New Schedule

Wednesday 4 March 2009
0500

I've been trying something new, and so far it's working well. I decided to become semi-nocturnal.

Up until now I had adopted a routine of getting up a bit earlier in the morning (0430 instead of 0530), doing PT, and getting over to the MWR/USO building by about 0600 to get on the internet. This gave me a couple of hours online when there was a reasonable chance my kids might be awake at home (0600 here is 10 PM eastern time). After work, I'd have dinner and come back over here around 1900 or so, and spend another couple of hours online before going back and going to bed.

There were a few problems with this routine. One was that the time online here in the evening was in the middle of the day at home, which meant my kids were in school. Also, it is extremely noisy here in the evening and very hard to concentrate on anything or talk over Skype and similar services.

So the other day, a light bulb came on and I thought "why not push my morning even earlier?" I tried it and it seems to work. I start off by going to bed at around 1830, right after dinner. Then I wake up at 0230 and do PT, come back and shower, and am able to get over to the USO/MWR facility by about 0400. It seems to be working pretty well so far, although my sleep rhythms have been a little off. Once I get used to it I'll probably get more high-quality sleep in less time than I am right now.

My new routine has several very positive effects:

1) It gives me about 4 hours online, from 8 PM to midnight back home, so I have a better chance to see my kids on school days instead of just weekends. (Downside - I can't chat with Claire while she's on her laptop and bored in class - but that may be a positive for her....)

2) It's *quiet* here in the morning! Far fewer people, and no loud music or bands or kaoroke or anything. I can't overstate the value of that. I have been so miserable sitting in here at night when it's packed with people and so loud you can't hear yourself think...

3) I do PT at the coolest part of the day. It's starting to heat up already, and before too long we'll have days where it doesn't go below 100 even at night. But at 0230 it will be as cool as it's going to get.

4) No more beer. I have gotten back into the habit of having a beer almost every night. While I don't regard that as especially harmful, it does add calories that I have to burn off. And it seems the older I get, the harder it is to keep the calories from adding weight around my middle. Abstinence may be the best policy. :-)

So - better PT, fewer empty calories, and quiet internet time at a more reasonable hour at home. Why didn't I think of this before?

Mood: Happy
Music: None