Units of Measure

My son started a new math unit in school today.  His homework asked things like "what tool would you use to measure a fence around a basketball court?" and "what tool would you use to measure the strap on your backpack?"  It seemed to me somewhat odd to be focusing on the tools, rather than jumping right in and measuring stuff, but I guess it is important to know how you'll be measuring before you just try to do it.  In any case, all the talk of measuring got me thinking about how I measure things--not lengths and weights, but things like pros and cons, and time.
 
Today, I spent several hours as part of a group of moms waiting for kids, some of us friends, some just acquaintances.  I'm not used to spending hours that way, but it didn't really seem like hours. It just seemed like time.  How do you measure that?  In what you could have done had you not been sitting there?  In the pages you could have written, or the errands you could have run, or the money you didn't spend?
 
And for pros and cons--
Once upon a time, my life was at least partly on autopilot. The same job, the same bus/train commute, the same babysitters.  Nothing to do but forge ahead.  But, when the autopilot is turned off, when every decision comes with pros and cons, what tool do you use to measure those?  Is it an Excel spreadsheet, or columns on a scrap of paper?  Is it the voices in your own head, or the advice of people you trust?  And when measuring, do the pros and the cons start holding equal or unequal weight?
 
Clearly, as my son is learning, measuring is a lot more than numbers and lines on a ruler or scale.  Whether you're a third-grader or a grownup, how you measure matters at least as much as what you find when you do.  Today, my sitting for hours could be measured as a waste of time, but, with the tools I'm using, it was actually hours of new knowledge and connection flowing in, and no money flowing out.  As for the pros and cons, I can't say which holds more weight, and maybe that balance changes in every situation, just as whether I chart them in Excel or on scrap paper will change.  And while the lists will always be useful, for me, they will always go hand in hand with friends' advice and my own heart.  My units of measure might not be the most scientific, but sometimes the pieces of life aren't so scientific either.
 
I guess maybe it's good I don't have turn in worksheets to a teacher every day.