Observations

At work, I used to read ESPN all day. I'd estimate I averaged no less than 60 minutes a day reading ESPN articles with an excel spreadsheet ready to quickly flip to if someone walked by. 60 minutes is a very conservative estimate; I'm sure there were weeks where I averaged 3 hours per day. I devoted at least another 60 minutes to other topics, including my fantasy sports teams, Mark Cuban's blog, the latest news in science and technology, and tried to stay generally aware of what was going on in financial markets.

I spend very little time on any of those now. Since I quit the desk job, my records tell me I've spent 21.5 hours per week playing poker. I've watched a lot of movies and DVD TV shows (Sopranos, Lost, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Family Guy), and read a few books. I play way too much online Risk (the game of world domination!). I've played some basketball, soccer, and tennis. I've done some jogging and some drinking, and I cook a lot more. I read 2+2 for I'd guess an average of 90 minutes per day. At some point I decided I wanted to do more writing, and I've done a tiny bit but not much. I probably average 9 hours of sleep per night, which is glorious.

When people ask me what I do with my time, I don't really have an answer. I do most of the same things as I used to do, but now I just get more sleep, read different web pages, and don't spend 2 hours commuting. I guess I'm wasting away a similar amount of time as before, I just can't call it "work" now.