A Day in the Life

The radio always turns on at five. PBS. This morning, the program is in Spanish. Turn it off and go turn on the coffee pot and the morning TV news.

Take my alternative healing formula. It tastes awful. I wash my mouth out several times. It will be a full hour before I can have any food. Or coffee.

I dress and otherwise prepare myself for the day. (I shower at night; the wife showers mornings). Then unlock the gate. Punky the dog is with me through much of this. She appears to be developing arthritis. Have to do something about that.

Then to the computer, while the wife gets ready for her day. About the time she is leaving, I am preparing breakfast. Ezekial 4:9 cereal, with raw honey, walnuts and flax seeds, ground in the blender, dumped on top. In a bowl, with organic 2% milk. Vitamin tablet, zinc, coral calcium, magnesium, glucosomine/chondroiten, extra vitamins e and c. Garlic gel. Fish oil gel. Cod liver oil gel. Acidophelus. After making sure the dog has plenty of water, I leave out. It is only 6:30, but, we have no street light to let us out of the neighborhood. Plus, leaving early lets me avoid school buses.

At the office, I go online a few minutes, then sit on the couch, legs propped up, dozing, until my co-workers arrive. N, the junior man, arrives first. "Mr Ed, I - I drive in to park; I run into the fence." Don't worry, I assure him. Accidents will happen.

"You come with me fix it?"

Wo. His accelerator stuck on the floorboard somehow. He rammed through the fence and smashed into a tree. The bumper crumpled back, against a tire, headlight smashed out, both air bags deployed. It's a four cylinder Ranger.

We begin clearing away the debris. Then I pause. "I better take a photo for A," I tell him. "She is too good a boss and person to not let her know when something like this happens."

D, the lead man arrives, and we have the fence as good as new in an hour. A does not want to pursue the matter when I inform her, and we let it drop.

I install a screen door.

D has gone to Home Depot and returns with some outdoor carpet. We spend the rest of my work day cutting and fitting it in the area around the mailboxes and office entrance.

Home by 12:15, I open a tin of sardines, drain off the water and add a sardine, and give that part to Punky. Mix the sardines with garlic, onion and a hardboiled egg. Eat it with Ritz crackers and drink Seagrams ginger ale.

Then to the computer, to write and also check out a2k. An email informs me my order for some books stalled and the company refunded my Paypal money. I go to the site and again order the same books.

Weariness overtakes me, and I sit in the recliner, watching some game show , until I doze. The wife wakes me at about 2:15. After she has a bit of down time, we agree to go to the grocery store today, since the Thanksgiving day parade will take place during our normal shopping time, tomorrow. I take my 3:30 dose of alternative healing formula.

Lost my cell phone in the store. Had to go back and pick it up at the courtesy booth.

Fed Punky.

More computer time.

We will finish the day by going some place to eat, then I will watch some DVDs my brother gave me, while the missus plays and visits on Pogo. I will take my third dose of alternative healing formula. It has to be taken three hous after my last food. I expect bed time will be about midnight.

This is long. Hope it's not too dull.

430 AM RP's alarm rings and I ask him to snooze it, nudge him, he hits snooze. This goes on for three ten-minute increments until my own alarm goes off at 5, which is the signal that yes, it's time really get up, no more excuses. The station is on Xmas music 24/7 but I'm too lazy to change it as that radio is more complicated than a 747's controls. I smack it to turn it off, telling Nat King Cole to shaddap.

I get up and turn on the PC. While it's warming up, I grab weights and work out. During intervals, e. g. I finish a set, I move the PC along, by opening a program or signing into it. Let's talk about Tuesday. That was an abs day. I then pull on resistance bands for a while. All of that done, I do my ablutions (it isn't a weigh-in day; those are Mondays).

Dressed and clean, I go on A2K. I check for anything new on the Help Desk that's come in overnight. I check for anything any of the other Mods have asked about and anything Robert needs for me to do or express an opinion about. There are days when nothing is under this category, other days there's lots.

I also check email, including a bunch of notes from a friend I'm working on a camp reunion with. I decide to read her stuff later. I go to my two diet websites and enter my workout info and figure out what I'm going to eat all day. The sites have slightly different calorie information so I split the difference.

630 AM I go downstairs. I toss out half of the newspapers and go into the kitchen. That night's dinner will be made in the slow cooker. All of the ingredients were put in the previous evening so all I need to do is hit a button, which I do. RP praises me as I joke about having slaved over a hot stove. We smooch and I leave (he leaves later), taking my purse and my backpack.

I jog about halfway down the block (it's a long block) and then switch to walking as I just don't have the endurance yet. There's a Spanish guy with his young son (maybe 5 or 6 years old), they are waiting for a school bus which stops at the same place as my bus. I also see the dry cleaning guy. He says hi. He's got a very nice dog but the dog is inside. It's freezing outside. I don't blame the dog. The girl who wants to be friends but is really ditzy shows up barely before the bus leaves and says hi. I don't sit with her but I do ask her if she's okay as she's a little out of breath from running.

The bus ride takes us on the Mass. Pike and takes maybe 20 minutes at this hour. During rush hour it can be an hour or two or more. But a 640 AM bus (or the 650 if I'm unlucky) is never more than a 30 minute ride.

I get out downtown and walk past an outdoor florist run by a woman who's always got her hair in some sort of interesting bun. Then I walk past a deli. It's nothing special to look at but it smells amazing. They are cooking something with tomatoes. Since it's maybe 710 AM they are making something that takes time. It might be lasagna. I don't eat there, I just enjoy the aroma.

I take a turn and go past where there have been homeless people hanging out, but it's too cold for them so I just hustle along. There's an outside electric sign that says it's 29 degrees. That seems about right. I pass an old burial ground and get to my office.

I get in and let in a woman with the big book cart (I work for a publisher). I walk through most of the office to get to my cube. It's 730 AM.

I grab tea and settle in to starting up the day's first data load. I can do other things while that happens so it's imperative that I start. I kick it off and write down what I'm doing. Then I read email. There are user security issues and I answer them. Sometimes there are Help Desk tickets (yes, I do Help Desk both for A2K and for work), but there aren't any on that day. The guy who sits in the next cube gets in at about 830. He calls me JJ and asks me how the battle goes. We exchange pleasantries. Nothing too weird is going on and no specific development is needed.

I continue loading data and answering email. Between all of that I also go onto A2K and Facebook, and read and answer personal email. I order something from Amazon, check the bank balance and read CNN. Data continues loading all day long. I periodically check it and back it out if it doesn't work, which happens at least once per day. During a particularly slow time I trot over to a room with books you can take for free. Nothing strikes my fancy (these are a lot of loss leaders) but the art book might be nice, except it's an artist I've never heard of. I put it in my stash and will decide on it later.

At about noon I write to the data validators and tell them what's already available. They inevitably write back or call and tell me that they can't get to everything and could I please stop being so fast. Then my boss's boss swings by and tells me how thrilled he is that I'm going so fast. Guess who I listen to?

I eat lunch and usually by now the guy from Chicago calls. There's zero reason for him to call me but he does so anyway. Partly he's trying to give good customer service (he works for a vendor) but part is because the dude is lonely and perhaps a little lovesick. He mainly just annoys me but I am (mostly) polite. I find something to ask him about, we resolve it and he gets off the phone. Yes!

200 PM. I draft a report of what I've loaded for the day. I call the chief data validator and start asking him when/if he and his folks will be done with their end of things. He assures me they're working on it. I finish my report and send it, and also update a spreadsheet on the server which shows my progress. My boss comes over and says hi and asks me how it's going and if I'm on schedule. She's pleased that I'm ahead but concerned that validation can't keep up. She assures me they're working on getting me a laptop.

300 PM. I'm supposed to leave but validation isn't done, and I can't send the data to Oracle until it's all validated. It's an all or nothing proposition so I wait. I get either a call or an email, and either everything is okay or something needs to be backed out. Once everything that's left is good, I send the data to Oracle and send out one last email saying I've done just that. I tell the guy next to me that I'm out of both servers, I clear the cache and leave. Sometimes this is 330, but this Tuesday it was 500 PM.

I take the bus about 3/4 of the way home and walk the rest of the way. The house smells terrific. I turn off the slow cooker, taste dinner and head upstairs. I shower and then get online for a last look-see. Now I answer about a half a dozen emails about the camp reunion. My parents call and I chat with them, too.

830 PM or so (sometimes earlier). RP gets home and we have dinner.

900 PM bed.

I'll respond to people's lovely posts in a bit.

My day continued:

Next client....things STILL chaotic...new kid...very stressed and distressed and AAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNGGGGGGGRRRRRRYYYYYY!

I crawl exhausted out of room to get cleaning materials and take out Milo and coffee cups. H grabs me and wants me to sign files...."sure, when I have finished this"...thinking nice thoughts to stop my irritation showing...."I have three messages for you"...thank you, can you please email me them, and I will attend to them when I have finished doing this..."Can you tell me what I ought to do about these rooms? Two people wanted the same one."...sure, when I have finished doing this.....I clean room which takes ages....

I attend to signing the files (which now, for crissake, have pink stick-it notes saying "sign here", as do all the others....what the?????)....and explain in great detail about room booking etiquette...ie first come, first served, unless there is a compelling reason why one person needs the room more than the other and there CAN be compelling reasons)...I explain what compelling reasons are...and that having a tanty isn't a compelling reason, generally...though it won't stop us having them (some rooms are much more suitable for some kids, and some people work from frameworks that tell them that the child must always have the same room..)...H ventilates about how stressed people are and how they are always interrupting her to ask things...I explain that this is very frustrating, but it is part of the job, and when she knows what she is doing it will all get easier.

I scoot back across the road.....and get out of the lift at our floor, to find myself erupting from the lift into the midst of Africa!!

What appears to be an indeterminate number of simply enormous and stunningly colourfully outfitted African adults are all around me, as well as numerous variably sized and extraordinarily energetic African children, all bouncing off the walls.

Our new-that-day other new receptionist has a baby in her arms, and is attempting to amuse and quieten the bouncing children.

One of my colleagues is earnestly explaining something to the adults, who are listening intently as the children boil around them.

Then, one of our Registrars, who is possibly the Smallest Doctor in the World, and the palest and blondest, emerges with another adult, and with a toddler on her hip.

The toddler's legs nearly reach the ground....

Our tiny doctor tells the children it is time to leave now, and she will take them to where their taxis are.

The children immediately gather round her, engrossed, nearly hiding her from sight in the process, as she seriously tells them that this is a HOSPITAL....for CHILDREN....and who is in hospitals for Children? SICK children they yell triumphantly!!! And what do sick children need to help them get better? Medicine, yell the children.....yes, and what else? They need REST says the smallest doctor in the world. And what do they need to rest? QUIET yell the children...yes,,,so what do we need to be when we walk through the hospital? QUIET say the children.....yes...QUIET AS MICE..says TWSD......who can be the quietest mouse of all? ME scream the children......TWSD holds her finger to her lips.......me whisper the children....


And, as innumerable mouse-like children and, as it turns out, only four resplendent adults, file into the lift with their tiny leader, all the children are tip-toeing with their fingers to their lips, and all the adults are trying not to laugh.

Woke up, hesitated about putting on my running socks and tennis shoes, or just wear my jogging pants and sweatshirt over my pajamas. Decided for the latter, because it was "too cold". Means no exercise today.
Drove my daughter to school. Went back to bed. Slept.

My wife wakes up. We cuddle. She says it's cold, until her bladder forces her to get up... and come back to bed.
I sleep a little more. Then we wake up and prepare breakfast (ham & eggs). Read the paper... and go back to bed. It's cold.
Wife decides she must go to the gym, even if it's so cold.
I also dress (won't take a shower, it's cold), wash the dishes, change the turtles' tank's water and send Beavis, Butthead and Titface to their aquatic recess.
I go to the internet, check mails, read online papers.

Go to the paper.
I preside the 3:00 meeting. Things flow normally.
I go to have luncheon with the edition underdirector and the deputy information chief. Paella. I still have trouble chewing (I was recently operated in the gums).
Back to work. 6:00 meeting. We have a front page (Mexican officials in the traffickers payroll, Obama's appointments, problems about pilot's certifications, a public vehicle crash with 10 wounded, a Diego Rivera exhibition -found out he had Jewish heritage!-, the end of a teachers strike in Guerrero state).
I write the mini-editorial: about rats, in Hamelin and in the Mexican security institutions. Read some notes. Check other papers, national and international. Write a post on my blog. Go to a2k. Check how the front page is going. Write this post. Prepare to go home.

Hey!! That was great hearing about your front page decisions!! More, please!!!

I'd love to have your schedule....sparrow's fart has no appeal for me, but I am happy to work late.

I hadn't thought of Mexico City as getting really cold???

So...what do you DO if anything is shaking?

I didn't know you drew!!! Got some drawings for us?

LOG CABIN????????

What's a tweaker?

Good luck with the goals!

Toblerone for breakfast!@!!!


So...you're a cook?

Neither did I, farmer. I'm impressed. And intrigued about your drawings.

Very interesting, learning these new things about people after years online.

Excellent thread, Deb.

What is your actual position? I am not used to this pattern of work. How many kids are you working with?

Sounds tough but interesting.

You shoot the cat every day?

(Must go through a lot of cats!!)


Hey...I am not allowed to post this for 17 minutes. A hamster has told me I may not flood a thread.


I WAS WATERING IT FOR CRISSAKE!!!

Do you enjoy all that data entry (sounds like you set up something and it enters itself?) What's Oracle?

I see you enjoy the stuff that happens on your walks/commutes in, as I do!!!

Region works weird hours!

So do you!!!

Who is Ezekiel?

All you early risers terrify me!!!

No wonder some of you go through fences and hit trees.

You mainly go out to eat dinner?

I have always been an early riser. Could never understand spending one's time on Earth asleep.

We go out to dinner on Fridays. Just a way of doing something together, after going our own way mostly all week long.

Ezekial 4:9 is "The original 100% flourless sprouted whole grain cereal." On the box, the Bible is quoted: "Take also unto thee wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and spelt and put them in one vessel and make bread of it." - Ezekial 4:9
I notice it also contains almonds and sea salt, and is organic.

Cold for us. Not REALLY cold.
High 30's, low 40's. About 3° to 6° centigrade.
85%- 90% humidity.
Doesn't get much worse in December and January, so practically no houses have heating of any kind.

Yes, we do work odd hours. But for me, it's 4 days of 9 hours so Fridays are half days. Plus once I have the laptop and have been there for 6 months (which happens in early January), I'll be able to work at home one day/week. It'll be Tuesdays.

Data loading is exceptionally dull, and the real excitement comes from things breaking. Which they do. A lot. Hence all the calls from the Chicago guy, who I swear must have me listed on speed dial as The Future Second Mrs. ___. Ai yi yi.

But the database won't have any data in it unless it gets loaded. By me. It's complex because this is reseller data (companies like Amazon!) so it's in a bunch of different formats. My validator friends put it all in the right format but there's so much complication that sometimes things are forgotten. Or the resellers change their methods and don't tell anyone. Or Mr. Chicago Dude changes something and it isn't tested. Or the guy who sits next to me changes something and x, y and z aren't accounted for.

I am loading 2008 and 2007 data, and there is a possibility of going back to 2006. 15 or so resellers, times 52 weeks, and each load can take a good 5 minutes (some take a lot longer while others can get done at the same time, so 5 mins is probably a decent enough average) means 3900 hours, or over 480 8-hour work days. Hence there's a lot of catch-up being played. Plus a million permutations of this one worked, that one didn't, we're missing this data, this thing has to be gotten from the reseller, oops they forgot to add blah blah blah, the validators messed up, I grabbed the wrong file, etc.

Mucho complexity, but inherently pretty dull. It's being moved into a more automated realm but that will take a while, and backing out isn't going to be automated so there will continue to be plenty for me to do.

Oracle is the database software. I do what I do and it's vetted and, when the day ends, whatever has passed a bunch of checks is sent off, and then the following business day the users can see the information and use it, mainly to write reports about sales.

As a book publisher, we also get tie-ins to movies (companion guides and the like) and sometimes authors come over and sign their works but it's been a few weeks since anyone came to Boston (they're more likely to go to the NY office). Hence getting a book signed can sometimes, whee!,be a part of a semi-typical day at the office.

PS I also enjoy the commute. It's a supreme opportunity for people-watching. In the reverse, I see tourists all the time, plus tour guides in period costume, often on cel phones. There's just something about seeing a Samuel Adams impersonator talking on a Nokia.

Yes. For two years I had a job with a commute of over one hour each way. I figure I've made up for that mistake by now.

Jes...your job would have me giggling insanely like a hyena and throwing myself in front of moving tour buses within two days, tops!!!

Yep - our wee school (49 kids, 3 more in Jan) is considered too small and unimportant to throw money at by the 'oh so wonderful government' < > so we are hoping to get funding for a LOG CABIN as a classroom. How lovely is that a? We're also hoping to pilot a wind-turbine as we are very high up in a VERRA BREEZY area which should then supply plenty electricity for the rural community there. Solar too... but that could be a bit of a stretch where we live!

It's a plan... we just have to get the right people on board to make it happen. Fingers crossed.

Cool!