My Dallas Commute

Living in the suburbs and working near downtown Dallas has been a challenge ever since my company moved its offices to Uptown last February.

I’ve ended up relying on the following routine to ensure that I: a) get enough sleep; b) save money by eating a packed lunch vs. dining out; c) get my hours in at work; d) take advantage of the gym and work out everyday; and e) get to see my children before they go to bed. On most days, this schedule works out, but it is a challenge to keep up with on a regular basis:

• 5:00am: I wake up & get dressed
• 5:15am: I head downstairs and fire up my laptop. I then run an Alfred workflow script that launches several applications (Microsoft Outlook, Evernote, etc.). This synchronizes offline data onto my computer for later activity
• 5:20am: eat breakfast
• 5:30am: do an hour’s worth of work that requires me to be online, such as Google Drive documents
• 6:25am: I write a quick love note to J. Then I grab my laptop bag, gym bag & lunch and head out the door
• 6:30am: I drive from west McKinney to the Parker Road DART train station in Plano.
• 6:55am: depending on what time I arrive at the train station, I take the first available RED or ORANGE train to Cityplace DART train station, then connect with the M-Line street car. During my train/street car rides, I work offline with the data downloaded to my laptop @ 5:15am (Microsoft Outlook emails, mostly)
• 7:45am: I arrive at the Dallas office and immediately go to work
• 11:30am: I grab my gym bag, walk across the street to Gold’s Gym Uptown, and change into my workout clothes
• 11:45am: I begin my workout, where activity lasts 1 hour or less. My workouts almost exclusively consist of outdoor runs through various parts of downtown Dallas and/or Uptown
• 12:45am: I cool down & recover from my workout inside Gold’s. This includes fueling, shower, and getting dressed in my work clothes
• 1:15pm: I return to work. I then heat up my lunch and eat it at my desk while processing emails/IMs received during my absence
• 4:45pm: I leave work to catch a bus or street car to my train connection. I have several options, which include steer car to Cityplace DART train station or several bus lines to either Pearl/Arts District or St. Paul DART train stations in downtown Dallas. If possible, I prefer the latter stations because it is easier to get a seat on rush hour trains
• 5:15pm-5:30pm: I take the first available RED or ORANGE train to the Parker Road DART train station
• 5:55pm-6:10pm: I arrive in Plano and commute home
• 6:15pm-6:30pm: I arrive at home in McKinney, eat dinner, and catch up with the family
• 7:00pm: I make my lunch for the following day
• 7:15pm: start the children’s bedtime routines
• 8:30pm: I shower and shave, then lay out my clothes for the following day. I also pack my gym bag with a fresh set of workout clothes
• 9:30pm-10:00pm: start settling down either on the couch or in bed

Rinse, repeat.