SLICE #2

Today was one of those "do not pass go, do not collect $200" kind of days.

My plan was go to Weight Watchers at 6:30. After that, I planned to pick up bagels, then head to school, where I was hosting a meeting of the Colorado Children's Book Award Committee. I was thinking I would have about 90 minutes to read sixth grade essays, or clean my desk, or make plans for next week.

And I was especially proud of myself because en route to Weight Watchers, it occurred to me that I would be passing right by a bagel shop. I would save myself 20 minutes, if I got the bagels first, then went to Weight Watchers, then went to school. So that's what I did.

When I got to school, though, everything kind of went to h*** in a hand basket. First, there was the problem with the alarm system. My school works, I think, like a lot of other ones. We use an access card to get into the building, but then, if it's a weekend, you have to turn off the alarm. I've done it hundreds of times, and it's not a big deal. But today the alarm didn't have the familiar "ARMED" message. Instead it had a weird error code. Which meant that I had to call the district security department. And the guy had to walk me through a process to reset the system. Which took about twenty minutes.

And then I went into the library, where we were going to hold the meeting. And someone had evidently had a meeting yesterday, and had left a huge mess. Which took another half hour to clean up.

And then we counted votes. Which usually takes about four hours, but took almost six today.

And then I went to turn on the alarm system. And the weird code from the morning came back on. And I had to call security again. And that took another fifteen minutes.

And then I went to the grocery store, because we are supposed to get eight inches of snow tonight. And the high tomorrow is supposed to be 15. I thought I should get some groceries, just in case. Almost on cue, as I left school, it began to snow. Hard.

While I was at the store, my phone rang. It was the chair of the book committee. All day, we had been using my computer, because it was the only one that was set up to print at my school. Somehow, at the end of the day, she had accidentally put my computer into her bag. She was 45 minutes away, with my computer, which I needed, so I could read the seventy essays that were submitted online yesterday. 

And so, I got back in the car, and drove halfway across town to meet her and get my computer.

And then drove 30 minutes back in a blizzard.

Definitely a "do not pass go, do not collect $200" kind of day.