Time Division Multiplexing

For my first year, I’ll be taking two courses per semester so I can take the Qualifying Exam and get on to real research in my second year. I’m estimating that coursework during my first year will require about 20 hours a week. If it was deep theoretical stuff, I’d expect that to be more like 30 hours a week, but these are core Computer Science courses so I have a lot of context (it is, after all, what I already do 40-50 hours a week).

One way to free that up would be to quit running altogether. I’m not wild about that solution for a couple reasons. First and foremost, running is when I do most of my nurturing of my soul. I’m not sure I could deal with the stresses of this endeavor without that. Secondly, learning is as much passive as it is active. Yes, you need to concentrate and practice. But, you also need to give your mind a break and let it just sort through things on its own. Again, that’s pretty much what happens when I run.

So, I am instead just going to cut running in half. That means I need another 10 hours a week. Kate has agreed to take over cooking duties 2-3 nights a week, so that’s three hours. Sunday evenings are usually free, so I could get another couple hours there. I can probably get in a couple hours a week during my lunch break.

The final 3-4 hours again presents me with a choice I made over 30 years ago. In my late teens, I realized that I could be OK at music or OK at cycling, but if I really wanted to be good at either, I needed to quit one and dump all that effort into the other. Since tenors don't really get their voice until their late 30's, I went with cycling. That played out fairly well, as I did manage to get to the pro level in cycling (albeit, a very marginal pro). However, in retrospect, if I had chosen music, I'd still be good at that whereas my best days as an athlete are long gone.

Still, the physical release is a very much needed thing so, once again, I'm going to jettison music. I'll be quitting my church choir to free up a bit more time. That's a bit sad, as I really do like singing in the choir. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, but it's still a sacrifice.