Three Days in the Life

So some people are super into these types of posts & I've never done one, so I thought I'd give it a shot? I don't really have typical days, though, so I picked a three-day stretch with a bit of variety in it.

Wednesday, July 25

• 5:30am - Alarm goes off, I get up, get dressed, grab my stuff & drive to the gym near my office. This time of morning the commute only takes about 35 minutes or so, as opposed to the hour-plus it can be during rush hour. During the drive I listen to Let Your Mind Run by Deena Kastor, which (spoilers) is AMAZING and definitely worth the read/listen.
• 6:25am - Throw my crap in a locker, get after the strength work (still listening to Deena). Today I do deadlifts (2 x 15, 2 x 12 w/ 95#, don't laugh), 8 supersets of 10 wide-grip lat pulls and 10 weighted (15#) static lunges with rear foot elevated, 8 sets of 10 weighted (24#) reverse lunges off a block, and a smattering of core exercises (clamshells, supermans, one-leg marches in a bridge position, crossover crunches, transverse abs reverse crunches).
• 7:20am - Shower & get dressed
• 7:45am - Hit the Starbucks for some breakfast (don't laugh, I get the sous vide egg white bites and they are OMG THE BEST)
• 8:00am - Roll into work, check email, get started on one of my bigger projects for the week.
• 10:00am - Video call with our main partner on my SoCal math PD network project. We are hoping to have him "virtually" join our September and November math leader meetings to talk about the benefits of an innovative new math assessment we're hoping we can get our districts to jump on board with.
• 11:00am - Work on our Institutional Review Board submission for another big National Science Foundation project. Research organizations like mine have IRBs that basically make sure that all research we're doing is ethical and fair and protects the rights of research subjects, which means a big package of documents to submit to them before a research study starts. I'm leading this one and trying to get it in next week.
• 1:00pm - Grab some lunch
• 1:45pm - Work on a paper I'm writing with a colleague about a project that is wrapping up.
• 3:00pm - Drive home (more Deena!)
• 4:30pm - Dr. appointment in SF
• 5:30pm - Sneak in a quick 4 mile run (EVEN MORE Deena!)
• 6:20pm - A quick shower & into karate clothes; a quick snack of some cherries, crackers, & goat cheese, then leave to pick Don up from work & drive to Berkeley for class
• 7:15pm - Karate! We have a new student tonight so I spend most of class working with him one-on-one on some of our basic techniques.
• 9:00pm - End of class. Get cleaned up & head home.
• 9:30pm - Back in SF; stop to grab some dinner (Indian Kati rolls) & to feed our friends' cats while they are on vacation.
• 9:45pm - Home, eat dinner & watch some Daily Show, quickly check work email for anything on fire.
• 11:00pm - In bed
• 11:30pm - Lights out; I'm working from home the next day so I stay up later than usual reading.

Thursday, July 26

• 8:00am - No alarm mornings are the best! Someone is coming by today to measure our master bathroom for a vanity mirror, so Don & I are both working from home. Get up, shower, check work email, get back to work on the IRB package from yesterday.
• 10:00am - Take a break to go get coffee with Don
• 10:20am - Back to work
• 11:30am - Break for lunch
• 12:00pm - Back to work
• 1:15pm - The glass guy arrives; we take a break to chat with him about the mirror.
• 1:45pm - Back to work
• 4:00pm - Off for a 10 mile easy run in the fog with Deena!
• 6:00pm - Back home; a quick shower, & get dressed for dinner with friends; do a little more work.
• 6:45pm - Walk to BART, take BART to dinner with friends at Agave Uptown in Oakland.
• 7:20pm - Dinner. Tasty Mexican food & cocktails!
• 9:30pm - Head home
• 10:00pm - Back home; I get ready for bed while Don goes to feed our friends' cats
• 10:30pm - Lights out!

Friday, July 27

• 4:20am - I wake up afraid I've missed my alarm. Try to go back to sleep, but keep waking up thinking I've overslept.
• 5:30am - Get up, get dressed, out the door. Again it's Deena the whole way. I notice I now have less than three hours left in the book & contemplate just listening to it again from the very beginning; it's that inspiring.
• 6:20am - Throw stuff in a locker, get after today's strength work with Deena for support. Today it's squats (2 x 15, 2 x 12, 95#), 8 super sets of 10 single-leg, single-arm rows (15#) & 10 push-ups, 8 super sets of 10 wood choppers (~28#) & 1:00 planks, & a quick set of plyometrics (20 max high jumps, 10 single-leg max high jumps on each leg, & 20 max split/lunge jumps)
• 7:30am - Shower & change
• 7:45am - Starbucks for breakfast. They are out of my sous vide egg bites, nooooo! I settle for the spinach egg white feta wrap.
• 8:00am - Roll into work, check email, prepare a few things for my morning meetings
• 9:00am - Video conference to go over the IRB submission for the research project I'm leading as well as some general project management stuff
• 10:00am - Video conference #2 with a client for a private evaluation we're doing that is wrapping up
• 11:00am - Face-to-face meeting with the team for the private evaluation to debrief the call & discuss status & next steps on wrapping up the study
• 12:30pm - Grab some lunch
• 1:15pm - Back to work on a logic model I'm developing for the SoCal math network project in preparation for a call with our district leads
• 2:00pm - I'm distracted and struggling to be productive, so I head home early. Drive home, feel sad that my time with Deena is drawing to an end.
• 2:45pm - Arrive home; continue working on the logic model; some back & forth email about a new contract in the SoCal math PD network.
• 4:00pm - Change & off for 8 easy miles
• 5:30pm - Quick shower; do a little more work before Don gets home
• 7:00pm - Get changed for dinner; tonight we are eating at a fantastic Italian place a few blocks away (I swear we don't normally eat out every single night)
• 7:30pm - Dinner
• 9:30pm - Back home to relax with a cocktail & some TV. I try making one I saw on the menu at Agave Uptown the night before but didn't get to try, the Lila Downs. I start with 2 ounces mezcal, 3/4 ounces honey syrup (2:1 honey & water), 1/2 ounce lime juice, 1/4 ounce vanilla extract, & 1/4 ounce all-spice dram, then adjust a bit to taste. Not a super summery drink, but does not suck!
• 12:00am - Lights out!