December 30, 2014 - Merry Christmas Goodbye
December 30, 2014 - Commute Day 209
Well. There it is. 209 commutes in 2014. Is that number enlightening? Not really. Interesting? I suppose. Some final thoughts on this yearlong blog right after 'the numbers':
7:30 AM - alarm. Ian was here last night to pick up Bonnie, and wanted to get up early, so hey, I actually got up at 7:30 this time. Well... 7:34
8:07 - depart house. Okay, technically it was like 8:03, but we stopped for a while trying to figure out why a light was on in his zipcar. I got a little worried we were going to have to go to Croton-Harmon, but apparently Ian drives faster than Liz. Also, no one in the roundabout this morning.
8:18 - train departs (it didn't arrive at 8:15 like it usually does though.) I read feedly, spend some very meta time trying to parse out some concluding thoughts on this blog using Evernote, and then settle into reading the forward from Kurt Vonnegut's collection of short stories: 'Look at the Birdie'. I like the idea that Kurt Vonnegut's friends enjoyed his general presence so much that there was never any expectation for him to behave a certain way-- he was just wonderful to have around.
9:23 - hey a little early. cool. no problem finding a bike.
9:37 - arrive at office. See what's happening?
Total commute time this morning: 1:30 !!!
Ding ding ding! Finally got it down to 1:30. Again, there's a little bit of cheating going on, but come on, it's my last day! Ah, well, cool, I say.
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So, The End. Some final thoughts:
It's been an incredible year, and it really feels like I'm on the precipice of something new and even more exciting. The holidays were a whirlwind, and I met one of the most inspiring individuals of my young life-- gentleman by the name of Michael Jager. There's so much I could say about him and my experience with him, but since this is a commute blog, let me just say this: if I knew he and his company existed, I never would have felt the need to get out of Vermont.
Commute wise, this blog followed exactly the story I wanted; the transfer from my Brooklyn commute to a somewhere-up-north commute. I still can't believe I own a freakin' house and I'm out of Brooklyn. What a world.
Insight wise, I'm not sure what it's done yet. I suppose I've been a little more self aware of my days, and no doubt the knowledge that I'll be writing in a "public" forum has skewed me toward being more productive. Having that work laptop made a big difference-- I remember dreaming about being able to do something like edit videos on my way to work, and thought that would be a long time from now since I didn't expect to be able to afford a new laptop.
How do I define a productive commute now? Creating something. Reading can be productive, but only if it's active and critical, and not just because I feel like I need a break. Still, I try to practice productive procrastination, always balancing multiple projects so if I don't feel like working on one I can jump to another.
Very fitting that I'm writing this on my final blogged commute, albeit using Swype on my phone because I couldn't be bothered to bring the work laptop today (I hope no one needs it!)
Has my writing improved? That was never really a goal, but they say you should write every day, and this is the most consistent writing I've done in a while, though March 2012 - 2013 I kind of had a daily 'bullet point' thing going.
Has my audience grown? Undoubtedly, no. But this was always first a foremost something for myself (I imagine reading more than 10 of my commutes in a row is a recipe for sleep.) If anyone else got a kick out of following my commute-related exploits over the year, then great! Happy to be of service.
In the future if I want to do a year long blog, I think it would be a cool idea to set a rubric of questions at the beginning then answer them all at the end, kind of like what I'm doing here, except I never
Fair commuters, I bid you farewell. May the train of life take you on an ever expanding journey of knowledge and bliss. Please continue to follow my exploits at blog.alexcoulombe.com, and at youtube.com/ibrews. I think my next year long exploit will be something like weekly videos. We'll see!