Morning Ritual

What's your morning ritual?

Here's mine:

My alarm is always set for 7. This means I wake up anytime between 6:00 and 7:30.

I instantly grab my iPhone to check email and read the Twitter updates from my SF friends from the night before and the updates from my East Coast pals. I make the decision that, yes, today will be the day I get into work early(-ish).

After a few minutes of reading feeds on the phone, I get out of bed, followed to the kitchen by two hungry cats. I dump food in their respective bowls, and refill their water containers scattered throughout the house.

I rinse out my French press that I usually forget to clean from the previous night's use and put the kettle on. While waiting for the water to boil, I browse CNN's headlines so I can feel like a somewhat-informed citizen.

Over the first of usually two cups of coffee, I'll log in to my server and check a few logs and few running processes, maybe write a few lines of maintenance code for my little projects, usually with one of the furballs in my lap. Second cup is brewed and drank.

Meghan is also up and moving at this point. She usually gets up after me and leaves before I do. We'll chat about our daily plans as well as the usual morning small talk.

By this point, I've been up for an hour and my goal to get in early is a dream unrealized.

I then hop in a scalding hot shower, afterwards going to the dryer for a t-shirt.

By this point, I'm dressed and have usually fortified myself for the day coming. I walk through the house, collect my helmet, wallet, keys, phone, and work bag. I double-check that stoves and kettles are off, and doors and windows are locked.

Then, I push my bike down the stairs, out the door and into the day.