#WIDN: A Day in the Life

6:00 am – natural alarm clock wakes me up. Check text messages and email to make sure nothing blew up overnight.

6:30 am – FitBit smart alarm goes off as cell phone alarm rings. Continue commenting on blogs with my phone.  Definitely not ready to start the day yet.

7:30 am – check temperature and forecast. Curse contractor for being so far behind on our job. Consider sneaking in shopping for closed toe shoes because sandals look stupid with pixie pants. Wonder how principals feel about me showing up to meetings in tennis shoes. Nix that idea. Resolve to find time to shop soon.

8:00 am – review schedule and incomplete items on to do list from last week. Move them over to this week. Make sure all calendars reflect same appointments.  Appreciate the fact that the Day Designer exists so I don’t have to keep up with multiple notepads anymore.

8:10 am – carpool to the office with my husband and run through our daily schedules.

8:30 am – grab some College Board books and swag from Notre Dame and Rhodes that I’ve been meaning to get to one of our schools. Switch my tennis shoes for Tom’s before heading to a meeting in south Dallas. Always running late when I have the furthest drive.  Resolve to go shopping and not look like a hot mess again for a principal meeting.

9:11 am – arrive at one of my high schools for a goals meeting with principal, counselors, and my college advisor. 19 minutes early. Score!

11:17 am – finish meeting with staff. Marvel at how far I am from Dallas and question how we can best support these students who have inner city school problems in such a rural environment. 12 text messages in 2 hours?! Time to head back to the office.

11:57 am – College advisor comes into the office so I can notarize affidavits for students to receive in-state tuition.  Remind her to make copies of them because, inevitably, these things get lost.

12:21 pm – weekly call with contractor. There’s confusion on the floor color and once it’s dropped off, it’s ours. Consider donning my Head Bitch in Charge title. Reconsider and drop everything to go over to the house to double check samples that were dropped off so install can start ASAP.

12:29 pm – floors are settled. Back to the office.

12:35 pm – time for some fresh air; walk to the bank with the Hubs. Soon it’s going to be too cold for these walks. Might as well enjoy them for now.  Try to keep a positive attitude and not complain about yet another issue with the house.

12:55 pm – Energy level is waning and I have an important call this afternoon.  Sneak over to the Rusty Taco for a quick lunch with the Hubs. He works on a list of things he needs to do, and I send group texts to my staff about my meeting this morning and complaining about UT being out of touch.

1:20 pm – time to charge my Fitbit, do some accounting, and respond to emails.  My email is a black hole.  I’m amazed at how much is in there.

2:00 pm – Phone call with an important Dean of Admission regarding a special initiative that we are collaborating on. I have my marching orders! Time to do something great!  Need to carve out time to write and get him a first draft ASAP.

2:27 pm – fall break must be happening. My kids are texting me and want to get coffee while they are home.  Text about football with one of them, text about model minorities and its relevance and timeliness with another.  Disappointed I can’t go get coffee with a third.

2:30 pm – Time to knock out and submit a letter of recommendation for my former staff member who is applying to graduate school. The LORs never stop.

2:52 pm – Speaking of LORs, I should print hand out materials for my 5:00 meeting so we can decide if we are still using them. Are we seriously headed to Houston in 2 days for our presentation?? That seemed so far away!  I think I was in charge of hotel bookings – I probably need to look into that and do that.  Hand outs first though – don’t want to forget anything like I did at TACAC.

4:00 pm – Time to review student applications that I think are complete and due by November 1! At least some of my kids have things that are finalized and ready to send!  I need to get on those kids that aren’t… remember that one of my kids texted to cancel yet another meeting earlier today.  Argh.

4:21 pm – Phone call to a parent about my kiddo who isn’t getting stuff done and keeps canceling.  I haven’t talked to her in awhile, so we catch up on higher ed trends and discussions – like Barnard students calling for the resignation of the Career Services director. We start venturing into speculative conversation about what our list should be if test scores go up, so I reel it back into today.  We’ll finalize the list next week.

5:05 pm – Meeting about Thursday’s presentation with an admissions officer friend + teacher friend. We lament the crazy in high school/college admissions for much longer than expected and update our presentation + handout.  We’ll finish in Houston for sure.  We finalize our travel (minus my hotel responsibilities) and agree to carpool on Wednesday afternoon and head back on Thursday after our presentation.  Quick up and back.  Eeeesh.

7:41 pm – I call the Husband while on the way home. He wants to go get flu shots tonight. That’s probably a good idea.  I’ve given up on fighting him and I know that it’s not good for me to get sick.

8:20 pm – No flu shots tonight. CVS is out until Wednesday. Oh well.  Consider stopping by Nordstrom Rack or Banana Republic to look for jeans that fit.  Definitely don’t feel like doing that now.

8:28 pm – phone call with one of my staff members regarding his counselors and sign in sheets that were turned in last week.  Reassure him that I know his counselors are crazy and we’re good.  Text with my college advisor who is at the Naval Academy to check in on how things are going.  She ran into someone who remembered me from TACAC and SICA.  Briefly wonder if that’s a good thing.

9:00 pm – first alarm goes off to remind me to start winding down and take my vitamins

9:02 pm – Consider the writing I need to do for tomorrow’s deadline.  Pull out my laptop and start looking at some of the free writing I’ve done about college access.  Start trying to fit together my narrative.

10:00 pm – second alarm goes off to remind me it’s bedtime.  I barely hear it.  Too focused on writing.

11:05 pm – after one final read aloud, I save my document and turn off the light. I’ll give it fresh eyes tomorrow.  I like where it’s going, but it’s probably getting too wordy and venturing too far off the purpose.  It’s true though – College Confidential is filled with “chance me” threads that look nothing like the kids we work with…. feel thankful that few of them know that CC exists.  It’s not for them.  Laugh about the irony of that statement given the piece I’m currently working on…