While Sunday’s snow storm wasn’t quite as bad as advertised (I don’t see 20 inches of snow on the ground) it did snow a lot. And then we had freezing rain, which has made digging out harder. Maneuvering cars up and down the driveway has been a process. Yesterday I wound up digging a car out of a snowdrift.
The kids had virtual school Monday and Tuesday. I was sitting with the 6-year-old on Monday morning for virtual kindergarten and I was definitely having flash backs of Covid as the teachers were patiently reminding the children how to un-mute themselves. Fortunately they were back to normal school (not “fake school” as my 6-year-old put it) on Wednesday. Unfortunately: the temperature dropped to frigid levels. It’s been single digits every morning. So the snow isn’t going anywhere. I’ve been appreciating the difference between 10 degrees and 20 degrees. It feels significant.
Anyway, my “Vanderhack” this morning (over at Substack, partially behind the paywall) is about how to “Upgrade your monthly planning routine.” I did my usual weekly planning this morning, looking forward to the next week, and then tightening the weekend plan. However, I have been trying to at least think about the arc of each month, even if I don’t do detailed monthly planning, and I’ve been trying to both look back (on the previous month) and look forward.
January has been something. I woke up on January 1st on San Christobal island in the Galapagos, and then took a speed boat over to Santa Cruz. We got to see the giant tortoises that afternoon so that was definitely a memorable start to the year. The time tracking challenge was the big professional thing for the month. The snowstorm and its aftermath have shaped a lot of this last week.
Looking forward to the next month, there’s nothing big in terms of trips coming up, even though the kids have 3 days off for President’s Day weekend. Between the Galapagos and then spring break happening in late March I couldn’t plan anything else. But I have a few local things happening that long weekend that should be fun. I’m looking forward to watching the winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. It’s the rare month where the goal is to watch more TV, but this February that is my goal. Professionally I’d like to have a lot of the fodder for Golden Hours in hand by the end of the month, and I’m laying the groundwork for promoting Big Time (which will be out in May). In some ways it will be a quiet month, but that’s probably OK. The time will get filled.
Do you do monthly planning? How is February shaping up for you?
