maid of honor.
1:15pm -- Arrive in Paoli; treated to a sumptuous Kenyan feast.
2:00pm -- Abbreviated counseling session, where the pastor reinforces our (me, the maid of honor, and all of the bride and groom's close Christian friends) responsibility to support the new couple.
2:30pm -- Hit the road back to the office.
3:15pm -- Arrive to multitudes of youth already signed in and milling about. I quickly check phone and email, and make final preparations for class.
4:00pm -- Class today is actually a work session, where my ten young entrepreneurs (I teach the advanced class; there will be forty others in the regular class) are working on goal-setting sheets and one-page summaries of their businesses. There is some instruction and some announcements, but mostly work time.
5:00pm -- Class ends, and more milling around. Some students keep working, others count down the minutes until 5:30pm, when the "no games" policy lapses and they get their 30 minutes of arcade time before the lab closes.
5:30pm -- Two kids, after being talked to twice about horsing around, continue to goof off. I kick them out for the day.
6:00pm -- The last students are signed out, and I debrief the day and organization-wide issues with my staff. One of my staffers is juggling two interviews and a parent information session; two others are working on presentations for tomorrow's staff retreat.
6:45pm -- I hit the subway again for North Philadelphia, where Jonathan Kozol is speaking on the Temple campus.
7:15pm -- I arrive in North Philadelphia, and walk a few blocks to Mitten Hall, where 200+ people are already assembled and someone is introducing Mr. Kozol. He speaks passionately and soberly for the next hour.
8:15pm -- I stand with everyone else to applaud, and while Q&A begins, I head for the street and jump back on the subway. I've been on the subway a total of about 90 minutes today, just enough to catch up on last week's Economist.
8:45pm -- I get back in cell phone range just in time for my wife to call me and ask if I'm anywhere near home -- she's been circling our house looking for parking, and wonders if I could take the car and park it for her. I tell her I'm five minutes away.
9:00pm -- After heading back into the office to pick up my stuff -- and saying hi to a staffer of mine who is still there, burning the candle at both ends -- I dash home. But my wife has already parked the car and is quickly getting into her "bum around the house" clothes. I do the same.
9:30pm -- I've cooked us some dinner -- steak fajitas -- and we catch up on the day's events, complain about our work situations, and pay half attention to a Friends rerun she's downloaded. I sort through mail and the rest of today's paper.
11:00pm -- Kiss my wife goodnight, quick check on the baseball game, start blogging.
Every so often I like to document a typical day's activities, just to record for my future review what kinds of things preoccupied my time and thoughts at different points in my life. Today was a particularly fun, busy, and varied day, so why not record a running diary?
7:30am -- Wake up, 90 minutes after my two alarms went off. Though I try to get to get up at 6am or even 5am (I love getting a jump on the day), some days my body doth protesteth. Today it needed the extra hour and a half.
8:30am -- Finish my private time with God. Sometimes my prayer and Bible times are good, sometimes they're boring. But it's nice I'm in the habit of meeting with God, that there are less days that lack of sleep and poor planning squeeze this time and leave me heading into the day feeling rushed and naked.
9:00am -- Hit the showers after a few sets of pushups and situps, which I try to do two or three times a week (running on the other days, with one or two days per week of no exercise thrown in).
9:30am -- Head out the door, having showered, put on my clothes, ate breakfast, and read the paper. Usually I make lunch, but today I have a lunch appointment. Five minutes and three-and-a-half blocks later, I arrive at my office.
10:00am -- Catch up on emails and phone calls. Dial for dollars (fundraiser next week) and helpers (assembling an advisory committee for my young entrepreneurs). Get my lesson plan ready for this afternoon's class. Check in with staff members to make sure everyone's OK -- we've got a lot going on with our after-school youth program, and several of my staffers are feeling under the weather and under the gun.
11:30am -- Take the subway downtown to pick up my tux for my friend's wedding this weekend.
12:00pm -- Try on the tux -- wrong size pants! Luckily, replacements are available. I phone the groom to let him know where I am; he tells me to meet him at 69th Street Station.
12:30pm -- Emerge from the station and locate his car; we drive out to Paoli for one last counseling session, which his pastor wanted to have with him and the bride AND the best man (me) and maid of honor.
1:15pm -- Arrive in Paoli; treated to a sumptuous Kenyan feast.
2:00pm -- Abbreviated counseling session, where the pastor reinforces our (me, the maid of honor, and all of the bride and groom's close Christian friends) responsibility to support the new couple.
2:30pm -- Hit the road back to the office.
3:15pm -- Arrive to multitudes of youth already signed in and milling about. I quickly check phone and email, and make final preparations for class.
4:00pm -- Class today is actually a work session, where my ten young entrepreneurs (I teach the advanced class; there will be forty others in the regular class) are working on goal-setting sheets and one-page summaries of their businesses. There is some instruction and some announcements, but mostly work time.
5:00pm -- Class ends, and more milling around. Some students keep working, others count down the minutes until 5:30pm, when the "no games" policy lapses and they get their 30 minutes of arcade time before the lab closes.
5:30pm -- Two kids, after being talked to twice about horsing around, continue to goof off. I kick them out for the day.
6:00pm -- The last students are signed out, and I debrief the day and organization-wide issues with my staff. One of my staffers is juggling two interviews and a parent information session; two others are working on presentations for tomorrow's staff retreat.
6:45pm -- I hit the subway again for North Philadelphia, where Jonathan Kozol is speaking on the Temple campus.
7:15pm -- I arrive in North Philadelphia, and walk a few blocks to Mitten Hall, where 200+ people are already assembled and someone is introducing Mr. Kozol. He speaks passionately and soberly for the next hour.
8:15pm -- I stand with everyone else to applaud, and while Q&A begins, I head for the street and jump back on the subway. I've been on the subway a total of about 90 minutes today, just enough to catch up on last week's Economist.
8:45pm -- I get back in cell phone range just in time for my wife to call me and ask if I'm anywhere near home -- she's been circling our house looking for parking, and wonders if I could take the car and park it for her. I tell her I'm five minutes away.
9:00pm -- After heading back into the office to pick up my stuff -- and saying hi to a staffer of mine who is still there, burning the candle at both ends -- I dash home. But my wife has already parked the car and is quickly getting into her "bum around the house" clothes. I do the same.
9:30pm -- I've cooked us some dinner -- steak fajitas -- and we catch up on the day's events, complain about our work situations, and pay half attention to a Friends rerun she's downloaded. I sort through mail and the rest of today's paper.
11:00pm -- Kiss my wife goodnight, quick check on the baseball game, start blogging.
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