Since making the fork onto the startup road, I’ve been trying to balance two lives as I work to build my new company into something financially sustainable while winding down my graduate school career over the next couple of months. Today’s as typical day as any, so here’s a snapshot representing what I do most days of the week.
5:30-6:30 AM: Wake up and check the e-mail and RSS to see if anything important happened while I was asleep that I should be thinking about. Verify that the calendar and to-do list are current and up-to-date.
6:30-7:30 AM: Get ready for the day. This includes showering, getting dressed, figuring out who’s taking care of the puppy today, and getting organized for the rest of the day.
7:30-9:45 AM: Head out to my weekly piano lesson. (This is part of a collaboration with the Caltera School to create online music instruction tools.) The lesson goes from 8:00 – 9:00 AM, and it typically takes me about 45 minutes to go from the lesson to the office.
9:45 – 10:00 AM: Decompress a bit and check e-mail and RSS. Make concrete plans for what will be done over the rest of the workday.
10:00 – 1:00 PM: Program. Today, I’ll be working on a new application that helps people manage their task and to-do lists (a crowded genre if there ever was one). This project is one that I need to have in a user-deployable state by the end of the month.
1:00 – 1:30 PM: Lunch break. Fetch a Subway sandwich and bring it back to the office. Catch up on the news and e-mail while eating the sandwich. Check into World of Warcraft to see if I need to update any auctions.
1:30 – 5:00 PM: Program. I’ll continue my work on the task management application, in addition to doing some maintenance work on my open-source projects (mostly Books).
5:00 – 5:15 PM: Take a short break to assess how much work I still need to do and how much mental energy I have to do it. If I have it in me to pull a late night, resume programming. Otherwise, head out for the day. Today will likely be a late day.
5:15 – 5:45 PM: Spend some time on e-mail to keep progress moving on various projects and begin to set up a working plan for the weekend. This week, I have a server migration that I need to plan for the weekend.
5:45 – 8:15 PM: Continue programming. Around 8:00 PM, begin wrapping things up and committing the new work to the version control and backup system. Consult the 145 Wilson/Michigan Express schedule to decide which of the last busses of the night to ride home. If I’m alone in the office, lock it up and turn out the lights.
8:15 – 9:00 PM: Enjoy the scenic bus ride home. Hop off on Michigan Ave. and begin walking home. Call the wife to see if she’s had dinner and pick up something on the way home if necessary.
9:00 – 10:30 PM: Eat some dinner and knock out the daily piano practice. Decompress before bed watching something from the Tivo (typically a “Family Guy” episode). Play with the puppy a bit and get to bed. Spend a few minutes reading to wind the mind down to go to sleep.
G d+ s: a- C++$ UBL+++$ P+ L+$ E--- !W+++$ !N !o K-? w+$>+++ !O-- M++>$ !V- PS+
PE !Y+ !PGP- t+ !5 X+ !R>+ tv+ b+++ DI- D+ G e+++>++++ h---
r+++ y+++