Daily routine

NOTE: This page has not been updated since January 2018 and does not reflect my most up-to-date daily routine. I may or may not update it in the future. Check out https://updates.vipulnaik.com/ to get an up-to-date sense of how I spend my time.

This page provides an overview of my daily routine. It’s primarily intended for personal reference for my future self and to point friends to in case they ask questions. It’s not meant for the public eye, although none of the information is confidential in a major way.

This is my most up-to-date routine as of January 2018, and is mostly defined by my job.

You might also be interested in my diet and efficiency tips pages.

Weekdays

  • I get up somewhere between 4 AM and 6 AM. The exact time I get up depends on how late I slept last night, how sleep-backlogged I am, and how early the sun rises.
  • I go jogging along the part of the Ohlone Greenway near my residence, roughly a short distance of the part above the BART route from the North Berkeley BART to El Cerrito Plaza.
  • On days I do not expect to have team lunch, I have a heavy brunch at home, comprising my usual food.
  • Sometime between 6 AM and 8 AM, I leave my residence and head to the North Berkeley BART (5 minutes walk, most of which is from the edge of the station to the platform). I get off at the 16th Street/Mission BART; the train ride is about 32 minutes. After that, it’s a walk of about 17 minutes to my workplace, so I am at my workplace usually somewhere between 7 AM and 9 AM. I aim for the last car of the train, since that is generally the least crowded (the middle cars tend to more crowded since they are closer to the station entrance; you can see some of my WikiHow page on avoiding crowds in mass transit, as well as BART’s crowdedness guide). I also posted an observation about crowdedness patterns to Facebook based on my travel experiences. In some cases, when I have early morning calls, I might leave earlier or later than usual so that my calls do not clash with my travel. Sometimes I leave a little later if I have to deal with some work stuff early in the morning.
  • I am usually able to get a fair amount of work done on the train, because I have a phone with a 4G connection that supports tethering. Previously I used to work offline, and even wrote up tips on it on wikiHow.
  • I am generally in the office till about 5:30 PM. I try to stay till at least 5 PM and at most 6 PM, but might stay later if I arrived later, or if something comes up. Then I head back the same way I arrived at the office.
  • After I get home I have dinner, usually watching a Korean drama along with that. I might spend the rest of the time doing household chores, work stuff, or personal stuff.
  • I generally go to sleep at some point between 8 PM and 10 PM.

Days I am not going to the office (weekends)

  • I wake up between 5 AM and 7 AM, though since there is less pressure to be up by a specific time, I might sometimes sleep in and catch up on sleep backlog.
  • I go jogging in the same way as on weekdays, and then eat the same way as on weekdays.
  • On Saturday late afternoons, I go to Udupi Palace in downtown Berkeley for a bisi bele bhath and salt lassi, and also buy food for the week from Trader Joe’s (downtown Berkeley) on the way back. I also use this time for any other weekend errands that can be done in downtown Berkeley (such as cash withdrawals from the ATM, any business at the post office).

Basic information