Slice-of-Life

Routine these days

From time to time, I like to check-in on what daily life is like. Yeah, it’s mundane, but it helps me remember what I was like at any given moment.

  • 5 am: Alarm Clock Goes off. Hit snooze bar.
  • 5:09am: Alarm Clock Goes off. Hit snooze bar
  • 5:18am: Alarm Clock Goes off, wakes 6 week old infant. Wife hits me. I turn off alarm clock and get up
  • 5:30->6: Wash dishes from night before, read RSS feeds on Google Reader, listen to podcasts on iPod (particular favs: “Things you missed in History class”, “FLOSS weekly”, and “Wait, wait…don’t tell me”.)
  • 6: wake-up Joey for school, walk him to the bathroom.
  • 6:15: go back to bathroom to rouse comatose Joey
  • 6:30: Shower, shave, yada yada yada
  • 7:15: Leave to take Joey to school
  • 7:45: Pick up Del for carpool
  • 8:15: Arrive at work
  • 8:30->10:30: Most productive time of the day
  • 10:30: first SCRUM standup of the day. Dysfunctional, slightly dramatic team. Lots of contempt. Good product, though.
  • 11: second SCRUM standup of the day.
  • 11:30->1: Intend to get lunch. Usually hack on code problems identified during morning standup meetings
  • 1->5: Program on my bread-and butter project. Ah, heaven!
  • 5:15: Leave for home
  • 6ish: Arrive at home, take screaming infant from wife
  • 6->6:30: Converse with wife while she prepares dinner
  • 6:30->7:30: Family dinner. Yes, we actually sit down to dinner most nights, and I LOVE IT. My wife’s an awesome cook, and I’m an awesome consumer of her cooking.
  • 7:30->8:30: Bath time for Maria, get Joey into bed. Grace usually has a feeding right around this time.
  • 8:30->10:30: Adult time, usually spent staring comatose @ television thinking we really ought to go to bed, because the baby will be up for a feeding soon.
  • 10:30->11:30: Last feeding of the ‘day’ for Grace
  • 3:30->4:30am: Give Grace her nightly bottle, if it’s my turn (Whitney and I alternate.)

So, it’s a busy, structured day almost every day. Back when I first got married, the above would’ve driven me mad. I hate/hated repetition and routine, and the daily grind got to me often. Two infants drive that sort of hubris right out of you, apparently. Nowadays, I yearn for those nights where I can get 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep.

A typical Monday

:-) Anthropologists love the mundane. They study the way people live day-to-day, the things we take for granted. So, here’s a snapshot of my typical Monday:

4:54 am: Wake up and realize it’s almost time to get up, but fall back asleep anyway, entering the depths of REM just in time for…

5am: Alarm goes off. Hit snooze bar for 9 minutes.

5:06am: Inexplicably wake-up, turn off alarm and arise from bed.

Slice of life

Ugh…what a weird, up-and-down day. I’m currently on a very strong DOWN…

- Up at 7:00 when Dad calls. He re-confirms we’re going to the Farm Machinery show in Louisville tomorrow. Up
- I have to go to work today Down
- I take a vacation day. It’s nice outside, and I can go ring shopping and relax. Up
- I realize just how dirty my apartment is Down
- I clean it up and organize Up
- I head out to the ring shop that Scott suggested. Up
- While at the ring shop, Dave calls me and tells me they’re sending him to Luxemburg tomorrow and that they need me. Down
- The ring shop only sells loose stones, and then gets them set. Up
- They’re out of princess cut diamonds Down
- As I’m pulling into the parking lot, I get a call from my beloved, and she’s very happy Up
- She thinks I bought her two dozen roses. I hadn’t. Down
- I get the work done in about an hour, calling Whitney as I leave. Up
- She’s mad and disappointed I didn’t send her flowers. I’m disappointed that I didn’t send her flowers. I make an offhand remark. Hilarity ensues. Down…WAY down.