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@productivecommuting
Daily Commute - Philipstown, NY to NYC
Hey look! It’s my new commute. Door to door. Car, train, citibike, walk. 1 hour and 40 minutes, compressed to 1 minute and 40 seconds. Not to scale. Captured using framelapse. Music by Mat Coulombe https://soundcloud.com/pitch-bender-1
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.
---------------------------------------------------------
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!
December 23, 2014 - Madness Morning
December 23, 2014 - Commute Day 208
Yesterday was all preparation for our big trip today. The plan: get to work early, leave super early, have Liz drop off Bonnie in Fishkill, pick me up in Beacon, and head to New Hampshire (then Vermont) for the holidays.
5:45 AM - alarm. Yay, I manage to get up!
6 AM - depart house.
6:15 AM - train departs. I sleep for a fair amount of the ride, but also read feedly and pocket.
7:22 AM - train arrives in GCT. Surprisingly, there's no citibikes. I walk up to the 40th and 5th station. The city feels surprisingly quiet at this time.
7:37 AM - arrive at office. Curious how much I can get done and how early I can leave.
Total commute time this morning: 1:37
December 22, 2014 - T-minus 3 commutes...
December 22, 2014 - Commute Day 207
Wow!! The year is really winding down. And while this was a pretty crappy year for a lot of people (and especially the world at large-- some truly terrible events everywhere...) I am incredibly grateful for the year I've had. Especially these last couple weeks have really been fabulous in terms of wrapping up various concerns hanging over my head, and I feel maybe more fresh than ever for approaching that artificial time stamp we call the new year.
7:30 - alarm
7:55 - get out of bed
8:03 - depart in Mazda. The roads are surprisingly good~! (there was snow this weekend)
8:18 - train departs. I work on my synopsis of Dystopiapiapia for a couple of the competitions I'm submitting it to. After getting it to a point I was fairly happy with, I read various stuff about the Hobbit in my Pocket app. I think most of the critics are on the same page as I am-- entertaining, strong battle orchestration, but not enough character work done to make us really care about the characters and their plight-- particularly the ones who died.
9:26 - train arrives in GCT. I quickly buy my January pass (so I don't forget), enjoy the stress-load taken off my brain for that (and enjoy knowing that transitchek will be aiding all of my future purchases), and grab the last Citibike on my way to work. No issues there, and I enjoy listening to the 2010 WTF Louis CK episode with Marc Maron.
9:41 - arrive at the office
Total commute time this morning: 1:38
December 19, 2014 - A 70 page epilogue?
December 19, 2014 - Commute Day 206
GOT MY COMPUTER WORKING!! Couldn't really title the post that since it has nothing to do with my commute, but just wanted to say that I had the incredibly rare scenario of receiving two faulty motherboards in a row. The third one I got (ASUS Sabertooth 990FX) was great because it has little LEDs that tell you what slot/component is causing boot issues. To be fair, I DID have to wipe my drive and start over with Windows 8.1 (which I think is okay... I really haven't used my computer that much since swapping in the Solid State Drive), but for goodness sake, I'm just so glad to have it working now! Went to bed at like 2 AM though (just really wanted to see the startup screen. And I did!).
7:30 - alarm
7:45 - get out of bed
8:01 - depart house with Liz in Mazda. We talk about welfare.
8:17 - train departs (ooo, early). I don't have the laptop with me since last night I brought home my new (working!) motherboard, and today I'm bringing back the second nonworking motherboard. Anyway, I spent the whole train ride reading As You Wish, and thought it strange when around page 168 or so things were starting to wind down. The movie is out, Cary is talking about how grateful he was for this experience, and then a few pages later, I see these words: 'EPILOGUE'. What? This book is like 244 pages. How are we at the epilogue so soon? It's funny-- in a real book I would just flip through the pages quickly, but with an ebook that's kind of hard. So for now-- mystery! 70 page epilogue, or some kind of bonus chapter... like Buttercup's Baby?
9:28 - the train stopped a few times, so I guess that accounts for our lateness. So weird though-- even on days when we seem to be cruising along, we never arrive close to on time. Some kind of inevitable bottleneck?
9:30 - boo, no Citibikes. I walk to 5th and 40th (I think the 41st and Madison one disappeared!). Grab a bike, put on NPR talking about 'Patient Zero' of ebola, typhoid Mary, and HIV/AIDs (cheerful morning stuff!), and head to my office.
9:48 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 1:47
December 18, 2014 - A new record! (but not the good kind...)
December 18, 2014 - Commute Day 205
Decided that I’ve been getting to work on time so much lately, that I deserve a day to sleep in a little (weird mentality right?) Well that totally backfired. Oh well... I’m grateful I don’t work in a job where I’m in danger of being fired for being (ridiculously) late one day.
7:30 AM - alarm. I hit snooze instead of dismiss.
7:40 - alarm. I hit snooze instead of dismiss then wake myself up enough to properly hit dismiss.
9:12 - wake up. Oh boy. I try to check the phone to see when the next train is, but it’s not loading. Suddenly I see it’s at 9:39, and freak out a little... it’s barely enough time where I think maybe we could catch it. Ugh.
9:17 - depart. Liz isn’t quite as aggressive a driver as me, so we have a few slow moments.
9:38 - we see the train arriving at Peekskill and feel pretty confident we don’t catch it. I suggest that maybe we try to catch the Cortlandt train, but going the route where we don’t loop back a bunch. Pretty quickly though, we learn the direct route to Cortlandt is a dumb one... mostly speed limit 30, and even 20 at one point since you pass the school.
9:44 - we arrive in Cortlandt, and Liz says to text her once I’m on the train. 10 seconds later, I see the train pulling away, so I go back outside, and see Liz driving off in the distance. What the heck? Oh well, I figure the next train can’t be more than half an hour from now. Nope! It’s not until 10:40. I try desperately to get a hold of Liz in hopes that she can bring me to Croton-Harmon (or back to peekskill), but no dice. Oh well... I try to get some stuff done, even downloading a sketchup model from work, hoping to receive some kind of useful direction so I can feel like I’m using this time productively, but nope. Oh well, definitely one of those moments where it’s a good test to let go of that which I have no control over (though I did briefly consider walking (nope, 5 miles) or a taxi (is it really worth it?). I give myself a B.
10:40 - train departs. I write a bunch of this stuff and work on Dystopiapiapia editing. I’m falling into more of a rhythm now. It’s easy when all I do is watch until I see something I don’t like, then try to fix it. Good stuff.
11:41 - train arrives in Grand Central. What? But it... made extra stops. So confusing. Express from Tarrytown, apparently good luck! Oh well, no Citibike trouble. Well... the seat was kind of high :)
12:01 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 2:44 Wow. Lesson of the day? No more Cortlandt!
December 17, 2014 - Dystopiapiapia Really Digging In
December 17, 2014 - Commute Day 204
Still no dice with my computer. Last night Ian and Lindsay dropped their dog Bonnie off with us. It should be a fun week with her, but she can also be loud. Good thing we're not in an apartment anymore!
7:30 - alarm. I hit dismiss.
7:50 - oh crap I need to drive myself to work today! Bah! Get up quick!
8:03 - I depart the house on my own in the Mazda. Liz and I for the first time are using separate cars today! Road is muddy.
8:15 - arrive at the train station just as the train is arriving, but ah crap it looks like I don't have time to put money in the meter. Also I can't find metered parking! Looks like I'm risking it and not putting money in. I run to the train and, after falling over and having trouble getting back up (heavy laptop bag), make it onto the train.
8:18 - train departs. I find a comfy seat with leg room so I can stretch out and use my laptop. I'm really not in the mood to work, so guess what? I start editing Dystopiapiapia and things go great. I basically just start at the beginning of the movie on Night 3, watch until I see something I would like to see improved, then search the other nights for a good, matching camera angle. Fun!
9:25 - train arrives at GCT. No trouble finding a bike. I listen to Benedict Cumberbatch on Nerdist-- what a cool, grateful, grounded guy. I'll never forget how excited I was the first time I heard his name spoken out loud.
9:38 - I feel kind bad taking the last open citibike spot when another woman is struggling with one of the dead ones, but there wasn't really a way to reserve mine for her (other side of the station), and if I had to bike to another station it kind of negates the point of me leaving the house and risking a parking ticket when I did (so I can leave on time). So I feel bad, but there it is.
9:42 - arrive at office after a nice chat with Jules Fisher on the elevator about marketing my Oculus Rift/ Google Cardboard skills.
Total commute time this morning: 1:39
December 16, 2014 - Reading Good
December 16, 2014 - Commute Day 203
Holiday party was great last night. Didn't bring my laptop home, so no book for this morning. Also was hoping I'd be able to get my computer up and running, but the second motherboard I've bought still doesn't seem to be doing it's job. Really down to the wire on ideas... if I ever manage to solve what the issue is I'd love to tell myself!
7:30 - alarm. I check for some of the answers provided thus far on my computer issue. Nothing I haven't already thought of.
7:53 - get out of bed.
8:03 - depart house
8:18 - train departs (barely caught it due to some backup at the roundabout today). I spend the commute reading about the making of the Princess Bride, which is interesting less for Cary Elwes amateurish writing and moreso to contrast the content of his stories with the content of William Goldman's stories in his books. It's cool to see how they perceive(d) each other.
9:26 - train arrives in GCT. No problem with citibike. Listen to the indoor kids talking to the great John Francis Daly. He talked about he plays old games to take his mind off writing (or to zone out), and that they're nice because they don't suck you in the way newer games do.
9:41 - arrive at elevator... but one is broken again. gaa. takes forever...
9:48 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 1:45
December 15, 2014 - Holiday Party Video Dichotomy
December 15, 2014 - Commute Day 202
Was going to work on my office holiday video over the weekend, but instead just ended up watching the extended first two Hobbit movies with Liz, and began editing them down. They're great movies with some of the fat and more egregious moments trimmed off!
7:30 - alarm
7:51 - roll out of bed
8:01 - depart
8:18 - train departs. I throw together footage from my various oculus videos into something that I hope will be presentable for our holiday party. I realize that it's probably good to keep things low key this year, as if I do something epic, every year I'll be expected to top what I did the year before. This is better!
9:23 - train arrives at GCT. Oh god! They've removed one of the Citibike stations... uh oh. Well, at least there's some at the 43rd St. one.
9:41 - arrive at office with a bunch of other FDA folk. Whoosh!
Total commute time this morning: 1:40
December 12, 2014 - Dystopiapiapia Draft 2893
December 12, 2014 - Commute Day 201
Packed up my motherboard last night and am shipping it back to NewEgg today. I hope that's what's broken and not anything else!
7:30 AM - alarm. OKAY I'm getting up, gosh darnit.
7:55 - really get up.
8:06 - depart. we see the train arriving, so decide to go the extra mile (or 10) and run over to Croton. Could have made it to Cortlandt, but we played it safe.
8:33 - train departs Croton. I'm trying to keep up a habit now of having a simple, half-hour task where if I complete it, I can do something more relaxing like reading. After procrastinating by running through feedly, I tried to get myself to apply to a playwriting competition (always a struggle for some reason), and found that I needed something like Adobe Acrobat. So I decided to take another look at Dystopiapiapia (since that's what I'd be submitting) and hey! Guess what? There were things I wanted to change. Cool! Worked on Act 1 for most of the trip, then once we got underground I switched to listening to 'Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan,' where they basically just made me glad that I stopped watching Sleep Hollow.
9:26 - train arrives at GCT. I'm carrying my NewEgg box so no biking.
9:34 - delayed 6 train departs.
9:49 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 1:43
December 11, 2014 - The Nutcracker
December 11, 2014 - Commute Day 200!
We saw the Nutcracker last night. It was great! I was grinning like a 5-year-old when I saw the tree.
7:30 AM - alarm. Vowed to get up. One snooze.
7:40 - okay. Dismiss. Gonna get up.
8:03 - WHA?! Ah crap. Well, open the window-- hey snow!
8:20 - depart after scraping our first ice off the car!
8:44 - train departs. I type up my thoughts on the Nutcracker, motivated by promising myself I can read as soon as I'm done. It worked! Spent about half the train ride reading Mother Night.
9:47 - arrive at GCT. No problem getting a Citibike or parking. Not really any snow in NYC.
10:03 - arrive at office
Total commute time this morning: 1:43
December 10, 2014 - Brain Calm
December 10, 2014 - Commute Day 199
Last night our pseudo-neighbor Andrew picked me up from the train station and we scoped out the upstairs of the extension in our house as a possible music room. Then I cooked risotto... or some mushy cheesy thing that had most of the same ingredients as risotto. Also, strangely, possibly the most exciting moment of my night was a finding a small plastic black thing that I thought was broke but actually wasn't and goes to the motherboard that I'm returning. So that means I don't have to worry about a restocking fee or anything like that. And... somehow I didn't feel sleepy at 12:30, so I read for like half an hour.
7:30 - alarm. Barely remember. Meant to hit snooze but hit dismiss by accident.
8:30 - ah crap. oh well. I pet the animals for a bit since I have no chance of catching the 8:42
8:55 - depart
9:13 - train departs. I didn't bring my laptop since Liz and I are going to see the NYC ballet production of The Nutcracker tonight and I didn't want to be lugging around the extra (really not much) weight of the laptop. Also after finishing Terra Neo I recognize I need to give my brain a beat to calm down. So I read feedly, the end of Adventures in the Screen Trade, and some more of Mother Night. As we got close to Grand Central I switched over to listening to the Firewall and Iceberg podcast talking about The Walking Dead midseason finale and their relative disappointment.
10:18 - train arrives. No trouble getting a citibike or parking. a little rainy.
10:34 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 1:39
December 9, 2014 - Catching up on Writing
December 9, 2014- Commute Day 198
Still can't figure out how to fix the motherboard I bought over Black Friday, so I have to assume it really is dead. Too bad! Went to bed too late.
7:30 AM - alarm
8:46 - roll out of bed.
9:02 - depart house. Super icy! We take it slow.
9:17 - arrive at train station. Nope. We wait around for the next train.
9:39 - train departs. I work on writing my 'The River' review. Was editing Dystopiapiapia but the playback rate has been weirdly inconsistent.
10:44 - train arrive at GCT. Not biking-- train for the first time in a while. Like an idiot, I go uptown in stead of downtown. Yikes. At least I'm listening to a fun Jeff Rubin podcast about Marvel movie and how they rank.
11:11 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 2:09
December 8, 2014 - TERRA NEO FINALIZATION!
December 8, 2014 - Commute Day 197
Winding down! Only a couple weeks left of this. I feel like I should start being profound or something. After all this time you'd think I'd have reached some transcendent state (repetition is good, right?) But alas, it's still very much a chore. But it will certainly be interesting to look back on my 'year of commute blogging', which of course features my shift into home-ownership. And slightly less interesting will be looking back on a google doc file I did last year that had me listing a few 'things I did' each day in a bid to make me more self-aware of how I was spending my time. Anyway...
7:30 AM - alarm.
7:49 - get out bed.
8:05 - depart in Pathfinder. That's our thing now.
8:18 - train departs. No fooling around with feedly; I am up and at 'em super quick with the rules of Terra Neo Deluxe and wrapping up the immense amount of work I put into it yesterday. I get a LOT done.
9:26 - train arrive at GCT. No trouble getting a bike or parking. Terra Neo is buzzing in my brain, so I don't bother with music or anything.
9:40 - arrive at elevator. Made good time! But then I had to wait for a bit...
9:44 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 1:39
December 5, 2014 - Diagrammatizing
December 5, 2014 - Commute Day 196
Thought I was gonna finish building my computer last night, but nope! It's turning on and the fans are running, but no beeping and no BIOS. Hmm.
7:30 AM - alarm goes off
8:14 - roll out of bed.
8:25 - depart in Pathfinder.
8:44 - train departs. I work on incorporating feedback from Morgan and Dan on Terra Neo. I have an Upgrade Card design I really like now, and I've created 'diagrammatic' versions of all of the land hexes. Also jamming out to Mat Coulombe's soundcloud.
9:46 - train arrives at GCT. Still listening to Patton on You Made it Weird. Enjoying the religion discussion, and openly talking about the Bill Cosby thing, which apparently was a poorly-kept secret in the comedy world for years. No Citibike issues to report.
10:04 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 1:39
December 4, 2014 - Brain fry read
December 4, 2014 - Commute Day 195
Last night I saw Hugh Jackman (pictured running in the avatar for this blog) in 'The River', which I liked. I didn't want to deal with the extra weight in my bag, so I left the work laptop at work. Also began assembling my new computer, pretty late into the night. Oh, and we're driving our 2001 Nissan Pathfinder now!
7:30 AM - alarm. Ha, nope.
8:46 - roll out of bed.
8:55 - depart in Pathfinder-- feels bumpier but safer on our road :P
9:14 - train departs. I read lots of 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' and listen to more You Made it Weird, starting a Patton Oswalt episode.
10:16 - train arrives at GCT. No problem getting a Citibike or parking (last spot at 18th Street!)
10:32 - arrive at office.
Total commute time this morning: 1:37
December 3, 2014 - Video Editing & Terra Neo
December 3, 2014 - Commute Day 194
Last night we watched Jurassic Park, and then, probably because I didn't get anything done during that, I had a last-minute jolt of energy and used it to finish my 'Our Lives, Our Time' how-to video. I set it to render and went to bed, a little after 1:30
7:30 AM - alarm. Nope.
8:14 - get out of bed.
8:25 - depart. We got this garage thing worked out!
8:44 - train departs. I watch the video from last night, make a few edits, then set it off rendering again. Meanwhile I (mostly) finish the terra neo rules. Productive!
9:46 - train arrives at GCT. No problem getting a Citibike! I listen more to Harris Wittles on You Made it Weird. No problem parking (though I went right to 16th street)
10:01 - arrive at office and... there's no one else here!
Total commute time this morning: 1:36