A Good Day

You know what? Today was a pretty good day. I figure I complain enough that I ought to point out when everything goes well for 24 hours.

I didn't delight too much in the NCAA basketball championship loss of the local university's team, but it did make me smile. (Still, I learned my lesson about enjoying the schadenfreude when the Buckeyes are on the losing side of the scoreboard.) I would have been OK with them winning, although the way the fans latched onto it as a way to soothe their battered egos over the football championship loss had me pulling for Florida.

I finished 6th out of 16 with my bracket in the movie nerd pool. I correctly picked three of the Final Four teams, which isn't bad considering I didn't pay nearly as much attention to college ball this year.

I got a lot of knitting done during the game and have decreased to 87 stitches per row for the blanket. I knitted a few rows with the third skein, so I'm in the home stretch.

But back to today... I was very productive at work due to the item that may be my saving grace: a daily planner. My usual method for keeping track of everything has been trying to remember it all. I do a pretty good job of recalling essential information, but as I've found now that I've used the planner for three days, it's exhausting filing all of that in my head and hoping I'll retrieve it when needed. I also combine the memory method with the multiple scraps of paper method. It isn't very efficient.

I thought I'd dedicate myself to using a planner despite previous efforts writing things on a calendar that I never checked. I'm not just filling in hours with appointments but making lists of things to do during the day. Having a clear view of what I hope to accomplish during the day and what can wait until another day gives me a manageable list of tasks that I want to check off. You know what? I did get to most of them. Completing everything on the daily lists is wishful thinking at this point--too many reviews to write--but I can plan my week better. The improvisational approach is fine in some situations, but it isn't the best motivator.

One of the things that wasn't on the list but became a reality before I left the office was a long-needed restructuring of how we do the news. (For those unclear as to what I do for a living, I'm in charge of production at a college/community cable channel.) I killed our weekly half hour news show effective this fall. It's not served viewers or the students as well as it should. I've been dissatisfied with it for a long time and tend to get very stressed out on the one day we tape it.

My solution is to find five student producers and five to ten anchors. One producer and one or two anchors will be assigned a weekday to assemble a five-minute newscast for the quarter's ten weeks. It ought to be a better learning experience that delivers more valuable content to viewers. At the end of the week we can still compile all five updates into a show if desired. Also, it should reduce my workload or at least get me out of the office earlier. I'm very excited to see how this works in practice.

If that wasn't enough, Fountains of Wayne released a new album today. I haven't had time to give it a thorough listen, but their blend of pop arrives at the right time of the season. I got an unexpected thank you note in the mail, something which wasn't necessary yet made me feel good.

I could have topped the day with the promo screening of Grindhouse, a movie I'm eager to see, but rather than arrive early, get stuck afterwards in the parking garage, and add an estimated hour and a half onto the film's three hours, I elected to see Are We Done Yet? I hated Are We There Yet?, but the sequel, while thoroughly mediocre, was OK. (I'll take that in this case.) You know where to find my review. Yes, that means I also got my review written today!

I don't know that anything earth-shattering happened today, but the accumulation of small victories, surprises, and achievements added up. I'm not going to take a day like this for granted.