Monday, August 04, 2008

Living at the Rio

Last night I set my alarm for the first time since Quarter Day. The ten hour work day begins.

The official PR term from the Governor’s Office is “Working 4 Utah.” It puts emphasis on the fact that we’re only working 4 days to help us feel good about our jobs.

I actually didn’t sleep too soundly so when I did wake up to my 6:30 AM alarm, I had been kind of awake for awhile. I stayed in bed for about 5 minutes, letting my eyes adjust to being open. I took a shower last night so I wouldn’t have to worry about that this morning.

As soon as I stood up and walked out my bedroom, I heard the shower in the bathroom downstairs. “Crap.” I needed to leave the house in 10 minutes. I can’t wash my face, put in my contacts, brush my teeth or anything. “I’ll just use the bathroom at work” I thought to myself as I slapped some clothes on, slipped on the first pair of flip flops I saw on my floor and then walked downstairs. I grabbed a banana, my cell phone, my purse and I was out the door.

I noticed the sprinklers were on out front. I sometimes hear the sprinklers in the morning, but I rarely see them in action.

When I pulled into my building today I had my pick of the parking spots. I might be the only person who actually made it in by 7 AM. I wanted my first stop to be the bathroom, but the janitor had it closed for cleaning.

So I went to my office, turned on the news and sat down. I checked my phone messages but didn’t feel good about calling people at 7 AM so I decided to return those messages later.

Fletcher showed up around 7:22. He poked his head in my office and said, “Don’t tell anyone I was late OK?”

Around 7:55 AM, I went into Fletcher and Jim’s office to just sit. Lila hadn't come in yet. Jim asked me what I did this weekend. I couldn’t remember. We sat in silence for a little while. I asked Fletcher if he wanted to order our supplies from Kinkos. He told me he doesn’t think we should ask each other questions before 8 AM. I agree. At least when it comes to hard questions like “what did you do this weekend?” or “how are you?”

I’m trying to think of ideas that will make this ALL DAY AT WORK thing work. I'm also going to try and plan an errand or outing once a day mid afternoon. Like around 3 PM to help break up the day. I think I’m going to buy milk and cereal and keep it here so I can eat breakfast in the morning. Today was a no makeup day and I think a lot of days may end up being that way, so I’ll probably have to bring some lip stick or whatever too. And contact lenses. And a tooth brush. It’s so early. This will take some getting used to. But who knows, maybe I’ll end up liking it.

I must say, the gallery did look particularly beautiful at 7 AM in the morning. The lighting was a little bit magical.

While I was waiting for other people to do their work before I could finish my work I decided to be productive and rearrange the office. And reorganize the storage closet. That took about four hours.

Last night I put myself to sleep by making a mental list of what I’m going to do all day on Friday since I don’t have to work:

Get a massage (I’ve been meaning to do this for over a month now).
Go see a matinee of Dark Knight (still haven’t seen it). Maybe at the IMAX.
Go to Costco.

That’s as far as I got. Kristi, maybe you have ideas of what I can do on my day off since you are the expert of days off in the summer.

7 comments:

Kristi said...

I hate to admit that I have no great ideas for you for days off. I sleep until 9:00, watch a little tv and if I'm lucky I go to the pool. On rare occasions when I feel ambitious I make things. Sadly this will all end soon. I do think when I go back to work you should totally visit my class on Fridays.

SRA said...

All three of those are great ideas. And the one Kristi gives above, too. I would add a nice lunch or dinner to this Friday's schedule as a way of congratulating yourself on making it through your first week of 4 10s. And enjoying the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics...7-11 PM. :)

Lisa Marie Trent said...

aren't you going to get another job?

Anonymous said...

I was going to call you today because I feel like I haven't talked to you in a while and I wanted to see if you wanted to go to Carlucci's with me. I thought it also might be a good break between your long day, but I stupidly forgot my phone!!! Of all days...But we should do it sometime. For some reason this never occurred to me that we work right next to each other and can do things like this.

Kell's Belles said...

I'm laughing at that no questions before 8 AM rule. I'm trying to think how I could make and enforce that here. I get the craziest questions ("What is this brown stuff on my hand?"and "Why do have that big hurtie on your chin?"are two of my favorites), sometimes before my eyes are even open in the morning.

Charlotta-love said...

I start school in a few weeks and I need to leave much earlier than I normally do to catch the bus. I have a feeling that first day might be a makeup-less one as well for me. Have fun on Friday doing what you want.

Ilene said...

Hmmm... sounds like you need to take an extended weekend visit up to Boise.

I am with Fletcher. All talking before 8am at work is just annoying. I expect to see your blogging increase over the next period of time.

Tip: keep gum handy just in case you can't get to the toothbrush in time.