We learned towards the end of the school day on Thursday that school on Friday would be cancelled due to inclement weather. It’s a funny thing, most teachers I know despise snow days, for they see it as taking away from their summer vacation (snow days are added on at the end of the year as meaningless half days of school). Students, on the other hand, rejoiced as they heard the news.
I spent the early part of the snow day shoveling out my car and our front yard. The snow was light and fluffy, and fairly easy to move around. We are fortunate to have a small garden area in the front of our house which serves as a place to dump snow from the sidewalk and our cars – not all houses on our street have such a high end luxury, and end up stacking snow between cars on the street. After about 45 minutes of shoveling, we had cleared everything pretty well, and the snow that fell after was not very substantial.
The rest of the day was spent working in my office and then some couch time with the chihuahuas. An early start to the weekend.
With the new year only a few days old, it’s the time of year where we tend to establish new routines, or continue habits from the previous year(s). For today’s post, I thought it might be nice to briefly discuss my own daily work routine. While routines can vary and fluctuate over time, I rather enjoy my current schedule of events.
My alarm goes off at 5am each morning. I’m pretty good at getting up immediately, and never hit the snooze. I wake my Frenchie, Ferguson, and carry him to the bathroom and turn on the shower. Right now it’s winter, so I let the shower run a few minutes to heat the bathroom. I grab my clothes for the day, weigh myself, and then jump in the shower. I shave with a double edge razor and badger brush each morning. I take Ferguson down stairs after I’m dressed and change his diaper, clean his sleeping area, and give him some water and a snack. Because it’s winter, I turn the car on and let it warm up a few minutes while I complete getting ready inside the house. I grab my lunch, a water bottle, and a breakfast bar and place it into my bag. I then go upstairs and help Ash wake up the chihuahuas, they are slow to get ready for the day, and then say goodbye.
Generally, I leave the house by around 5:40am and drive to work. It takes between 10-15 minutes to travel to Medford, and there is little traffic at this time of day. After arriving at school I take off my coat, put on my apron, and sit at my computer. Usually I record a CAD or CAM video via Loom, or do other school related work until the bell rings at 7:40am. I take Advisory period attendance, and then have 1st period as a prep to continue to get ready for the day. Second and third periods we usually have our Freshmen, but only 4 out of every 6 days. For periods 4-6 we have the Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors who have decided to take Robotics and Engineering as a vocational class. We see the same students each day for all 3 periods, which allows us to work on long term projects.
School ends at 2:18, however, vocational faculty are required by contract to stay at school until 3pm. This is never a big deal, as I always have work to do after the school day, usually grading, posting attendance, and troubleshooting student projects. The drive home from school can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour, all based on Boston afternoon traffic. Generally, I am home around 4pm. I take the two chihuahuas out for a quick walk, and then change Ferguson’s diapers and clean up his area. Most days I then spend about an hour in the basement working out on the treadmill, before beginning to think about what to make for dinner. I’ll prep dinner so it’s ready to go when Ash comes home and then read the Boston Globe.
We eat dinner and watch some television, and by 9pm I’m in bed reading a book. I generally read a little bit each night, sometimes its 5-10 minutes other nights its nearly an hour, just depends. By 10pm I turn off the lights and go to sleep, and prepare to do it all again the next day.
Some images of student work from the day to finish off this post
Another dreary, gray, soggy day in New England. I began the morning watching the Premier League while Ash went to Btone. Around 11:30 I worked out on the treadmill while watching the first half of the Liverpool v Chelsea game. Later in the afternoon Ash and I decided to watch The French Dispatch. Like many Wes Anderson movies, I find it always leaves you needing to see it again. It was enjoyable, but complex. We finished up our caviar as an afternoon snack, and then made some Impossible Meat mexican for dinner. Back to school tomorrow.
Ash and I welcomed 2022 like I assume many others this year, a quiet night at home. We did, however, try and make it special with some oysters, caviar, and champagne from EBO Grocery. We spent New Year’s Day at home, as the weather was rather dreary. In the afternoon we ended up taking a walk around the neighborhood and walked along the Suffolk Downs Race Track.
