[tzs]

For those who like to have music playing while they work, I've found that albums can be a nice way to pace the work day, and to account for time.

Open up my editor, start an album that fits in with my current mood so it will service its purpose of covering up outside noise but will not distract me, and start hacking away.

When the album ends, I get to a good pause point, and take a break to plan my next move, and pick the next album. Good time for a stretch, or a snack, or a check of HN. Then start the next album and back to work.

This naturally breaks my day up into the kind of concentrate/break cycles that many recommend. At the end of the day, if I need to account for my time, It's easy to check iTunes and see how long each album was, and therefore how much time I spent on that phase of my coding.