Tired
For the entire time I've worked at my company, I've been on flex time. This basically means I can get there when I want as long as I put in my 40 hours a week. In practical terms, I usually roll in around 9:45 and leave around 6:15. Some days I get in earlier because I randomly woke up early or have to leave early or have an early meeting or whatever, but generally getting in late has been the usual pattern for the last decade. This has worked out great. I can go out to concerts and late movies without worrying about getting up early next week. I don't have to have a bed time. In the morning I can go running or check my email or take Tulip for an extra long walk with no concerns about being late.
Unfortunately, this pattern is ending, at least temporarily. My company still has flex time; the relevant policies have not changed in any way. The problem is that my company is running out of parking spaces. Today, if get there after 9:30 I have to park across the street in the lot for our second building. This is a short walk and, barring really bad weather, is not an inconvenience in the slightest. However, the second building is also running out of parking spots, and May is coming. What happens in May? A new crop of college graduates will start their first real job at my employer. Even more college students will join us for summer internships. Our 50+ interns alone will fill the available parking spots.
More parking is coming soon courtesy of a brand new building, but it is at least a few months out and maybe more depending on how much of the new lot is taken up by construction during the summer. In the meantime, the options are:
- bike in, which I hope to do a few times a week. Hopefully the bike will be purchased this weekend.
- carpool. My usual standby carpool coworker now is tied to the schedules of an infant, so that becomes more problematic.
- get up earlier so I can get there while there are still spots left. Admittedly, this pushes the problem downstream to late arrivals, but that's life for you.
So yeah, I'm going to bed closer to on time, and getting up earlier. This week the goal was to get in by 9:30 every day. In future weeks I'll push it forward. I figure it I get in by 8:15 when the interns are here I should be able to get a spot.
Since that doesn't suck quite enough, I decided this was a good week to stop eating junk food at work. I haven't had any of the free M&Ms at work in eight weeks, which I would have told you was impossible previously. This week I decided to cut out all other store bought food, with an exception for any time someone brings in Jack Frost donuts, because Jack Frost is awesome (and thankfully very occasional since it is not near work). So far so good this week. I think the "I'm cranky because of my sleep cycle being adjusted" is competing with "I'm cranky because I'm not getting as much of my sugar fix"; each helps me focus on not screwing up the other one. Or something. We'll see how long I can keep this up, but I'm hopeful that the junk food effort will stick - because after dropping M&Ms pretty much anything seem possible.
Unfortunately, this pattern is ending, at least temporarily. My company still has flex time; the relevant policies have not changed in any way. The problem is that my company is running out of parking spaces. Today, if get there after 9:30 I have to park across the street in the lot for our second building. This is a short walk and, barring really bad weather, is not an inconvenience in the slightest. However, the second building is also running out of parking spots, and May is coming. What happens in May? A new crop of college graduates will start their first real job at my employer. Even more college students will join us for summer internships. Our 50+ interns alone will fill the available parking spots.
More parking is coming soon courtesy of a brand new building, but it is at least a few months out and maybe more depending on how much of the new lot is taken up by construction during the summer. In the meantime, the options are:
- bike in, which I hope to do a few times a week. Hopefully the bike will be purchased this weekend.
- carpool. My usual standby carpool coworker now is tied to the schedules of an infant, so that becomes more problematic.
- get up earlier so I can get there while there are still spots left. Admittedly, this pushes the problem downstream to late arrivals, but that's life for you.
So yeah, I'm going to bed closer to on time, and getting up earlier. This week the goal was to get in by 9:30 every day. In future weeks I'll push it forward. I figure it I get in by 8:15 when the interns are here I should be able to get a spot.
Since that doesn't suck quite enough, I decided this was a good week to stop eating junk food at work. I haven't had any of the free M&Ms at work in eight weeks, which I would have told you was impossible previously. This week I decided to cut out all other store bought food, with an exception for any time someone brings in Jack Frost donuts, because Jack Frost is awesome (and thankfully very occasional since it is not near work). So far so good this week. I think the "I'm cranky because of my sleep cycle being adjusted" is competing with "I'm cranky because I'm not getting as much of my sugar fix"; each helps me focus on not screwing up the other one. Or something. We'll see how long I can keep this up, but I'm hopeful that the junk food effort will stick - because after dropping M&Ms pretty much anything seem possible.