Today see’s the completion of the first full week I’ve had to commute into the “office”. The “office” being a group I’m consulting for in San Francisco (rather than my normal Tahoe). It has been an interesting experience and taken a bit of getting used to, after all, I’ve never had to do a serious commute before.
Right now, with my primary job, I work from home most of the time. I telecommute so that means I have absolutely zero commute to worry about. When I do go up to Tahoe, to the regular office, I stay right next to it (within a few minutes walking). When I lived up there the farthest there was to commute was about 2 miles. In short, I’ve never had a serious daily commute.
Until this week.
Sure, I’ve commuted into the “office” previously, but this is the first time I’ve done it an entire week. Really I think it only gets easier, more autopilot. The first few times going in I was uber paranoid about missing BART, rushing my mornings, etc. Now I know better and take my time.
Really the hardest part about this entire process has been the schedule. See, I’m not a morning person. The blog gets posted at 10 AM because that is when I typically wake up. Now, with commuting, I’m in the office by 10 AM rather than just waking up. That means I have to get up at 8 and preferably catch the 9:02 BART to make it in to San Francisco by about 9:40. Getting up that early (yes, it is early for me gorram it) means I can’t go to bed at my accustomed 2 AM. Well, I can, but I’m half-zombie the next day, and I prefer to be able to get stuff done rather than slowly suffering/shuffling through the entire day.
It may seem odd to say but at this point in time I actually enjoy having a little time on BART each day. It gives me time to read, or in many cases, like this morning, write. They make all sorts of fun things (like audio books) for those that commute. Since I’ve never had a commute, I’ve never really had any particular time to enjoy those sorts of activities. Of course, by the time I’ve been doing this for a few years, I’m sure I’ll be tired of it and ready to go back to having no commute.
The biggest downside to a commute is the length of the day. If I’m getting up at 8 AM into the “office” at 10 AN, out 6 PM and home finally by 7 PM.
Between walking in SF and driving to/from BART, my total commute time is about an hour. Makes the day that much longer, but fortunately with BART, one can sleep, and there is never any traffic.
Right now, this work and commute isn’t a regular thing, it just so happened to need my attention for the entire week. It has been an interesting view, for someone like myself who’s never had to commute before. I’m fortunate in that I now know what to expect, should I work full time at a job that requires me to commute a fair distance. As long as it is mass transit like BART, it is A-OK. As much as I relish playing on my Motorcycle, if I had to drive every day… that wouldn’t be nearly as cool.