As a numberphile, I often find amusement in tracking numbers and analyzing the results in different ways. For example, when I flew, I maintained a logbook of every landing, aircraft type and flight conditions. In the unlikely event I would be quizzed, I could rattle off a variety of facts like “the last night landing with a passenger was at KPWT on April 3, 2004. I used 12 gallons of fuel. The wind was from the west. Information November was playing on KBFI.” It’s mostly harmless. Really.
When I got back into cycling in 2002, and out of flying, part of my self-motivation to keep biking was tracking miles, ascent, time, average heart rate, and calories burned. Now that I’m doing more commuting than event-riding, I’m tracking the costs of cycling (a sequel will be forthcoming), miles and weather patterns. (Alert reader will notice that the weather is tracked in brackets, unlike the meticulous data used in the Weather Rodeo or its sequel, when I made my own predictions.)
Another thing I’ve been tracking is the time I put into work….
I crunched the numbers this week because I felt guilty about putting in a sub-forty hour work week to get some extra personal time in. The data over the last year suggests I ought not feel too bad:
On average, I put in 46 hours a week with spikes when there’s a product release or travel or conference. This “feels right” if I’m having a lot of fun. However, the last month or so, I’ve been feeling slightly burnt out for various reasons beyond the scope of this discussion. Since I’m in a travel and product release “lull,” I plan to taper back my work hours and recharge. I may be due to revisit this exercise.
YTD* miles: 980
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 180 | 271 | 0 | 327 | 0 | |
| Feb | 269 | 340 | 65 | 296 | 98 | |
| Mar | 425 | 389 | 168 | 278 | 0 | |
| Apr | *106 | 322 | 232 | 205 | 245 | *Through April 6 |
Ahhh…I should come up with something like that to figure out how much sleep I’m getting (vs the “8” hours of sleep I should be getting vs cycling/training vs time spent “at work” – including traveling back and forth). Of course, I don’t have time to think about that until tomorrow after SakuraCon ’07 ends – assuming I go back to Seattle for Day 3 on Sunday.
As always, wow! Love the quantification. 🙂
Brian — tracking amount and quality of sleep would be an interesting one. For example, I can see where the change in season is causing problems as it’s too cold to sleep with a window cracked, but not cold enough for the heater.
Random observation: I know I’m not getting enough sleep, but
“enough” varies but is almost always a multiple of 1.5 hours.
Kiri – Thanks for the compliment 🙂