Routine Interrupted

My department is open 8am to 9pm, which means one (potentially reluctant) person has to be there until 9pm.  We have one lady who likes that shift well enough to work it three weeks out of the month; the one remaining week is covered through a rotation with the other four of us. This week it was my turn. 

I absolutely hate working until 9pm.  My commute is an hour, but I can cut it down to 30 minutes if I pay for toll roads.  A year's worth of toll road tolls, even just one way, is over $1,000, so yeah, I'm not spending that.  But I do pony up the cashe maybe one day every couple of weeks if there's a pressing reason, like if I am sick or in a big hurry.  Or if I have to work until freakin' 9:00pm.

Greg and I are both big fans of boring routine, which is proof that we are elderly.  At around 6 we have dinner together (Greg usually cooks), we hang out and talk, we go on our computer(s) and check email and Facebook (during which time we IM each other interesting links or pictures).  At 8:00pm I call Mom.  At 8:15 or so we give the kitty some treats, this is now mandatory even though I have begun to question the wisdom of starting up that particular habit.  (Siamese cats are sure noisy if they want something.)  Then Greg and I and the kitty get cozy on the couch and watch tv.  Around 9:30 or 10 we start to get ready for bed, and then we sit in bed reading until around 11:00pm.

Getting home at 10pm blows that away completely.  Taking the toll roads and getting home at 9:30pm is a little better, but not much.  I really miss our dinner time and our hanging out time and tv time.  I do not necessarily miss kitty treat time, although I do miss kitty curled up on my lap time.

Next week I am back on an early shift, and I am extremely glad that this work week is OVER.


I hate to say that there are any good parts about having the late shift, such is the intensity of my loathing, but it has given me extra time to work out in the morning. My new Denise Austin dvd has a 5-minute stretching warm-up, four different intense 10-minute cardio workouts, and a 5-minute stretching cool-down. This week I've been doing the two 5-min stretching and two of the cardio, for a total workout time of 30 minutes.  I've been sweating a lot more. And I've actually been liking it! Next week I will have to get up appallingly early if I want to continue, so we'll see how that goes.    

It sure would be nice to have a job with the same hours every week.