The one where I fly too close to the sun.

Editor’s note: In the late 2000s, John Korpics was the creative director at Fortune. He lived with his wife and kids way the hell up in Westchester County. Given his long commute, and being the industrious type, he decided to put that dreadful time to use. This column is what he came up with.

The 8:05 Peaker heading into the city. Sitting on the Sunny Side.

At certain times of the morning one side of the train gets blasted with sunlight. Usually, only a rookie sits on the sunny side because it’s very hard to read or see a laptop screen or sleep with the sun blasting in the window, especially when it’s intermittently blocked by trees and buildings creating a strobe effect, which I’ve heard can cause a stroke or a seizure in some cases.

That would be a bad way to start the day. But today I’m rolling in my new Maui Jim™ prescription sunglasses, and life is good.

I designed a business card for my optometrist friend, Dr. George Amatuzzi. I did it for free, because I’ve been going in to see him for about 12 years now and I just couldn’t stand looking at his effing ugly business cards anymore. They were printed on a thin gray stock—really, who chooses gray stock?—and designed from some sort of standard template that a printer gives you to choose from.

So I took one of his cards, went home and designed him a new one, took it back in and asked him to please accept this gift on behalf of all the people in the world with 20/20 vision who couldn’t stand looking at his effing ugly business cards anymore. He said ‘thanks’ and told me to pick out some sunglasses, which I did.

And here I am, sitting on the sunny side in my Maui Jim™ prescription sunglasses, which I thought were cool when I picked them out, but now I’m not so sure. I’m starting to think they look a little doofy.

As you can see, I’m also wearing a summer-weight suit jacket—even though it was 40 degrees this morning—and a button-down collar with no tie, which is actually a fashion mistake. But do I look like I give a damn? Nope. Not today.

Life is good.

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2009 © JOHN KORPICS

John Korpics is VP/Executive Creative Director at Harvard Business Review. He has served as the design lead at Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, ESPN, Fortune, InStyle, and many other major newsstand magazines. His current commute is much effing easier.

Jason Schneider is a beloved Toronto-based editorial illustrator.