California schemin'
I flew out to California on Monday morning, and back on Saturday. The point of the trip was to scheme and get brain-dumps regarding a new project my team is taking on -- and it was also my first trip to the Mothership in a while, due to various other things taking up my mental travel budget in the last two quarters.
They rhythm of the days is completely different in California. They have... they have... meetings in the morning, and I mean like all the time. I realize this is a normal business day, that I've become very used to the east-coast ramifications of being 3 hours shifted off of normal.
Here's how it goes in the East, roughly:
* Morning is for working, working out, sleeping in, being productive or lazy. Only once or twice is there a meeting, particularly local Hiring Committee. There's a smallish pile of email to bash through, and one does.
* At noon the Mothership wakes up (9AM there), and there is a block of meeting-heavy time until perhaps 5 or 6. Emails are also flying. Maybe a few code reviews, but not too many.
* In early evening one eats dinner or takes a circus class, and/or just commutes home or works out at the gym.
* One logs back on from the couch and oh, THERE is the pile of code reviews for the day, kicked out by Mothershippers in their afternoon / my early evening. Also, more emails, ditto. One does the reviews, because the authors may themselves log in later in their evening and one doesn't want to delay them; then one does email until sleepy.
See how pulsed that is? Not perfect, but it's definitely possible to take the day in reasonably focused phases. California, no, it's confusingly all mashed up, and meetings happen ALL DAY so I have no idea when workouts are supposed to happen. I only worked out twice -- should have scheduled more aggressively. I avoided evening engagements and fun things (just had lunch with three friends), and just slept early and heavily. A smooth business trip, kept my brain working; I'd say overall it was productive but lonely, and I'm amazingly glad to be home again.
They rhythm of the days is completely different in California. They have... they have... meetings in the morning, and I mean like all the time. I realize this is a normal business day, that I've become very used to the east-coast ramifications of being 3 hours shifted off of normal.
Here's how it goes in the East, roughly:
* Morning is for working, working out, sleeping in, being productive or lazy. Only once or twice is there a meeting, particularly local Hiring Committee. There's a smallish pile of email to bash through, and one does.
* At noon the Mothership wakes up (9AM there), and there is a block of meeting-heavy time until perhaps 5 or 6. Emails are also flying. Maybe a few code reviews, but not too many.
* In early evening one eats dinner or takes a circus class, and/or just commutes home or works out at the gym.
* One logs back on from the couch and oh, THERE is the pile of code reviews for the day, kicked out by Mothershippers in their afternoon / my early evening. Also, more emails, ditto. One does the reviews, because the authors may themselves log in later in their evening and one doesn't want to delay them; then one does email until sleepy.
See how pulsed that is? Not perfect, but it's definitely possible to take the day in reasonably focused phases. California, no, it's confusingly all mashed up, and meetings happen ALL DAY so I have no idea when workouts are supposed to happen. I only worked out twice -- should have scheduled more aggressively. I avoided evening engagements and fun things (just had lunch with three friends), and just slept early and heavily. A smooth business trip, kept my brain working; I'd say overall it was productive but lonely, and I'm amazingly glad to be home again.