bigfloatingzenblog

24hrs in the life of Jon
...an average Wednesday...

Wake up around 7am. Pluck a babbling Seth out of bed. Head downstairs for some playtime, and then
start the oatmeal. Lauren calls from the top of the stairs for either Cathleen or I to bring her downstairs.
She of course can walk down on her own, but first thing in the morning her Inner Princess shines brightly.
Depending on the angle of the light, alignment of the stars, or direction of the wind. Only one of us
is allowed to go and get her. Any suggestion of a substitution sends her screaming down the hall.

Breakfast is served, and spilled and tossed. Some even swallowed.

I grab my shirt-of-the-day, and stuff it into my bag. unplug my ipod from the computer and then plug the ipod into
my ears. Seth runs around smacking his head and grunting in a bid to get us to understand that "Dammit give me
my bike helmet so that I can look as cool as Dad"

Drag my bike up from the basement, check the weather, turn ipod on, sunglasses on and head out side.
Lauren and Seth stand at the screen door and Lauren yells out "Have a nice trip!!"

Down to the bike path on Schubert Dr. where I bob and weave around little tykes on bikes heading to school,
old folgies walking in pairs, dog walkers with the leashes stretched the width of the path, and Mr. Jaswal.

Up and onto the bridge, down and into the park. Check the height of the river in relation to this great tree island.
Through the park, past THE MAX, over the train tracks (no train 80 % of the time) into the CIBC parking lot, down the
alley, up some stairs and into the mini mall.

A quick word of hello, "up hill or down?" "cold today" "warm today" "sunny today" with the group of retired railway guys
that are always at the table in front of the elevator. Eating and drinking their A&W burnt toast and coffe.

Up the elevator, swipe the door with my key card, into the office, changed and at my desk by 8:30am. well okay
8:32am, or 8:35am, but never later than 8:39am.

Computer on, walk to the mail room to gather any stray work from yesterday, and the faxes that came in overnite.
Rush to get that done before the mail bin comes at 9ish.

Process mail, before 10:30.

Head to lunch room for coffee break, apple, bannana, water, yougurt and a book. Last week I read
KILN PEOPLE, this week I started HOMINIDS. 20 or so minutes later back to the pushing of the paper.
Lunch at Noon. Back to work, wander around and chat with coworkers. Call some employers to track down
non-payors. Put together some court packages for Default Hearings. Work on the Federal Computer to
corordinate with Ottawa garnishments on income tax returns and federal licence denials.

Coffee, read book for another 20 minutes or so.
Finish up action list items, fax to Ottawa, etc. 5 to 5pm start packing stuff into the mail and file rooms.

Change and out the door by 5:10. Ride home with more aggressive music than in the morning. Race as hard
as I can up the steep side of the bridge ramp. Coast down, admiring the view of the city and the water.

Down Schubert drive, dodging and weaving around more rude, inattentive people whe don't seem to understand
that by ringing my bell that I mean to pass them on the right. I am surprised by how many people stop
an look straight up when they hear the bell.

Slide into the drive, and drag the bike into the house. Shouts of "Daddy Daddy Daddy" warm my heart.
Hugs all around, unless of course Cathleen is making dinner and has put a quick show on for the kids.
Then I get ignored.

Rush to feed the kids before they melt down. Then a quick tidy and outside to play with the neighbourhood
kids. After a while drag our kids into the house, dressed, cleaned, bottled, and then story time.

Kids put to bed, now time to clean the house. Cath works on her homework. I browse the internet, catching
up on blogs and news and movie trailers. Have a beer, read a book then bed. Just to start it all again
in the morning.