Day in the Life

Ready for another day in the life post? I do these infrequently enough that even once I’ve decided that “today is the day,” I find myself forgetting, and then remembering, and then forgetting again (hence why there aren’t any photos after about 8:00). But it’s fun to be able to look back at past days later on. Here’s what my day looked like last Wednesday, November 5!

6:30 My alarm goes off at the same time Jose is about to shake my shoulder to tell me he’s leaving. He supports a 7:00 videocon with some of his Russian counterparts nearly every Wednesday.

6:39 After snoozing, my alarm goes off again. Guess it’s time to get up for real, eh? I head into the bathroom, brush my teeth, put in my contacts, and hop in the shower.

6:54 What to wear, what to wear?

6:59 It’s time to get Emma up…and also dial in to a telecon. I hate having to do that, and it doesn’t happen too often — which is good because it’s basically impossible to really listen to what’s being discussed. (Jose is the lead for his meeting, so his 7:00 obligation takes priority over mine.)

7:17 Emma supervises while I make coffee.

7:24 We’re off to work and daycare!

Stoplight selfie!

7:50 After dropping Emma off, it only takes 2 minutes to get to my building and head inside.

8:01 I’m at my desk, and my computer has finally finished booting up. I’m still dialed in to the telecon and finally able to fully listen. The good news is that it’s not something I needed to actively participate in — or I obviously would have had to figure out another way to deal with the entire morning. But I’m kicking myself for not being able to get the status I needed. At least I can listen to the last half hour.

8:28 I have a meeting at 8:30, but my Outlook reminder fails to pop to the front. I realize it’s flashing behind another window with 2 minutes to spare…and it will take me nearly 5 minutes to walk down the street and across to the conference room. Argh!

8:56 I was only a couple minutes late, which wasn’t a big deal. Our monthly tagup with the manager of another division (one that we interact with a lot) is over, and I chat with coworkers for a couple minutes before heading back to my own desk.

9:05 Walking back to my building (and enjoying some scenic construction work).

9:36 Our performance year at work runs from May through April, which means November is midterm discussion time. I have an appointment with my branch chief at 10:00 to go over all the things I’ve done in the last 6 months, and what’s on my plate for the next six. I type up some thoughts on job task proposals to discuss with her. With my rotations ending, I need some new tasks or I fear I’m not going to have much to do come January.

9:54 I totally barge into the discussion going on next to me. It’s two guys investigating the HVAC system in our building, which has been on the fritz for a year. (Yes. A YEAR.) It’s always cold — to the point that several of us have bought personal space heaters that we keep at our desks.

11:17 I’m done talking to my branch chief. We talked for a good long while, both about my current roles and about what’s to come. I’m trying to figure out what my next step is, and although I don’t have any clear direction yet, I hope to soon.

11:50 Time to go grab some lunch! I’m about to drive over to Bullritos across the street, but then decide to try ordering online from Salata instead. It’s a fairly new restaurant that’s also across the street, but I’ve only been there once and the line was long and slow.

11:54 My salad won’t be ready for pickup for 15 minutes, so I stop by to talk to one of my division’s administrative assistants about my travel for an upcoming trip to Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. I give her all the info she needs to book my flights and hotel.

12:07 I’m off to pick up my salad.

12:16 Ordering online was totally the right call — the line is super long, but I’m able to waltz right in and out with my to-go order. I smell fries cooking at Five Guys next door. They smell really good.

Driving in the main entrance of JSC

12:28 I’m back at my desk, chomping on salad and dealing with email.

12:45 My 15-minute warning for an afternoon meeting pops up, and I still have a ton of salad left to eat. It’s a 10-12 minute walk across site to the building in question, so I make the executive decision to be a little late in order to finish my lunch.

12:56 I head towards Building 4S. This is a weekly control board that I usually attend, and they often start a couple minutes late. (I’d say most meetings start a couple minutes late…just kind of the way things go around here.) I listen to this week’s episode of the Elise Gets Crafty podcast while I walk.

1:07 As I walk into the conference room, I can tell they’ve just started so no big deal to not have been there right at 1:00. Today we’ll be talking about several issues, including impacts to the ISS over the next several months due to the cargo lost on the Orb-3 flight last week.

2:26 The meeting continues, but while we’re between topics, I take a peek at the daycare video to see Emma in her weekly dance class. I’m not sure how well a 2-year-old can really dance but whatever, it’s adorable. (She’s on the right side of the frame.)

2:48 This meeting sometimes runs 3-4 hours, but today it was on the short side and we’re done! I stay in the conference room for a few minutes helping a coworker prepare for some reviews coming up next week, and coordinating who will need to support what. He’s new to our preflight review process and just needs some help making sure all the right boxes get checked.

Elevator selfie

3:09 I’m ready to walk all the way back across site to my building…and of course it is now raining. I have my umbrella, but ugh.

3:33 After standing around waiting (in vain) for 10 minutes for the rain to slack off, I finally just go for it. I’m able to cut through three different buildings on my way, which fortunately keeps the soaking to a minimum — and I’m also lucky that I picked good shoes today, booties that don’t let my feet get wet.

3:58 I wrap up an email that I promised someone a month ago — it contains feedback for the people I worked with on my rotation over the summer. It’s a bit nerve-wracking to send non-anonymous feedback to people who are at a higher level than me! But I feel very good about our working relationship and since they requested it, I trust that it will be well received. (It’s not really BAD feedback anyway.)

4:05 Time for happy hour! I haven’t gone to a happy hour in months so I’m excited!

4:19 I arrive at Tommy’s, a local place that I think I’ve been to once before…but probably 10 years ago. It’s nice! I sit down with Becca and Helen, order a lemon drop martini, and we chat about lives and complain about things that are bugging us.

5:16 Happy hour is over for me, since daycare closes at 5:30.

5:28 I squeak into daycare just in time, no thanks to the rain-induced traffic that turned my 5 minute drive into 10+ minutes. Emma and her teacher are walking out of the room towards the lobby when I start to walk back, and Emma comes running across the playroom for a hug. Daycare pickup is one of the best parts of the day!

5:54 Annnd we are home. As soon as we pull in the driveway, Emma starts talking about lollipops. The girl is OBSESSED with lollipops right now. Thanks Halloween.

6:00 I acquiesce and give her a dum dum while Jose (who was already home) and I talk.

6:30 Emma and I are sitting at the counter watching videos on my iPhone. They are all videos of her — and it is crazy to be reminded of how much she’s grown.

6:43 Jose starts cooking dinner. Tonight we’re having turkey burgers. Emma and I head to her room to change her diaper, and then play blocks for a few minutes.

6:58 I sit down in the dining room-slash-sewing room to spend a few minutes working on coasters for a Starbucks mug & coaster swap.

7:09 Dinner is served!

7:42 I start washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen while Jose and Emma head off to the bath. I don’t really like how often she ends up having to go straight from dinner to bath to bed, but that’s just how it goes these days. When we walk in the door from work, the last thing either Jose or I want to do is start cooking. We usually relax for a half hour first, and then cook, which means dinner is never ready any earlier than 7:00ish.

7:51 I’m done with the dishes, and can hear Emma wailing in the bathtub for reasons unknown. Whatever it is, I know Jose can handle it so I make a conscious decision to leave them be. I go change into running clothes.

7:57 I can hear that bath is over and the wailing has finally stopped.

8:00 I sit down to sew another coaster. (Several people have asked me how I find time to sew. Well, this is how: I sew in whatever chunks I can get, even if it’s only 5 minutes.)

8:10 I brush Emma’s teeth, she tells Jose good night, and we head into her room. We read two books, then sing songs. Lately she always requests Ring Around the Rosie, followed by Let It Go (which she just calls “Frozen”), followed by Shake It Off. Yes, the Taylor Swift song. Finally, I sing You Are My Sunshine as she climbs into bed.

8:25 I finish the coaster I started earlier.

8:35 I head out the door for a run. It’s dark and wet from the rain earlier, but I just wasn’t in the mood for the treadmill. This is a rare nighttime outdoor run, and I plan to stick close to home.

8:55 I run through sprinklers. Because, you know, the ground needed more water after all the rain we had earlier in the afternoon.

9:18 I’m back from my run, and excited to have discovered that the loop around my section of the neighborhood — made possible only recently when they finally connected two roads — is just over 1 mile, so running loops doesn’t feel annoyingly repetitive at all! Also, Jose fell asleep on the couch while I was gone.

9:31 I’m cooling down, but remember I still need to write my blog entry for tomorrow about the bag I made for Emma’s Mary Poppins costume.

9:39 The bag photos are processed, and it’s time to do a quick write-up.

10:11 Time to hit the showers, literally.

10:32 I’m showered, teeth brushed, contacts out, pajamas on. Jose is still asleep on the couch, so I gently shake his shoulder to tell him I’m getting in bed and he should too. I climb under the covers and read for a bit. I’m currently working on The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It’s for book club, and while I’m totally not going to finish it in time for the get-together, I’ll finish it soon enough.

10:55 Jose finally comes in.

11:05 Lights out! Good night!