Saturday, November 15, 2008

First week

Live, It's saturday night!
 
I had my first week working two daily jobs. Previously I had worked my main job and other odd jobs that did not require daily presence or scheduled time to work.
 
In all I think it was a good week. By friday I had a good schedule set. I learned that I can get up at 6:30 with little or no help from alarm clocks or my daughters actually, they are my alarm clock :-)
 
At that moment I just put on pants and a shirt and drive them out to school and then I drive back home. Between preparing, driving out and driving back home I arrive at 7:00 to 7:15 at my home again.
 
The first few days I tried to rush to get ready and leave for work. That involved breakfast, shower and clothing. I left home at 7:30 the earliest and 7:50 the latest.
However regardless of the time , I always faced massive traffic on the "anillo periferico". So I always ended up getting into the office at 8:30am, it was amazing how I always got at that time during 4 days.
 
I took advice from a friend that told me to stay home longer and leave at 8:20 or 8:30. So on friday I did so and took the extra time to do odd things at home and to take a bit more time for myself to reflect on the day ahead.
 
Then I was suprised. I left precisely at 8:29am and arrived at the office at 8:44am. That was only 15 minutes instead of the 30 to 60 minutes it took to get to work if I left sooner!
 
Fortunately I have now enabled myself to work remotely from almost any internet connection so if needed early I could log on from home and do some work while 8:30 rolls around and then disconnect, drive and connect again from the office where I can work faster.
 
Leaving morning work was difficult at times because stuff usually breaks when one is leaving so some times I left at 12:15 or 12:30 pm. Some days I drove all the way back home to eat. A couple of days I just had lunch at some place near both my jobs. Driving from one job to the other is just about 5 minutes with regular traffic. I'm still trying to find a balance on how to handle lunch.
 
Aigmeigh  from http://mividasalvadorena.blogspot.com/ suggested I take lunch with me when I leave home in the mornings. i'm going to talk about that with the maid and see what she thinks about it. I know other coworkers at both jobs do that and so there are microwaves in both places. I haven't brought lunch to work in years, actually over a decade, but I could try it.
 
The other job was normal and I'm working there normally. I'm getting home at the same time at night and I'm not feeling more tired than before. I'm taking weekends to rest more than before to be able to work the whole week.
 
I'll keep you posted how things go.
 
At least this blog is free
 
 

4 comments:

La Gringa said...

AJ, do you have a set time that you are supposed to be at your part-time job or is it flexible as long as you get x hours in each day? I'm asking because if it is an American company, they might frown on you not being there at a certain set time.

It's just something to think about. If the later time works better for you and you can still get in the necessary hours, you might want to just formalize that with the company. You know we gringos can be a little rigid about such things. ;-)

La Gringa said...

About the lunch, a common thing to do is to just cook a little extra dinner and pack that with you the next day for lunch. Most things come out just as good in the microwave. And a home packed lunch is almost always going to be less expensive than eating out and probably healthier for you since most quick food is fried. So this could be a win-win situation for you. Save time, money, and eat healthier.

Anonymous said...

Why ask the maid? Just tell her to make extra food for lunch and take it with you the next day. It is much cheaper and healthier. My husband never eats out for lunch and neither does he come home during lunch time. He has no time to do that.

Anonymous said...

Seriously dude, bring your lunch. It doesn't seem like a huge savings, but it adds up.