4:30 am: Wake up. Wait. Why the hell am I up? Sigh. This happens occasionally and always inexplicably. Damnit. OK, I decide, I’ll surface the web for a while. I grab my phone and follow my morning ritual of checking Facebook’s Memories app. Damn, I really am predictable. I scroll through and I notice that I tend to post the same things about the same time every year. And here I thought I was maturing…
7:00 am: Wake up (again). Opposite problem now. I’m up too late. This only leaves me 30 minutes to get ready for the day and get the boys out the door. I hurry through my morning hygiene rituals, find an outfit, notice it’s wrinkled, curse, and then find another. I finally head downstairs to greet my boys (8 and 11) at 7:35 am. This puts us five minutes behind, which doesn’t sound like much but can be crucial when dealing with morning traffic.
7:38: Pull out of the driveway with the boys. Damn, damn, damn. I already know what’s going to happen by looking at the clock. It’s only a 15 minute car ride from the house to school, but as I predicted, the extra time out of the house put us in the path of school buses and leisurely drivers. My 11 year old, who started middle school this year, politely asks if we can get to school sooner because he needs the extra minutes to get to his locker then to his first class. He’s right. Damn.
7:55am: Pull out of the school drop off let and make my way to Speedway gas station. I pour myself a (too) tall cup of dark coffee and trade pleasantries with the police officers and staff inside.
8:00am: Pull into the lot of my office building, walk inside, say hello to the receptionist and make my way to my office. I review my schedule for the day and realize
that I have three hours to get a document together for my 11:00 am meeting on campus. I spend the next three hours completing the document, responding to the usual Monday morning emails, and listening to sports radio on my Amazon Echo. The Colts, surprisingly, won yesterday so there’s good news to discuss and dissect. Here’s to hoping for another miracle this Sunday.
10:53am: Pull into a parking space in front of the Ball State University Administration building. One of my organization’s “fans” setup a meeting between me and a key Ball State administrator. No deals will be made today, but if things go right it will be the start of a (hopefully) mutually beneficial relationship between my organization and her department. I scoop up what little change I have in my car and feed it to the meter. It gets me 24 minutes and the meeting is scheduled for an hour. I walk away confident that there will be a ticket on my window when I return.
11:03am: The meeting goes well. I always appreciate people who like to take some time building rapport before jumping directly to business. I had checked out the administrator’s LinkedIn profile before our meeting and noticed a few possible connections between her work history and mine. We spend time trading pleasantries and learning we have a few things in common both personally and professionally. Over a course of an hour the conversation gradually evolves from a professional fact finding session to a healthy discussion on employee engagement and people development. We get past the awkward formalities and start connecting on the things that matter to our work. I leave with the hope that we got started on the right foot.
12:05pm: Return to my car and miraculously discover that I do not have a parking ticket! For anyone who knows anything about Ball State parking services, this is a little like winning a minor amount on a scratch off lottery ticket. I count myself fortunate and call my wife to see if she wanted to celebrate the day’s event’s over lunch. Unfortunately she’s busy so I make my own arrangements.
12:15pm: Pull into the parking lot of Payless grocery store. They have a terrific, and reasonably priced, salad bar. I run into someone I’ve been trading emails with for the last few weeks and we take the time to make a little progress on our project and exchange a polite laugh or too. Things are continuing to look bright. I load my salad up with an assortment of items and almost $8 later I’m out the door and on my way back to the office.
12:45pm: Get back into my office and spend the next several hours working through my task list. I never get quite as much as done as I plan.
3:00pm: I met one of my direct reports to talk about upcoming projects. I love working with her. She’s smart, motivated, and good hearted. She also always needs to spend at least 15 minutes every week sharing a lot of details about her family. I’m not always up for listening but I know it’s important to her and it’s a small price to pay to maintain our very healthy relationship.
4:00pm: Start what is supposed to be a 15 minute phone call with potential clients. They have problems that I can’t solve within the time, or budget, they have available. They ask me to put together what I can do considering the limitations, along with my ideal course of action. It was a good conversation by I’m not convinced it will pan out.
4:54pm: I leave the office, later than I wanted, to pick my youngest son up from school. He has football practice at 5:30 and I need to get him home, changed into his football equipment, and to the filed at 5:30.
5:22pm: We pull into the driveway of our home. At this point my son is sitting in the front seat in his underwear with no shoes on, as I need him fully ready to change for football. He gets out of the car, half naked, grabs his equipment out of the garage, hops back into the car and proceeds to illegally and (yes I know) unsafely put on his football equipment as we head to the field.
5:28pm: We make it to the field with 2 minutes to spare. Hazzah! I feel like a successful father, until I realize we forget his helmet. I drop him off, run home, get his helmet, and return home.
5:50pm: I spend the next hour making dinner for myself and the family. My wife is with my oldest son at his middle school soccer game. There are 30 kids on the team which includes 6th, 7th, and 8th graders which means my son rarely plays. So my wife is sitting in 90 degree heat to watch other people’s kids play soccer. I feel like I got the better deal.
7:30pm: I pick my youngest son up from football and get home to meet my wife in time for her to drop our oldest son off at home. She then takes off for her weekly women’s group meeting, leaving me with two hungry children. I serve them my finest frozen pizza. While I text a buddy and invite him over for Monday Night Football. My friend says he’ll be over a little late
8:00pm: Take a phone call from a member of the County Council to talk about the proposal to move the Delaware County jail. I have concerns. I have concerns over the plan. I have concerns about the lack of public involvement and I have concerns about the lack of government transparency. We have a long, but polite conversation, and finish on the topic of neighborhood development as a tool for local economic development. Meanwhile my buddy shows up and sits down to watch the Bears play the Seahawks.
8:30pm: Finish my phone conversation and then pour a full glass of bourbon for me and my buddy. We’re both football fans, but not really Bears or Seahawk fans, so we keep a casual eye on the game while talking about life, work, and our neighborhood association. We’re on the association board together so there’s always topics to discuss. We continue drinking, laughing, and watching the Bears play surprisingly well.
11:00 pm: My buddy calls it a night before the official end of the game. We’re both a little tipsy. He leaves and I finish watching. It’s been a long day and I’m tired.
11:30pm: I crawl into bed with my wife and 8 year old son. I’d normally move him but I’m tired and I don’t think it’s wise to try to carry him after I’ve had three bourbons. Plus, I’m tired.