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I changed jobs at the beginning of January. I'm still working for the same huge company, but in a different role.

Frankly, it's incredibly exciting. First off, I love that every few years I can totally change jobs and do something different...but keep my salary, benefits, commute (well, never mind that part, the commute is no fun), but stability is - I keep my stability while trying something new.

But this job in particular - working on an experimental software and hardware development project - is even cooler than other jobs I've had. And one of the most appealing challenges is that the software development team I'm working most closely with is based in China.

Yeah, China. So it definitely means some travel...but it also means the opportunity for a creative work schedule. Beijing is 16 hours ahead of Seattle; my typical work day would end before the China team would arrive to work.

But lately I've been thinking about how my daughter isn't in dance lessons because all the lessons in my city for her age take place in the afternoons...and it's almost time for little league, so I'll need to be home in the early evening to take my son to his practices and games.

So I decided to try out a new schedule: two or three days a week, I'm going to leave work at 2:30 p.m. and pick up my kids right after school (school ends at 3:15). I'll spend the afternoons with them, taking them to extracurricular activities or just hanging out. And then, when they go to bed at 8:30 p.m., I will get online from home and work for a few more hours. That's right in the middle of the day in China; there should be lots of email for me to answer, meetings I can virtually attend, and work I can do to help my team there continue to make progress.

I'm a little concerned that this will cause me to burn out or feel like I'm working all the time. But if it doesn't work, there's no harm - I just go back to a "normal" schedule.

In the meantime, I really hope it works. As a working parent, I'm always striving to fit more in, get more done, be more efficient, and make sure that the majority of time I do spend with the kids ends up being quality time. I feel like this could be a really great arrangement - if I can set the appropriate boundaries. I can't be checking my email while I'm supposed to be at the playground with the kids, and I can't hit the sack early if I didn't work a full day during the day or the team in China is counting on me.

But I'm an optimist, and fortunately a well-organized one. So I'm eager to get it going!