The New Plan -- Two Weeks And Counting

This year, I decided, along with my exceedingly patient wife, that it would be a very good thing for me to dedicate my life to getting in to work early. Accordingly, I have for two weeks now been setting my alarm at 6h and staggering in to the office at 7h.

Driving
Pro: It's a much more pleasant experience in the morning and, in a strange way, nostalgic: this is how dense the traffic was ten years ago at a normal time of day!

Con: The percentage of people suffering sleep deprivation just might be higher before 7h than between 8h and 9h. Be warned.

Work Efficiency
Pro: The office is much quieter for more of my day since I work in the hi-tech industry and, well, let's face it: most of these folks have never really been known as early risers.

Con: I must learn to front load my day with work more, since that valuable quiet time happens first thing in the morning.

Timing With My Real Life
Pro: I get to leave work between 15h and 16h. This is a great feeling. Plus I get to avoid the traffic density that is the 17h expressway commute. See "Driving".

Pro: I get to spend more quality time with my children. Their bedtime is about 1930h, so getting home at 1830-1900h is not very kind to them, or my wife, or me either come to that. Now I actually get to socialize with my children when they're not absolutely dead tired, and this can only be a Good Thing(tm).

Con: My bed time is starting to approach my children. Thank goodness for the PVR. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this may in the long run reduce my TV watching as well, and thus riposte this Con into a Pro. Ehhhhxcellent.

Con: It makes the Thursday trip to TO slightly more gruelling on the back end. Getting home at 2315 means sleep debt which must be made up for over the next three days, which means I can't live the high-life on the week-end. Tsk. Like I was doing that anyway.

The New Plan -- Two Weeks And Counting

This year, I decided, along with my exceedingly patient wife, that it would be a very good thing for me to dedicate my life to getting in to work early. Accordingly, I have for two weeks now been setting my alarm at 6h and staggering in to the office at 7h.

Driving
Pro: It's a much more pleasant experience in the morning and, in a strange way, nostalgic: this is how dense the traffic was ten years ago at a normal time of day!

Con: The percentage of people suffering sleep deprivation just might be higher before 7h than between 8h and 9h. Be warned.

Work Efficiency
Pro: The office is much quieter for more of my day since I work in the hi-tech industry and, well, let's face it: most of these folks have never really been known as early risers.

Con: I must learn to front load my day with work more, since that valuable quiet time happens first thing in the morning.

Timing With My Real Life
Pro: I get to leave work between 15h and 16h. This is a great feeling. Plus I get to avoid the traffic density that is the 17h expressway commute. See "Driving".

Pro: I get to spend more quality time with my children. Their bedtime is about 1930h, so getting home at 1830-1900h is not very kind to them, or my wife, or me either come to that. Now I actually get to socialize with my children when they're not absolutely dead tired, and this can only be a Good Thing(tm).

Con: My bed time is starting to approach my children. Thank goodness for the PVR. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this may in the long run reduce my TV watching as well, and thus riposte this Con into a Pro. Ehhhhxcellent.

Con: It makes the Thursday trip to TO slightly more gruelling on the back end. Getting home at 2315 means sleep debt which must be made up for over the next three days, which means I can't live the high-life on the week-end. Tsk. Like I was doing that anyway.