The thing about early mornings and late nights is the quiet. I love the quiet. The afternoons are my super sucky time. Early AM is good. And evenings are fine. But 2:00 PM? Forget it.

I get this. I am not naturally a morning person--I love the quiet of the middle of the night and work really productively from 10PM-2AM--but my job forces me to shift my schedule. I get up at about 5:45 AM every school day to have time to shower, change, and commute across town. As long as I've gotten at least 6-7 decent hours of sleep (and HMOG what a difference the sleep aid my doctor prescribed for me has made--I fall asleep quickly and sleep restfully), I'm good to go in the mornings. From about 2-7, though, I am utterly useless. Totally nonfunctional.

Morning people freak me out, man. My normal circadian rhythm is more like sleeping from 4am-noon. When you combine low blood sugar with allergies and sleep deprivation, I think you can see why I want to destroy the world every time I wake up in the morning.

Shrift is me. To say that I'm not a morning person is an understatement of epic proportions. Pete would like to be a morning person, and even has circadian rhythms that would suit that, but realizes that the benefits of us getting up early are outweighed by the drawbacks of me staring blankly at things or growling.

I'm beginning to think I am devoid of circadian rhythms and should be asleep all the time.

I will say that my favorite time of day is sunrise. So quiet and beautiful.

Funny.

Go to maps.google.com.

Click on 'Get Directions'

Type in New York, USA to Paris, France.

Check out the 24th step in the trip.

People need to stop talking about 5AM. It's too confusing. There should be no getting up before it's light outside.

I caved and bought mentholated cough drops. I despise menthol, but it's so much better at soothing a sore throat than the alternatives.

Oh God, this morning a Memphis radio station was doing a list of most annoying songs to hear just as you get out of your car. Since I never agree with those entertainment lists I thought #1 would turn out to be "My Humps" or somesuch. But for once they got it right, naming "It's a Small World" as the world's most annoying song.

And then they played it on the radio when I was in a narrow construction zone and needed both hands on the wheel!

I need help from the Buffista hive mind about food. Is oxidized avocado safe to eat? Say, if I made up a salad of chopped cucumber, tomatos, olives, and avocado on Tuesday night (and covered it all with vinegar and lemon juice), would it still be okay to eat today? Or would the kinda-brown avocado bits taste ooky or make me unwell?

Jilli, they'll probably taste a bit off, but they should be safe.

I despise menthol, but it's so much better at soothing a sore throat than the alternatives.

What about the honey-lemon ones? Those work better than the menthol or eucalyptus ones for me on a sore throat. Now, if I need to actually breathe, menthol all the way.

eta I'm ignoring Matt and his clever attempt to infect us all with his most annoying song EVAR earworm.

I've been taking Hall's vitamin C drops (sugarless, mixed citrus flavor) - they don't have the menthol, but they do soothe the throat. You know what really opens up your sinuses? Altoids.