Every minute feels sacred

What a different life having Chris be the primary caretaker - I can justify taking a shower every morning! It's so bizarre - I just tell him what time I have to leave - as some folks and I were talking at lunch today - we take so much for granted when we are single. It even felt luxurious to eat lunch outside and chat with folks. Though I do feel like I have to be extraordinarily (long word...) judicious with my time. I skipped the mid-career career seminar today so I could come in here to the computer lab and print out materials for my classes, including the first case discussion class (eek in 15 minutes) and my reading and homework for my econ and quant classes.

It's so frustrating that this material isn't online yet. Don't the profs know that my time as a parent is sacred? OK, that sounds like I'm a prima donna, and I just read the Jodi's notes about why she posts at 2pm - so she can add/subtract homework/info based on our class, but I was really hoping to at least print out that work if not actually start on it. So instead, what am I doing? Being very productive and blogging. I guess it makes sense, but I really want to try to do the bulk of my work during my "work day" so I can spend more time with the kids when I get home and have a moment to breathe after they go to bed. But I guess I'm getting a whiff of what it's going to be like - working late at night.

But my feeling like I have to take advantage of every waking minute definitely borders on the insane - and is part and parcel to how I generally operate - which worries me b/c I fear I won't teach my kids how to relax. Like this morning, I realized I had a little extra time. Did I start to get ready so I wouldn't rush? No. Did I sit down and play with my kids? No. What did I do? I decided to finish arranging the kids room, dust off some shelves and try to reorganize it. Yeah, that was the ticket at 7am.

There was a funny moment in quant class today when I had asked a question about the log of e - and when to use that as a continuous function. Maria said that people use that as a short cut when they should really be using another equation because the answers are so similar. Turns out, the statistician from the Census Bureau realized that they had been using that short cut. Scary, as he pointed out, when it comes to allocating resources for schools, etc. Hmmm...maybe not so funny.

Then, as I was walking up to my econ class, the Mass. superior court judge and I start chatting about the class. She bought one of the recommended books that she pointed out was written by a guy who brags about being Bush's chief economic advisor. She then asks me if she thinks our teacher is conservative, too. Uh, yeah.

Just spoke to the kids on the phone. Kalian burst into tears and wasn't able to talk to Liam. Was able to get the kids signed on to the Harvard health insurance, so we can deal with that heat rash...Ok, in the interest of efficiency, my next case discussion class starts in 5 minutes. Gotta run.