Morning Routine

I need to get a morning routine down if I'm going to continue to come to this client site.

I'm riding in with Mike, and we've always left the house by 7:00 a.m. That gets us in to the office between 7:20 - 7:35 a.m., depending on traffic. This timing worked for us because we would leave on the earlier side, between 4:30 - 5:00 p.m. I also loved the time alone in the office it gave me to enjoy my coffee, wake up with Facebook, and generally get my day in order.

I used to actually describe myself as a morning person. I wake up at 4:40 a.m., walk the dog, work out in some fashion, shower, in the office by 7:30 a.m. I'm not sure many people in this town even wake up until 7:30 in the morning.

But I came to realize as there would be various interruptions in this otherwise seemingly perfect (for me) routine, that I am not, in fact, a "morning person." I can be very, very, very productive in the morning. More productive than most, I'd even venture to say.

If you leave me the f&*k alone.

I have realized that I am not a bubbly morning person, and get down right awful if you mess with my routine.

Right now, I don't have a routine. I had one for the first two weeks of unemployment that I really enjoyed. I slept in (until 5:20 a.m.), walked Goldie, workout, shower, breakfast, then sat at my kitchen counter and enjoyed the coffee and Facebook.

But now I'm coming into the client site for the foreseeable future, and I have absolutely no routine to speak of. If I don't come in with Mike, there's a big (as in expensive) issue about parking. But if I do, it's way earlier than this particular office opens.

Everyone at this office seems to be on a later schedule than I'm used to. I need to investigate if that's everyone, or just the people I'm working with. I went in last week one morning at 9 a.m. and there were, like, two people there. I need to ask when the earliest person gets there to open the office, so even if I'm not billing, I'm at least warm and safe and comfortable.

Because right now, I am sitting a block from the office, in a very, very small Starbucks playing really, really loud Caribbean music, crammed into a seat at a high bar next to a very, very crazy man.

No, really, crazy. He's talking out loud to himself and writing something in 72 point font that looks to be some legal appeal. He also seems to know every word to said Caribbean music. Wait... no, he isn't actually saying the words. He's humming out the drums. And he's really enjoying himself.

I need a better morning routine.