Ellen

6am - I wake up to my alarm. I was in the middle of a dream where my family was vacationing in NYC. We had parked in a weird parking garage that had saw dust all over the ground. Then we waited across from a museum for someone to get the car. Then we were in a hotel room and Barry Keoghan was there asking if we tasted something weird in the water. I try it and spit it out on the floor.

6:05am - My second alarm goes off. I spend half an hour checking my email, scrolling on social media, and playing games (Connections, Strands, Squaredle, and Design Home). I send my Connections and Strands results to a group chat with my mom, stepdad, sister, and brother-in-law. During this time I break up a fight my cats, Marie and Louise, are having.

6:30am - Another alarm goes off.

6:35am - Yet another alarm. I go downstairs to take care of Louise and Marie. I change their water, scoop the litter boxes, brush Marie, and feed them both wet and dry food.

Marie

Louise

6:51am - I head back upstairs to get ready for the day, showering, etc. Since I work from home, am not customer facing, and am not intending to leave my house today, I basically just pull clothes from the top of piles, which admittedly results in an outfit that I would describe as “whatever.” I read Spotlight PA’s email newsletter while I brush my teeth.

7:15am - I go back downstairs where Marie promptly jumps out of the window seat for attention. I mix Metamucil (unsweetened/unflavored) with half water and half tangerine juice, then I chug it while I pet Marie. I make oatmeal for breakfast with half water and half almond milk, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, slivered almonds, and I top it with Oat Haus Birthday Cake Granola Butter. It hate making oatmeal in the summer because I’m always sweaty by the time I finish eating it, but I had all the ingredients for it.

This looks like gruel, but was delicious

7:36am - I sit down to eat the oatmeal, and I turn on HGTV because Food Network is broadcasting infomercials at this hour. I don’t really watch though, instead I read Billy Penn’s email newsletter on my phone. 

7:51am - I finished my oatmeal, and I’m predictably sweaty. I start preparing my hot tea (why do I do this to myself?), I chose decaf black apricot today. Marie followed me back into the kitchen so I pet her while the water heats up. 

Picture mug my mom made me after her and my sister visited me in Scotland when I studied abroad.

8am - I head down to my basement to start my workday. I catch up on Slack messages and emails, then I read some pull requests and check on some alarms. I pick up a database script ticket and put out a PR for that.

9-9:30am - My first meeting of the day is always the development team standup. We each say what we did the previous day and what we’re going to work on today. It’s usually pretty quick, but today goes long because my manager was out last week.

9:45-10:30am - I meet with my manager again to get help solving a provisioning issue from last week.

11-11:20am - Last month the company I work for got sold. The merge is going understandably slow, but we’ve been attending more meeting to get a feel for how they do things. This was the first standup of theirs that we were invited to. They did not expect us to contribute, we just listened. 

11:23am - I break for lunch earlier than usual because I’ve got another meeting at 12pm. I heat up a piece of tomato and goat cheese crostata that I made yesterday. It’s a wonderful Ina Garten recipe, one of my summer favorites. I turn on Food Network and The Kitchen is on, but I am actually paying attention to a discussion that’s going on in Slack. I eat a few pieces of gummi mania (iykyk) before going back downstairs.

11:53am - I pick up another ticket to figure out some licensing stuff, but my manger ends up taking it instead.

12-12:50pm - My last meeting of the day is another that we’re sitting in on for the new company. It’s a new features product demo that everyone in the company was invited to. I want to ask questions in the chat, and I know they’d be welcome, but I don’t. 

12:52pm - I’ve sat in too many meetings today, and I’m feeling tired and unfocused. I pick up another ticket, this time for a bug with saving interview questions.

1:03pm - I’m still feeling unfocused, so I go upstairs to get a piece of gum. I notice that Louise is being super cute and laying on her one toy, so I go back downstairs to fetch my phone so I can take a picture. 

1:19pm - My mail comes, and to my surprise I’ve gotten a package from my friend who lives in the DC area. She travels a lot and always finds the best souvenirs. This time she went to Finland and Estonia. I’m delighted by the cute, weird postcard and all the treats. There’s jelly candy, stuffed licorice, and gooseberry mustard. I can’t wait to get a soft pretzel. After opening the package, I go back to work in the basement taking one of the licorice sticks with me to snack on (it’s delicious).

2:08pm - I’m still having trouble focusing, so I switch from sitting to standing, and I turn on my July playlist. It’s a mix of Charli XCX (#bratsummer), Doja Cat, and one Taylor Swift song (the acoustic version of Fortnight).

2:15pm - The music proved more distracting than helpful, so I turn it off. I think I’ve figured out why the bug is happening though, so I meet with my manager one last time to discuss how the issue should be fixed. I’ve got some research to do.

4:08pm - I sign off work. It’s time for more crostata and gummi mania (yes, I’m outing myself as a weirdo who doesn’t mind eating the same thing for two meals a day AND as a weirdo who eats “dinner,” what I like to think of as just another small meal in my day, very early). While I wait for the oven to heat up, I try to call the outpatient imaging center to see if my CD was printed (the machine was down on Friday), but I get the typical automated phone system run around and have to leave a message.

4:20pm - I get a call back that my CD is ready for pickup tomorrow. It’s a surprisingly quick response, not what I was expecting. 

4:43pm - I call my dad and we talk for over an hour and half about what we’ve been up to, what we’re watching, reading, and cooking, among other things. I usually call him Monday evenings. This call is maybe slightly longer than usual because last Monday he was busy. Marie lays on my lap for part of the call.

6:32pm - I watch this week’s episode of The Great Food Truck Race that I DVR’d last night. This show is a guilty pleasure, I mostly watch it for the drama.

7:19pm - Louise finally comes to lay on my lap.

7:30pm - Marie and Louise’s food alarm goes off, so I get up to feed them. I make myself a snack plate with Rancho Meladuco dates, Bold Party Blend Chex Mix, and a milk chocolate covered cherry from Harry & David.

7:47pm - I clean up in the kitchen, then take care of Marie and Louise, once again changing their water, scooping the litter boxes, brushing, and playing with them both. I put my compost bucket out on my stoop for pickup tomorrow. 

8:32pm - I go upstairs and start to get ready for bed. While I brush my teeth I play Waffle and vote on some rooms in Design Home.

8:55pm - I get into bed and start editing my notes about the day. 

9:23pm - I’m so busy editing that I forgot I was going to update our database tonight. I grab my laptop from the basement and return to my room. I’m all prepped for the update, but one of the items in the change log makes me second guess myself. I ask my manager about it over Slack, but he is not online, so I decide the update can wait until tomorrow evening and I return to editing.

10:51pm - I’m finished editing, and at this point I’ve stayed up way too late, so there’s no time to read. I just go to sleep.

Ellen has been tired since 2008.