A lot of people are "uh-oh"ing the commute, which I guess makes sense. Back in the Macromedia days, I would have already been updating the resume, looking to jump. Not really my scene now. I mean, I’m not fond of the commute by any means, but it doesn’t really bother me.

I’m really coming around to think that projection is a big issue in everyone’s life. When I read Oasis, I see people get the life they anticipate over and over again. If you say your friends won’t handle it well and such, they typically don’t. But I don’t think it’s the friends, but the energy you bring to the equation, that is what they are actually reacting to.

So, with the commute, I spend a lot of time managing it. There are very constant patterns to it. I know how long it will be each day. I know when I will get to work, and when I have to leave work to catch the shuttle I want. To bring any negativity into the mix would only poison something that can’t be avoided right now. So, I just bring a book and read. Finished two books on the commute already.

But, given how little of my day there is once the commute is finished, I don’t think I’ll be doing much work on the train. When I get into Sf now, I am totally unwound, refreshed, and ready to come home, take a bath, unwind, watch some TV, and well, by then it’s usually time to go back to bed.

If I had the laptop fired up and I was cranking stuff out until the last minute on the train, I would need to decompress in that small chunk of time, as well. And… there just isn’t enough of it left to go that route. Not dong contract work, novel work, or anything else while on the train either. Now, if 24 hour fitness had a treadmill car? Sure, I’d be ready to get off the train all sweaty and have that banged off the list with no doubt.

Things that have gotten no attention this week are obvious: the gym and the novel. Neither are minor things, and I’m only giving them a 2-week grace period before they have to find their way back into the schedule.

Lots of suggestions on reducing the commute, none of which seem to change the variables all that much. One is taking BART from 16th and Mission to Millbrae to chop off some of the train walk. As I take an Express Train it makes good time, so I think I would save less than 10 minutes here, and spend more money doing it.

The bike is popular, via your e-mail responses, as it also addresses the gym aspect, gives me something a bit more physical to do than walk and sit for parts of the commute. I think the bike only saves me time on the SF to Caltrain side. Most people at work say it takes them 15-20 minutes to bike casually from the station, which is exactly the length of the shuttle. So, I only save maybe 10 minutes on this side, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t really adding up to much.

Having a bike on the Palo Alto side would allow me more flexibility in getting from the office to the train, but with the length of the commute as it is right now, I can’t really see spending too much longer at the office. My free time is less than three hours a day now, so not really looking to slice that down yet until something else gives.

I do think I’ve poorly advertised how well the 18 months off did me. I would never have been this calm doing this commute before. I recall dreading the InfoWorld commute to San Mateo, which is the midway point of my current train ride, but now it is just relaxing and fun.

I also realize how different I remain from certain aspects of these jobs, since there is a commonality among techy jobs that is pretty constant. One thing is… I’m really not a multitasker. Not trying to become better at it. Don’t think anyone is good at it, really. I’m convinced that the long hours at most jobs is from people poorly juggling 12 things simultaneously, instead of doing one thing, finishing it; doing the next thing, finishing it… which is how I tend to work. Not in a rigid way or anything, but the odds of me checking e-mail while writing a document while browsing a website and thinking I’m firing on all cylinders? One man’s firing on all cylinders is another’s spinning his wheels.

Not that I’m judging. My path certainly puts you in the minority. But it’s a calm minority.

Again, it is all part of the projection… you decide your own fate every time you visualize your future. So, if you don’t like your life, stop forcing it down that path.

PS: Started Hemingway today. Easy to read, although I keep waiting for it to "kick in," you know? I may be waiting in vain. Anyway, just like how he uses semicolons in quotes to show disinterest, and shrink the pause less than a period would allow. So, if a character interrupts the person who is talking and the person talking is placating him with an answer, but wanting to jump back into his story, he just does a quick "No; listen, Jack. I was saying that I went down to the…" Just dug that semicolon on the commute down to work this morning. I guess I’m getting enough sleep (or caffeine) if I’m able to parse sentences and have fun with it that early in the morning. Going to InfoWorld, I used to be nodding off the whole time.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 at 8:41 pm and is filed under diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.