New Thing #354: Work Party At A New Location

A couple of things happened Thursday evening. Actually a whole lot of things happened on Thursday, the day before the last day before our winter vacation…but I'll just focus on Thursday evening.

After a hectic, hectic day, the annual winter concert was held.

Then, for the first time, the holiday party was held following the winter concert.

It kept me up (and out) way past my bedtime, but I really enjoyed it.

The party was held at a restaurant not far from school.

It's a place we've been to often, but this was different because there were trays of appetizers all for us. (Sliders, baked macaroni and cheese [I think], pita chips and spinach and artichoke dip, chocolate covered strawberries.)

What wasn't different was that we were in a public section, with some tables reserved, but the whole section wasn't closed off - it was still public. That was a little weird.

The food was great, though, and the company was good. I work with some pretty great people.

And it means that on Friday after dismissal my vacation begins. (That's historically been when we have our party.) I am A-OK with that.

I could have skipped this party, I suppose, and had an early-ish Thursday night and then an earlier-than-usual dismissal on Friday…but I wanted to be with my co-workers. I'm glad I did it.

The only problem is, after a late Thursday night, having enough coffee Friday morning to get me to dismissal on Friday.

I'll bite that bullet.

The two weeks off will be my reward.

New Thing #347: My Wife's Company Party

The holiday party at my work doesn't include spouses. And I'm pretty sure my wife's former office job didn't have a holiday party that I attended.

So it's been a while since we went to a company party together.

But that's exactly what we'll be doing tonight.

As I write this I'm reminded that one of my earliest interactions with my wife - before we were even dating - revolved around a company party.

It was during our time at Channel 7 - and maybe she switched weekends so that she could attend the company party? I don't remember exactly. Anyhow, we ended up working a weekend together, and I remember working up the courage to talk to her. I think she criticized what I was eating for dinner. I ate some pretty unhealthy stuff back then.

We did not spend any time together at that company party - I don't think I ranked high enough in the company to even be invited. (And I'm pretty sure that was the last one ever - I worked there for three more years and there never was another holiday party.)

But, I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. I didn't know enough people, and that's not the type of social scene I have enjoyed for most of my life.

So you might think I'm dreading tonight - a party with a bunch of people who my wife knows and I've never met.

But I don't care. I really don't.

I've decided I'll dress nicely and be an adult. I've found I'm often no longer the youngest person in the room, which I had felt was the case for a long time. Tonight I'll just be another adult there. People will either want to talk with me because I'm their equal and they'll want to hear what I have to say, or they won't, and I'll be fine with it.

I'm just going to enjoy a night out with my wife.

If that happens to come with a little extra socializing, I'm at a stage in my life where I'm ready to handle that.

New Thing #330: Coaching The Boys

One of the New Things I don't think I ever wrote about (I'm keeping track, but this may have come up somewhere else in a different context…I don't think it did) is the fact that I didn't coach a team in 2013. It's been one of the highlights of my school year - coaching the girls' basketball team in the winter months.

But the major project I undertook last year prevented me from doing anything extra-curricular…besides the project itself.

So I gave up coaching for the year, under no realistic belief that I'd get the same team back this year.

I didn't.

This year, I'll be coaching a boys team.

The season picks up after Thanksgiving break, so I don't know how it will all shake out yet.

But it's new - for seven years I coached girls' basketball.

I coached some 5th and 6th grade boys' basketball almost ten years ago, and I've coached co-ed cross-country teams, but I've not coached a boys' basketball team.

It may turn out to be no different than coaching girls - I don't know.

It just feels different.

I've watched some of the boys' games in the past - they're faster-paced, and there are more points scored.

So I know that will be different.

But at this point there are a lot of unknowns.

Except that I do know this - I'm looking forward to coaching again.

New Thing #325: Using A Die Cut Machine

When I first started 365 New Things In 2013 I had a list of ideas of New Things I was intending to try but hadn't done yet and was kind of waiting for a challenge like this to make me finally just go and do them. Some of them - like trying stand-up - are not looking very likely to happen in the next 40 days. (Though hardly a day has gone by where I haven't thought about doing it, believe it or not.)

Others, well, I've done pretty well at making them happen.

Including today's. Although on my list it's not worded as "Use A Die Cut Machine".

Instead it reads, "Cut out word machine thing".

The 'cut out word machine thing' is indeed called a die cut. And, well, as far as modern-day machines go, it's a blast from the past.

The one we have at school runs by hand crank, and I've watched a bunch of people use it, but I never had myself. (For those not in the know, it's something where you put paper over a block stencil and it cuts out letters for you to put up on bulletin boards and such, rather than you having to cut out letters yourself. At right is an example. Don't feel bad if you've never heard of this: It's the type of thing that I only know exists because I'm a teacher.)

I came close to using it myself in September, but someone else was running their letters through the thing and they offered to take mine so I let them. I almost passed that off as a New Thing, but you know me - it didn't feel legit, so I waited until I did it myself.

That time came this week. Although, if we're being honest, I didn't 100% need to do it. I have some of the pre-cut letters that you buy at Staples that I could have used on my bulletin board. But I needed to try out the die cut machine, so I took my black construction paper and made my way to the faculty room.

I think you know this about me, but I'm not the most artsy-and-craftsy guy. I can take on something like a craft if I work myself up for it, but it's hard for me to initiate something like an art project.

Part of my reluctance is a fear I will mess something up and do irreversible damage. Like breaking a die cut machine.

Well, I didn't break it. I actually quickly became quite adept at it, re-using one piece of construction paper by running it through multiple times for a bunch of different letters.

I was kind of proud of myself for that - it seemed like a pretty pro die cut move on my part.

I've come a long way from a guy who just about a year ago was still calling it a 'cut out word machine thing.'

New Thing #323: Asking Students Why

It's been a while since I taught math regularly. I taught it in my student teaching year and I taught it in my first year in a self-contained classroom.

Then I got my current job teaching language arts and social studies and haven't done much in terms of math.

But I still think a lot about how I taught math, and one of the things I liked to stress with students was where they might apply what they were learning about math in school to their lives.

(An easier task with 5th and 6th grade-level math than the higher grades.)

And it's that thinking that inspired me to try this New Thing this year.

This is something I had done in September but hadn't written about yet - and there are really a bunch of New Things that I've been trying out and working on at work this year. I won't tell you about all of them.

Thinking about math, and why we learn about math, I realized that it's not something I do with the subjects I teach as much. I certainly think about the importance of writing and studying history, and I do touch on it occasionally with the students I teach, but it's not like we come back to it every day.

So I decided this year to spend a class period each asking the students what they think are the reasons we learn to write, and the reasons why we study history.

Their answers were what I hoped for…but they also didn't hit on everything. So I'm leaving these posters we created on the wall all year, in the hopes that as the year moves along we'll think of other reasons that we can add to the list.

I got the idea over the summer, and I'm glad I followed through on it. It may seem like an obvious question to address with kids, but sometimes in the hectic day-to-day of the school year you lose sight of things like this.

I'm going to keep these up on the wall so that we never lose sight of what we're doing.

New Thing #284: My Big Work Project

I guess it's time to write about this. It's dominated the past year-plus for me.

I've alluded to it a few other times.

It's a big project at work unlike anything I've done professionally before.

And, as the end of October fast approaches, it's coming to a head really soon.

I don't want to get into it too much...but there was going to be a day where I was going to run out of New Things and as a result of this work project I was not going to be able to go out and do something that I could write about.

So I need to write about this.

It's essentially a self-evaluation for my workplace that I helped coordinate.

It went great - the people I work with were awesome throughout the process - and personally it opened my eyes to the different aspects of being involved with a school.

That part ended at the end of the summer, and now a group of people will come to check that what we wrote about and sent them is true.

They'll come to the school for three days at the end of the month...and I'm helping get ready for that, which is dominating my time now.

I knew it would be a huge load when I took on this responsibility.

It didn't disappoint.

But I would do it again - it was a great experience professionally.

And I'll add this: I'm looking forward to when it's over in November.

New Thing #278: Len Solomon and his Bellowphone

That there in that picture is Len Solomon and his bellowphone. Len came to the school on Friday to perform at an assembly.

It's rare that I'll include a school event as a New Thing, but I'll admit it - we're in a bit of a New Thing dry spell.

And this was a pretty good performance.

So good that it only just occurred to me that this is also the rare post about music that doesn't take place on a Monday.

I guess we're just breaking all the rules today.

Earlier in the week I told the students we were having this assembly, and I knew there was a bellowphone in the title. I assumed it was kind of like a one-mand-band, and in my mind I assumed a bellowphone was some kind of instrument that accommodated a one-man band.

When I asked if anyone knew what a bellowphone was I got a few responses about the kind of instrument it was - they all sounded like they could be pretty accurate.

Turns out...it's something this guy created.

It's made up of tubes - like pipes and vacuum hoses - and pieces of metal and horns, and to watch Len Solomon play all of the different instruments he made from items like coat hangers and straws (he's more than just a bellowphone player) was something else.

I like music, and I wish I had a better ear for music. I can play a little piano, but I have no ability to do music by ear. This guy turns anything that makes a noise into a specific note - that is unfathomable to me. I don't even know if I can learn to develop that kind of a skill.

He mixed in some humor too - he killed with the 8-and-under set.

Here's the link to his site - if you're looking for some school-age entertainment, I'd recommend him.

New Thing #263: Bringing Two Girls To School

My two oldest daughters attend the school where I teach....in case you didn't know that. The oldest is in first grade - this is her third year at the school.

The New Thing here is that my middle child started pre-K this year - so now my commute is dependent on getting two children ready in the morning.

So far, it's been OK.

But it's certainly an adjustment.

I used to get to work pretty consistently at 7am.

I liked getting there more than an hour before any students - I got so much done in that quiet hour-plus, and then during the day I had opportunities to be social because I had lots of time before school to get done what I needed to.

Then I started taking my daughter to school, and I wasn't leaving the house until 7am.

Good-bye, free time.

Now I spend most free minutes during the school day slamming to get work done because I know before school isn't an option...and there are few days I can stay after school without family obligations to pull me away.

Luckily for me, the girls enjoy the activities offered after school, so if I'm in a bind and need to stay, I don't feel guilty about it. Also, they had some practice this summer with a long day and commuting between school and home with their camp experience.

And I'm sure I'm healthier because of the chauffeuring of my daughters. With the time I'm saving by leaving later I'm eating the solid breakfast that I know I've written about multiple times before. If I was on my own I'd be having Dunkin' Donuts way too much and I'm sure I'd weigh too much right now.

Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes one or both girls are slow to get going in the morning. Sometimes they want to listen to the radio while I want to listen to podcasts. Sometimes I remember a jacket for me and forget that I'm also responsible for two other little people and they're not exactly dressed appropriately for school and colder fall weather.

But almost every day for nine months I get to drive in the car to and from my place of work with two of my favorite people in the world.

And that's worth a rough morning or two.

New Thing #256: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Here's one of those New Things that makes the highlight reel for the year: On Thursday I went with my class to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

You might know about the Gardner as the art collection of an eccentric woman.

Maybe you know of it as the Museum of Fine Arts' often-overlooked little sister.

Most likely you've heard of it because of the 1990 art heist.

I knew of it, but had never been.

Now I can't wait to go back.

Here's the quick and dirty history: Isabella Stewart Gardner was an art collector, and she built this courtyard/outbuilding to house her collection. When she died, her will stipulated that the collection should remain as is. This is the early 1900s.

Fast forward to 1990, and a couple of thieves, disguised as police officers, duped the on-duty night guards into letting them in, tied up the guards, and proceeded to steal millions of dollars worth of art. (You may have heard this story on the "Boston" edition of Drunk History.) Some of the pieces of art were cut out of the frames because the thieves couldn't remove them from the wall. Remember the will stipulating that the collection should stay as is? Well, the frames stay on the wall empty because of that fact.

So we took a little hourlong tour on Thursday in small groups. My particular tour guide was great - she let the students talk about the art but kept us informed as we walked. She showed us some nice pieces, and told us about how Gardner would sit in the courtyard sipping champagne and eating donuts, admiring her art and courtyard.

It's a really amazing place, and the courtyard is just beautiful. It's one of those places where while I'm there the entire time I'm thinking, "I want to come back with my family." (Not unlike my thoughts when I was in Quebec.) Unfortunately, there are no photos allowed inside (and I'm a rule follower), so I can't show you what I liked so much.

There's something about the fact that everything is left as the owner intended - I like the idea that when I go back everything will be exactly where I saw it this time. That same fact makes it somewhat chilling to see the empty frames on the wall. I saw two big empty ones in the "Dutch Room." It's weird to think that thieves did their work in that exact spot.

I've said before (I think when I visited the Met) - I'm not the biggest art fan in the world. I'm not sure I know how to appreciate art the way it was intended. But I'm becoming better able to appreciate art museums.

And the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is already one of my favorites.

New Thing #242: A New Planner

There's pretty much only one thing on my mind this time of year. School.

Well, that's not entirely true.

There's college football, and pro football, and two of my daughters' birthdays, and the baseball homestretch...

But as far as what's distracting me from trying New Things at this moment - it's school.

For the first six months of '365 New Things In 2013' I managed to avoid talking too much about school.

I'm not sure how...but as we approach the last weekend in August and get ready for September, well, either the New Things well is going to run dry, or you're going to get a healthy dose of what I'm trying that's new at school.

Every new school year brings something new to the equation. This year there's a little more new than most years...but prime among them is a change in the schedule.

What this means for me - in addition to a change to my day-to-day schedule - is I need to change how I plan my day.

I inherited from my mentor teachers in my student teaching year a self-created planning sheet that I've never had to change because 1) I got a job teaching in the very classroom where I student taught, and 2) the schedule hasn't changed all that much in that time.

So for my first time as a teacher (not counting one time where I used a pre-published plan book) I have to develop my own planning sheet.

I was at a loss about how to start, then a friend of mine showed me how he used Excel for his scheduling.

He lent me his template to tweak, and said I could let him know if I had questions.

It couldn't have been any easier.

I divided up the pages into the days of the week, added the slots I needed to plan, and then I filled in the lined space with white color and added the border lines around the cells where I needed breaks. I copied the pages to make them one page, double-sided, and then I put them in my binder.

I love it.

This is one of those weird things that teachers get excited about that is probably not as interesting to other people - each year I love starting with the blank plan book and starting to fill it in with the dates for the year ahead and then each day's plan.

As for Excel - for a long time I thought it was all about changing the size of all of the cells. Turns out, it's really about manipulating the cells as they exist for the way you want to use them.

I'm taking all of this success as a sign that it will be a good school year ahead.

New Thing #200: Sending The Kids To Camp

I'm working a lot this summer. This might not strike you as unusual, as perhaps you always work through the summer.

And I'm not seeking your sympathy.

I am simply stating fact: I'm working a lot this summer.

It's because of a project I took on at work, and the project is going well, thanks for asking.

But the reason I bring this up is it's a departure from my regular summer activities.

And I think that's been great for my kids.

See, in previous years I was home the entire summer with my daughters. It's one of the great benefits of my current career. Once or twice a week we'd put the girls in day care to give them some time with their friends (and to give Dad some time to get together with his friends...or enjoy some time by himself), but most of the week it was just me and my girls.

I remember my first summer with my oldest daughter - she probably wasn't quite 2. We'd be up early, then late in the morning we'd watch Sesame Street before settling into lunchtime, afternoon nap, and then playing a bit before my wife came home and it was time for dinner.

When a second daughter entered the picture, I structured things a little more so the centerpiece of our activities wasn't a television show. We'd do playgrounds or museums or something like that in the morning and take it easy in the afternoon. I'd invite friends with kids in the same age range to join us for particularly exciting morning activities. It was great. I called it 'Sucich Summer Camp.'

But this summer I just wouldn't have the time.

So my oldest two daughters are at real camp. And they love it.

They swim. They do all kinds of different activities from tennis to yoga to sports to arts and crafts. (Oh yeah, I forgot - I did arts and crafts too. Or at least pretended to. It's not my strong suit.)

And that's why this is a better situation for my daughters. They're learning to swim. They're learning tennis. They're making new friends. They're doing real arts and crafts.

I've learned a new joy of parenting this summer - picking up happy children at the end of a good day of camp.

It's almost as good as having happy children with me all day.

New Thing #144: Community Service In Allston

Every year my school has a Community Service Day. It's a great event - every student and adult in the school is involved in some community service activity on a Friday in late May.

This is the third year, I think, that we've done it.

And this year, for the first time, I went to an off-campus site.

I was assigned, with another teacher and five students, to help out at the Boys and Girls Club in Allston, Massachusetts.

I was curious how I would be able to help, because the only thing I knew about our work there was that we would be doing a little planting around the building and maybe some clean-up.

Clean-up I could handle. Planting? Not so much.

So when our liaison there asked who'd be interested in planting and my co-worker jumped at the opportunity...I wasn't disappointed to be handling the indoor activities. (The picture you see above is the result of his handiwork.)

I helped the indoor students inventory some sports equipment and re-organize some library books. Probably more my speed.

As for the Boys and Girls Club - it's a great facility, and they do great work there.

You know they do a good job of selling what they do when you leave there wanting to do more.

Which, I guess, is the point with Community Service Day.

New Thing #127: Administering Standardized Tests On An iPad

At the school where I teach, we give a standardized test each year. It's very low stakes - my approach to it is always that it's more a chance to expose the students to these types of tests rather than being a test of what they know.

(I do like to use the scores as a chance to assess myself and how I'm doing teaching certain skills.)

This year, though, for the first time since I've been teaching (just about a decade) the tests were given on iPads rather than a test booklet and answer sheet.

It was a different experience.

First of all - I do not regularly use an iPad.

I have used iPads, but we don't own one, and my use has been sporadic.

The funny thing about giving the tests this way is that the students are probably more comfortable with the iPads at this point than I am.

But there's still a certain anxiety that comes with doing something new with something that's viewed as so important. (Despite my efforts to downplay the tests in general - and especially with the new format this year - it still is something the students tend to take seriously. It means a lot to them.)

Overall, the process went smoothly. It was cool because as the test administrator I could see where each student was as they progressed through the test, and I could also check general results much more quickly than in the past. (I have yet to find out how I could see a question-by-question breakdown of the results, which is a more valuable way of assessing the work done, in my opinion.) It's also pretty much child-proof - it's like they know lots of 10 and 11-year-olds would be taking the test! If a student accidentally pops out of the test session, we can put them back in very easily and they pick right up where they left off.

What I didn't like was that there are certain aspects that go against how students have been taught to take these tests in the past - no longer could you cross out the answers you were eliminating. This particular test structure was also weird in that sections that had about 40 or more questions would stop you halfway through before you could proceed to the next half. That meant once you advanced to question 22, you could not go back to check numbers 1-21. That seemed to also go against what we try to get kids to do.

In the end it's probably a wise shift to make at this point - I imagine by the time this year's fifth graders are ready to take SATs they will have to do it online. And if not, it'll be graduate-level tests for sure. (When I took my GRE in 2003 or 2004 I had to take it on the computer.)

I don't know that administering this kind of test will be a skill I'll have to employ all that often. But I do know that as my daughters get to the ages where they'll have to take these types of tests, I'll probably be glad that I had a chance to experience it early on.

Unless by then there's a whole new technological way of taking standardized tests.

New Thing #120: Getting Lost In My Own Neighborhood

This one's a little embarrassing. I've developed the worst mental block.

I keep making a wrong turn.

What you see pictured at left is Bradford Street.

It is not supposed to be part of my morning commute.

But three times last week I ended up there.

The third time I decided to take the picture...and tell you about my new problem.

So here's the deal: There's a detour in my neighborhood at one of the Sudbury River crossings. That means that a lot of traffic is diverted in the morning to where I begin my morning commute. So, brilliant me, knowing the side streets as well as I do, decided to try to get around the backups.

Except, as it turns out, I don't know the side streets as well as I thought.

What makes this worse is that there have been times when I have successfully navigated these side streets. But then I had the one wrong turn, and I haven't been able to recover. It's like I have the driving yips. I'm like the Chuck Knoblauch of driving through Framingham.

One time I ended up going left when I should have gone right, and after a big circle the road spit me out up the block from the road where I entered the 'short cut'. (My daughter gave a decisive "Hey!", recognizing instantly the road on which we had been about four minutes earlier.)

Two other times I ended up going the wrong way, and ended up following another car (hoping they were on their way to work and not returning from dropping off their children at the school bus - if the latter were the case I would have ended up following them to their driveway.) to a main road - not the way I was intending to go, but effective nonetheless.

I am not terrible with directions. I usually have a general sense of where I am and where I am going. But this situation is really getting to me. I've taken my bike through this neighborhood - it's three-quarters of a mile from my house. I should know my way through it.

I'm going to keep trying. Eventually I'll figure it out and get it right.

And then hopefully my muscle memory takes me in the right direction from that point forward.

New Thing #118: A Veteran Auctioneer

Saturday night, for the second time in my life, I was an auctioneer. As I joked on stage, this makes me a veteran auctioneer.

But I'll be honest - I still don't really know what I'm doing.

I like getting up there and telling some jokes, warming up the crowd.

But when it comes to calling out the numbers and selling the items...well, I don't know if I'm doing it the right way.

But I'll say this - and I am not one to toot my own horn all that much (says the guy who is writing about himself for 365 days in a row) - I killed it last night.

You might recognize that picture from my Twitter profile - that's from my first (rookie year) auction, two years ago.

See - my school has an auction every other year.

Four years ago this guy came and did the auction - he had done the one six years ago, too, I think, and he was a comic. He was fine, but the way he talked about some of the items made me think, "Maybe it would be better if someone from the school did that." I asked one of my friends, and she said it would be a great idea. "I bet I could do it," I said. She thought so too.

So I asked, and I was allowed.

And two years ago, I was good. We raised a lot of money.

I didn't know if this year could go any better. But I felt good about my material. And then the day unfolded:

I spent Saturday morning with my girls, and then after lunch I got ready to go. After I showered I needed to lay down. I have never had an anxiety attack, but if I were to come close, Saturday in the early afternoon might have been it.

After a few minutes I stood up, didn't collapse, and finished getting dressed, got my stuff together, and headed for school. And my confidence started to grow.

The closer we got to show time, the more confident I felt. And when the time came for my introduction (the joke-telling part) I was calm. I got a little nervous when it came time to do the money part, but even then - the folks in attendance were so great and patient with me it went smoothly.

My worst fear is that we left money out there - that might have happened once, but I also feel like there were times that I got bids to go higher than they might have otherwise.

I don't know that I'll make a second career out of auctioneering. (I would like one of my 365 New Things this year to get on stage for some stand-up...stay tuned.) But I like knowing that if I have the opportunity to do it that I can feel more and more confident in myself.

I hope I'm not coming across as cocky. Because I'll tell you what - I almost took last night for granted. After it ended two years ago I was in a celebratory mood - I felt like I conquered something impossible. Last night, I approached it like a job - this is what I'm setting out to do, and I did it. When it was over I was satisfied, but I wasn't ready to do flips.

I did my job, and I did it well.

I expect the same thing will happen the next time.

But it would be great with a little less anxiety beforehand.

New Thing #43: Early To Bed and Early To Rise

Things are busy around here this time of year. That's not a complaint, just a statement of fact.

Weekends are tough - my wife usually has a couple of tutoring sessions scheduled during the day, meaning my day is dominated by my daughters.

So come report-writing season, it's a tough juggling act for me.

On top of that, when I have to dig out from more than two feet of snow, there just aren't enough hours in the day.

So I created some more.

Here's what happened: Saturday I got very little report writing done...but I did do a lot of shoveling. I didn't nap....I was tired.

So I decided to go to bed very early Saturday night (lights were out for me by 8:30) and wake up all the earlier on Sunday morning. (I've planned this before, but never followed through. So following through on it is why it's a 'New Thing'.)

I set the alarm for 4:30, thinking I'd probably snooze it a couple of times. I hit snooze once, but didn't even need it - I was up for good within five minutes.

I have to tell you - it was great.

I got some reports written, took a shower at around my normal weekday time, and was able to make the Sunday Dunkin' run and have breakfast on the table for all my ladies before they were out of bed.

By 10am I was able to dig out our second car and I felt like I had already put in a day's work with plenty of hours to go in the day. I didn't even nap on Sunday, and only felt tired a couple of times. (But here it is Tuesday when this posts, and Monday night was kind of rough. We'll have to see how long into the week this carries over.)

Overall, it went so well the thought occurred to me I could make this a regular occurrence.

I'm sure eventually the early hours would catch up to me, and I'm sure I'd stop thinking it was such a great idea when baseball games started up at night, but it's a pretty good lifestyle. And I'll tell you what: it is peaceful outside at 4:30 in the morning.

I also noticed, shortly after waking up, that there were already tweets from the likes of Peter Gammons and Buster Olney. Gammons is probably up at 4:30am because he's of that age where people tend to do that sort of thing...but Olney strikes me as someone who subscribes to the 'create more hours in the day' theory.

It's a disciplined lifestyle. I don't know if, for someone who really needs a lot of sleep in order to function, I can keep it up. (A good breakfast earlier than Sunday, when I waited to get the Dunkin', and some nutritious snacks during the day would help.) But it may be worth trying if I'm out to get things accomplished without sacrificing time with my girls.

New Thing #15: Back To The Office (For My Wife)

For the past four years, I think, my wife has worked from home. We've been lucky that she's had steady work since she's stopped working full-time...but also because there are certain conveniences that come for a family of five when one of the parents is working from home.

But now she's back to work - three days a week in an office, anyway.

And I think we're all prepared for those to be three pretty hectic days a week.

Monday was our first run-through. It went OK.

For me, it was a Monday that wasn't as busy as most. So the jury is still out...Mondays are usually my busiest day and we'll see how the end of the day feels when I'm tired and dinner has to be made and the kids have to get to bed and we have to start all over on Tuesday.

(I realize that this new quandary for us is a five-day-a-week issue for some people. More power to them. I'm simply pointing out it's new to us.)

In an ideal world, I'll be able to leave work early enough on Mondays that I'll have dinner waiting for everyone else when they get home. That's the goal...we'll see if it happens.

The good news? Next Monday's a holiday.

So we won't have to worry about it for two more weeks.