How to kill time when you're on the bench

[Zoiderman]

I usually find I can handle the first 2 or 3 weeks of bench time without any hassle.

Then I get bored, the house can only be pristine, you can only chase as many agents as job adverts, love computers games but my eyes ache after 5 hours, and there only so many decent TV series and movies to watch.

If I actually planned bench time, as compared to holiday, ahead it may be more enticing.

After 3 weeks I need another contract.

My schedule.
Up at 7:30 (That's 1+ hour lie-in compared to normal) coffee and breakfast, watch tv news.
9-11 ish, Jobserve etc and on the phone to agents re suitable jobs.
11-1 watch a movie
1-2 Lunch
2-3 Gaming
3-4.30 House work
4.30-6 Prepare dinner
6-7 Dinner with the wife
7-11 Usually like to get out somewhere by now, or sit down and veg.

Are you translucent (or Scottish - Same thing)? Do you go out in sunlight?

[Scrag Meister]

Are you translucent (or Scottish - Same thing)? Do you go out in sunlight?

See my avatar, does it look like I do? :-)

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

WHS.

I have a number of RSS feeds set up which update my phone as new roles come in that meet my criteria. If they do then I'm on the phone.

I have both an Iphone and Blackberry - could you tell me how to set that up on either of my phones?

[vetran]

Hackaday.com & Instructables.com


loads of boys own style things to do.

[Zoiderman]

See my avatar, does it look like I do? :-)

Very good

[Sysman]

My schedule.
Up at 7:30 (That's 1+ hour lie-in compared to normal) coffee and breakfast, watch tv news.
9-11 ish, Jobserve etc and on the phone to agents re suitable jobs. Work related learning.
11-1 watch a movie
1-2 Lunch
2-3 Gaming
3-4.30 House work
4.30-6 Prepare dinner
6-7 Dinner with the wife
7-11 Usually like to get out somewhere by now, or sit down and veg.

That's roughly what I did at the start of 1997. I'd just done 3 months on 24 hour callout and really wanted to wind down, I got myself a shiny new NT box (not many folks had NT back then) with Delphi, Crystal Reports etc and got stuck in.

I'd typically get up at 6, have a bath or shower and then hit some technical forums. I would try to see if I could answer some of the trickier questions myself as that gave me a bit more motivation.

9:00 - 9:30 have breakfast in front of the telly (not daytime TV, something I'd recorded).
9:30 - 12:30 back to the computer
12:30 - 13:30 have a cooked lunch and watch something like Business Lunch (or whatever it was called)
11:30 - 17:00 computer again. Sometimes as late as 19:00
19:00 to whenever: cook dinner and eat. Maybe read a book. Probably catch something on telly, and would always make sure I had something decent recorded to watch the next day's breakfast / lunch / early evening.

About 3 days during the week I'd go to the pub for the last half hour to get some social contact.

I stuck strictly to my meal times as that gave my day some structure.

[Scrag Meister]

....that gave my day some structure.

Absoutely, would be far too easy to slip into a get up for lunch and veg all afternoon, unemployed mentality.

[Zoiderman]

Absoutely, would be far too easy to slip into a get up for lunch and veg all afternoon, unemployed mentality.

Nothing too bad with that for a few days, just as long as you pick up after a while.

Once I get some bench time, I am going to thoroughly enjoy it.

[oscarose]

The Counting Thread

HTH

[alreadypacked]

Somebody else on the bench