In general, my schedule tends to be pretty busy. But I have to say, the last month has been even more hectic than usual. Here's a glimpse into my life...
- April 2-3: Palo Alto- Lab offsite
- April 4: San Francisco- HP Gaming summit
- April 5-6: Palo Alto- In office
- April 7-8: Palo Alto- Home for the weekend
- April 9-11: Japan- HP Labs Japan Review, Dick's retirement party in Japan, 2 customer visits
- April 11-14: Hawaii- Vacation
- April 15-16: Hawaii- ICASSP Conference
- April 17-18: Palo Alto- HP Labs CTO review, Interview new boss
- April 19-20: Hawaii- ICASSP Conference
- April 21-22: Palo Alto- Home for weekend
- April 23-27: San Jose- International JPEG/MPEG meeting (but I got to sleep in my own bed!)
- April 28-May 2: Korea- Family vacation
- May 3-May 4: Palo Alto- In office.
- May 5-May 6: New York City- Quick vacation for a friend's bridal party
- May 7: Palo Alto- In office.
- May 7-May 11: China- HP Mobility Summit
- May 12: Palo Alto
- ... and so on and so on and so on...
A few notes:
- I already have more than 80,000 miles this year. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
- Work hard. Play hard. Notice that there is a lot of work travel, but there is also a good bit of personal travel mixed in. So, I can't complain.
- Someone asked how I handle traveling so much. I told them that I view getting on an airplane like getting in my car. It's all in your attitude.
- Someone asked how I handle changing time zones. One thing is that when you change time zones so much, your body has no clock. So, changing time zones actually gets easier. Fortunately, I can sleep anywhere and anytime. :)
Here's a funny story... For various reasons, part of my travel itinerary looked like this:
- SFO-NRT (Narita, Japan)
- NRT-HNL (Honolulu, Hawaii)
- HNL-SFO (San Francisco)
- SFO-HNL
- HNL-SFO
The airline saw that there were two HNL-SFO segments. They assumed it was a mistake and they decided to cancel leg 3 without asking! The plane was fully booked and I didn't have a seat, but fortunately I am a 100K flyer so they made space for me after they realized their mistake. As I waited in the airport lobby, I heard them make an announcement asking for "one volunteer to give up their seat and stay an extra night in Hawaii in exchange for a $600 voucher". I slouched in my chair hoping noone knew it was because of me. Fortunately, someone volunteered and was happy to accept the offer!
Finally, here's a breakdown of the Japan-Hawaii trip in more detail.
- Mon afternoon: Fly from San Francisco to Japan.
- Tues evening: Arrive in Narita. Transport to Tokyo.
- Tues night: Attend Dick's retirement party w/ special guests.
- Wed breakfast: Meet head of HP Japan.
- Wed morning: Visit HP Labs Japan team for review.
- Wed afternoon: Visit HP customer/partner 1.
- Wed afternoon: Visit HP customer/partner 2.
- Wed evening: Fly from Japan to Honolulu.
- Wed morning: Arrive in Honolulu at 6am.
- Wed morning: Go to beach while waiting for hotel room to be available and friend to arrive.
- Wed-Sun: Vacation! Start my "Blogging on the Beach" series. :)
- Sun night: Run through practice talks with 2 students.
- Mon morning: Provide moral support for student presentation (Best student paper award finalist!).
- Mon night: Fly from Honolulu to San Francisco.
- Tues morning: Arrive in San Francisco at 6am.
- Tues all day: Attend & present at HP Labs review for Shane & CTOs.
- Wed morning: Interview my future boss.
- Wed afternoon: Fly from San Francisco to Honolulu.
- Thur morning: Provide moral support for my 2 students' presentations.
- Thur-Fri: Attend conference.
- Fri 5-6pm: Surf!
- Sat morning: Fly from Honolulu to San Francisco.
- Sat afternoon: Arrive in San Francisco at 3:30pm.
- Sat evening: Meet possible home designer at 5pm.
It's amazing how much you can get done when you put your mind to it!
By the way, I don't recommend this for everyone and I don't recommend it for long periods of time, as it's probably not sustainable. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
What are your thoughts on hectic schedules?What have your most hectic days or weeks or months looked like? What are your tricks for handling it?
Tags:
travel,
time management,
hectic schedule,
changing time zones,
work hard,
play hard,
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