Working towards a better tomorrow (?)

When we left California the last time, I was quite certain that we would not be coming back again. Almost two years on I got another opportunity to come back to home away from home, Silicon valley California for a new assignment. Some might disagree about the 'home away from home' part. I myself am unable to make up my mind about the fact. It definitely reminds me of home & is more similar to India than it is to any other part of the US, but is it really 'home away from home'? For me, the jury is still out and is unlikely to come back anytime soon. But that's beside the point.

I had mixed feelings about coming back here as our experience in California last time around was a mixed bag. While professionally it was not too bad, the social life, quality of life etc. left something lacking in our lives. I strongly believe that Silicon valley perpetually works in a start up mode and that is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does take a toll on your personal life. The good part about coming to California is the weather & we were eager to escape from the Minnesota winter and I think we are enjoying the extended summer as opposed to the extra long winter of Minnesota.

Last time around we had taken a house which was fairly removed from the office & the public transportation in the bay area is nothing to write about which forced me to drive to office daily leaving my wife stranded at home with no transportation as we are 1 car family. My son had started pre-school & it was very difficult to manage to drop him & pick him up from school. I tried to do it by coming back to drop him & then again to pick him up. But as expected it did not work very well. To alleviate this, I tried carpooling with a office colleague but that too did not work very well. I have commuted using public transport or office provided transportation for almost my entire career & I like it much better than driving. So this time around we wised up and took up house which was reasonable close to office and the public transport route.

I was faced with a 16 minute hike either way to catch the bus. So instead we decided to bike down to the bus stop and then hop on the bus to office & back.

Day 1 - 18 Sep 2009

On the first day though I thought maybe I would just bike the whole way. After all, it was not that far from my home. But as I started to pedal, I thought let me try to go all the way. Well, I made it in one piece, but let me tell you that it showed me how horribly out of shape I was. First, my cycle was not in shape. The air pressure in the tyres was low, the gears were not working well, the wheel is not stable. It took a lot of effort to pedal the bike & I was sweating profusely which was a novel experience being used to working in an air conditioned office all the time. (Well not entirely novel as I did swea heavily in Minnesota while playing cricket, but that's for another day).

My thighs were paining as though they were an injury and I was cramping up. I started having second thoughts about doing this cycling to office thing. I even thought of calling my wife to pick me up in the evening. If nothing else, I am a fighter & have good endurance. So I decided not to give up and try for some more days. Which was actually a good thing as after I inflated the tyres to the correct pressure the pedaling became a breeze, literally & figuratively. Going home was a pleasure & I was able to reach home in less than 20 minutes which was good.

I hope to increase and improve my stamina & shed some unwanted pounds around the waist in the process. As an added bonus, I am saving some money ($3.50 each day by bus & $3.59 - as per Google's calculations by car) and the environment. I am all for a green planet as much as I am for green IT.

Let's hope I can continue this to really see some fruit of my endeavor on the personal side. But as I always believe and remind myself every morning.