Time Machine Day
The past few days made me realize that I needed to take drastic action with my blog. It is obvious that I can't adequately catch up and keep up. Perhaps after showing you my typical schedule, it will be more obvious as to why I am perpetually behind.
5:00 a.m. Wake up
5:15 Unload dishes and place on cart. Start coffee.
5:30 Start putting lunch items out so the weekly volunteers can pack their lunches
6:00 Volunteers are packing their lunches. I keep everything stocked. I also start working on breakfast. If I am not making the main dish, I prepare a fruit tray and make OJ. We don't have a lot of fridge space, so most breakfast stuff needs to be done now.
If I am making the main dish, the other cook (now Glennis) does those tasks. We also have to keep washing utensils so we have the right tools to work with.
6:45 We put up all the lunch fixins and wash those tables. We put out all the cereal, milk, juices, bread, yogurt, cottage cheese that are standard fare every day.
6:55 Put out hot main dishes and other non-standard items on the main table
7:00 Breakfast begins. Cooks eat last. During breakfast we restock anything that runs out.
7:30 Morning group devotional. After that job tasks given out to the crews, and they get ready to head out to clients' houses.
7:45 Take down breakfast and put things away
8:00 Start breakfast dishes. We wash them off in the sink, and then run them in the dishwasher so they get sterilized. After the dishwasher starts, we wash the utensils, pots, and pans. Take trash out, put things in recycling or compost.
9:00 We sit down and go over menu for dinner, and take stock of what we have on hand
9:30 Start any cooking tasks we can to get ahead on dinner
10:00 Head out to stores for groceries. We have three main grocery stores, each one of them having items the others don't. We try to learn which ones have the things we need before we head out.
11:00 return with groceries for 25-40 people, depending on the week. Put things away and see if there is anything else we need to start for dinner
12:00 sit down for lunch
12:30 put away dishes from the dishwasher, start new load including lunch dishes. Start any remaining tasks for dinner if needed.
1:00 Restock lunch table items for next day. If everything is on track, I now have some free time until dinner tasks come up again. I always work backward from 6 p.m. and make sure everything gets started or finished on time.
1-3:30 Possible free time. Here is where I intended to do all my writing. Unfortunately, while I write I tend to fall asleep. I have not been able to do any reading at all for the same reason. The only way to stay wake is to go walking or take a bike ride. I often do this if the weather cooperates. It has been mostly very hot (90's, 100) during sunny days, so riding is not a very pleasant option, especially since it means taking an additional shower in the cramped shower trailer.
3:30 Reconvene in the kitchen to check on things. If we did our earlier planning well, we might have more free time after this until we closer to 5
4:30 Start getting set up for dinner. Make big thermos jug of ice water. Make sure lemonade and tea are made, decaf coffee is ready to go. Continue bringing dinner together.
5:30 Make sure everything is finishing up. Start putting out utensils and hot pads for things coming out of the oven. Put out dessert if possible (but guard it against mischievous volunteers)
6:00 Start serving dinner. same drill as breakfast. Stock, restock, eat last
6:30 Finish dinner, people clear their own dishes into a buscart . Project director begins a daily recap in which different teams report their progress, and there is discussion about what needs to be done next. This is also when we relate any God-moments that we experienced during the day. typically an interaction with one of the clients. These are always really inspiring to hear.
7:00 time for dessert!
7:15 Start cleaning up dinner. Every night, there are three volunteers signed up to do dishes. We usually have them do the quick-wash and load the dishwasher. Sometimes the volunteers are prople who have cooked for MDS before, and know the proper sanitation procedures, so they might end up doing pots and pans. This happened last night. It was great!
8:00 Usually we are done for the evening unless we have something we can get ahead on for breakfast.
8-9 p.m. On clear nights I often set up my Questar telescope and we do some planet-gazing. Jupiter and Saturn are well-placed right now, and most of the volunteers have never seen them live. We also have a little gas fire-pit that we set up chairs around as the night air gets a little chilly. Lots of great conversation happens around the fire, sometimes aided by popcorn.
By 8:45 I head for the showers, which are in a trailer in the parking lot. Not the most roomy or comfortable, but you get used to them.
9:00 I listen to my iPod (yes, the iPod i found and pulled from a snowbank back in 2005 after tripping over its earbud cable. It still works) and try to unwind. Usually there is a lot of hearty conversation going on right outside my door until the 10:00 curfew.
That is my day.
Based on my inability to stay awake for very long when I am not working hard, I have decided to just start relating my current happenings, and add a "Time Capsule" periodically which will explain what transpired in the intervening gaps. This way I can keep things up to date and more fresh in my mind. I will also make some things more topical, rather than just chronological.
I think I will post this and then head out for a ride!
5:00 a.m. Wake up
5:15 Unload dishes and place on cart. Start coffee.
5:30 Start putting lunch items out so the weekly volunteers can pack their lunches
6:00 Volunteers are packing their lunches. I keep everything stocked. I also start working on breakfast. If I am not making the main dish, I prepare a fruit tray and make OJ. We don't have a lot of fridge space, so most breakfast stuff needs to be done now.
If I am making the main dish, the other cook (now Glennis) does those tasks. We also have to keep washing utensils so we have the right tools to work with.
6:45 We put up all the lunch fixins and wash those tables. We put out all the cereal, milk, juices, bread, yogurt, cottage cheese that are standard fare every day.
6:55 Put out hot main dishes and other non-standard items on the main table
7:00 Breakfast begins. Cooks eat last. During breakfast we restock anything that runs out.
7:30 Morning group devotional. After that job tasks given out to the crews, and they get ready to head out to clients' houses.
7:45 Take down breakfast and put things away
8:00 Start breakfast dishes. We wash them off in the sink, and then run them in the dishwasher so they get sterilized. After the dishwasher starts, we wash the utensils, pots, and pans. Take trash out, put things in recycling or compost.
9:00 We sit down and go over menu for dinner, and take stock of what we have on hand
9:30 Start any cooking tasks we can to get ahead on dinner
10:00 Head out to stores for groceries. We have three main grocery stores, each one of them having items the others don't. We try to learn which ones have the things we need before we head out.
11:00 return with groceries for 25-40 people, depending on the week. Put things away and see if there is anything else we need to start for dinner
12:00 sit down for lunch
12:30 put away dishes from the dishwasher, start new load including lunch dishes. Start any remaining tasks for dinner if needed.
1:00 Restock lunch table items for next day. If everything is on track, I now have some free time until dinner tasks come up again. I always work backward from 6 p.m. and make sure everything gets started or finished on time.
1-3:30 Possible free time. Here is where I intended to do all my writing. Unfortunately, while I write I tend to fall asleep. I have not been able to do any reading at all for the same reason. The only way to stay wake is to go walking or take a bike ride. I often do this if the weather cooperates. It has been mostly very hot (90's, 100) during sunny days, so riding is not a very pleasant option, especially since it means taking an additional shower in the cramped shower trailer.
3:30 Reconvene in the kitchen to check on things. If we did our earlier planning well, we might have more free time after this until we closer to 5
4:30 Start getting set up for dinner. Make big thermos jug of ice water. Make sure lemonade and tea are made, decaf coffee is ready to go. Continue bringing dinner together.
5:30 Make sure everything is finishing up. Start putting out utensils and hot pads for things coming out of the oven. Put out dessert if possible (but guard it against mischievous volunteers)
6:00 Start serving dinner. same drill as breakfast. Stock, restock, eat last
6:30 Finish dinner, people clear their own dishes into a buscart . Project director begins a daily recap in which different teams report their progress, and there is discussion about what needs to be done next. This is also when we relate any God-moments that we experienced during the day. typically an interaction with one of the clients. These are always really inspiring to hear.
7:00 time for dessert!
7:15 Start cleaning up dinner. Every night, there are three volunteers signed up to do dishes. We usually have them do the quick-wash and load the dishwasher. Sometimes the volunteers are prople who have cooked for MDS before, and know the proper sanitation procedures, so they might end up doing pots and pans. This happened last night. It was great!
8:00 Usually we are done for the evening unless we have something we can get ahead on for breakfast.
8-9 p.m. On clear nights I often set up my Questar telescope and we do some planet-gazing. Jupiter and Saturn are well-placed right now, and most of the volunteers have never seen them live. We also have a little gas fire-pit that we set up chairs around as the night air gets a little chilly. Lots of great conversation happens around the fire, sometimes aided by popcorn.
By 8:45 I head for the showers, which are in a trailer in the parking lot. Not the most roomy or comfortable, but you get used to them.
9:00 I listen to my iPod (yes, the iPod i found and pulled from a snowbank back in 2005 after tripping over its earbud cable. It still works) and try to unwind. Usually there is a lot of hearty conversation going on right outside my door until the 10:00 curfew.
That is my day.
Based on my inability to stay awake for very long when I am not working hard, I have decided to just start relating my current happenings, and add a "Time Capsule" periodically which will explain what transpired in the intervening gaps. This way I can keep things up to date and more fresh in my mind. I will also make some things more topical, rather than just chronological.
I think I will post this and then head out for a ride!
And here I thought that what showed up before I clicked on Time Machine Day was your whole schedule! It simply says:
ReplyDelete5:00 a.m. Wake up
Luckily, I did click on it and found a few more entries. I ran out of fingers and toes, so I don't have any total. You have a busy day.