My Day (though not today)

So I was thinking the other day that it would make a really neat blog entry for me to chronologically list everything I do at work. Not that what I do at work is very interesting, but it's oddly difficult to describe in an impressive manner when people ask me, "What do you do, exactly?" And even when I do describe it, I feel like I'm leaving something important out. And of course, the fact that I work for the government means that a lot of what I do is just my little clinking contribution as a little cog in the wheels of the great machine of bureaucracy.

Having said that, I kept my little chronological chart on Wednesday and here it is. A couple of caveats: Wednesday wasn't a typical day at work. One of my bosses was away, so you know how that is, and because we were all going to a colleague's for a Deepavali dinner that night, I wasn't trying to rush off from work in the evening either.

Bearing all that in mind, I present to you (without betraying the Official Secrets Act) my Wednesday, November 5, 2003:

0845 : Arrive at work --- media review & ad hoc discussion on some projects
0907 : Clear work email
0909 : Fiddle with some Intranet stuff
0912 : Check personal email
0914 : Quibble with colleague over a boss's email
0915 : Help another colleague locate his course venue using the Intranet
0916 : Check personal email
0920 : Continue with media review
0922 : Listen to a colleague's joke
0923 : Resume media review
0934 : Check personal email
0935 : Phone call on meeting arrangements
0938 : More media review
0939 : Phone call regarding financial matters
0941 : Pantry break to make tea for my raspy throat (this was before I fell ill)
0945 : Clear work email and settle financial matters
0953 : Media review
0958 : Personal phone call
1000 : Approve some online files
1007 : More Intranet work and file approval
1008 : Interrupted by having to make visit arrangements
1009 : Resume Intranet/file approval task
1017 : Make visit arrangements
1023 : Back to Intranet/file approval
1043 : More media review (this takes a while because I had to assemble different parts of a report from various colleagues)
1044 : Ad hoc discussion on projects
1046 : Media review
1055 : Corporate video stuff (mostly planning shoots, obtaining footage, that sort of thing; not actual video-editing)
1100 : Computer crash! Requiring 2 reboots to get things going again
1105 : Computer finally working; back to video work
1114 : Intranet/file approval (it's a busy day for it)
1118 : Make transport caims
1120 : Personal phone call (my mom!!)
1123 : Media review (almost there ... )
1125 : Approve work done by a subordinate
1151 : SMS/check personal email
1155 : Media review (almost there ... )
1200 : Phone call regarding visit arrangements
1202 : Video and visit work (I tend to multi-task, toggling between screens)
1208 : The last bit of the media review (whew!)
1230 : Make visit arrangements

1236 : Lunch!!!

1442 : Clear work email (okay, so it was a long lunch)
1443 : Intranet/file approval/video work (more multi-tasking)
1455 : Work on a reply to the press
1509 : Consult via email with a colleague in another Division
1511 : Check personal email and catch up on some reading on education-related articles on the web
1518 : Ad hoc discussion on a media query and the corporate video
1529 : Work on the video
1533 : Toilet break!
1537 : Clear work email
1545 : Intranet/file approval time again
1546 : Personal phone call
1547 : Clear my workspace/cubicle a little
1548 : Work on reply to a public query
1555 : Phone call regarding visit arrangements
1602 : Clear work email
1604 : Resume work on reply to a public query while blogging on a separate screen
1613 : Listen to voice talent samples for the corporate video
1617 : Archive work email and do some personal stuff & SMS
1630 : Clear work email
1633 : Check personal email
1657 : Clear work email
1658 : Receiving shocking SMS
1659 : Toilet break (not because of the shocking SMS)
1703 : Blog once I'm back from the potty
1711 : Clear work email and personal email and approve more files
1729 : Told to work on a speech --- mild panic
1730 : Check personal email while approving more work files
1745 : Tweak some personal stuff
1813 : Clear work email
1815 : Settle the reply to the press
1833 : Learn that visit is cancelled, hence cancel all earlier arrangements
1838 : Look through that speech I have to work on
1844 : Work on some personal stuff
1853 : Toilet break
1856 : Return books to the office library
1858 : Shut down computer for the day

That sounds pretty bland, now that I've got it all typed out like that. You'll note: only 3 potty breaks and only one trip to the pantry. So I was at my cubicle pretty much all day. Okay, so there was quite a bit of rampant checking of personal email, but only because I had some personal deadlines to meet.

Typing out that list from my pencil-scrawled notes has given me a headache at the base of my skull, so I'm going to go chill now. Agenda for tonight:

• Watch the last bit of Eyes Wide Shut
;

• Talk to my ex-roommate in Seattle
;

• Locate a knife that I can bring to the airport tomorrow morning to cut the security tape off T's luggage
.

Yeah, he's back tomorrow!!