Theoretically (and I emphasize the theory) up a little before 7:30, shoot the cat, read paper, shower, dress, coffee all before 8:35, in by 9.

Except it really goes: glare blearily at clock at 7 after the radio and light have been on since 6:45, decide based on imaginary things that I don't have to wake up, wake in a panic at 7:35, rush madly to shoot the cat, stare stupidly at kettle and stove to figure out how that works, boil water, make coffee while maybe reading the few articles with content in the paper, stumble to shower, spend 5 minutes face in spray until I remember I have a nine o'clock meeting, rush madly through shower while drinking coffee, get out, scramble to get into the car before 8:35, curse all the red lights and idiot drivers, scramble into meeting without having read email. And then wonder if I turned the burner off.

And they call me a grown up.

I can't imagine needing an hour to get to work (twice a day! every day!).

Yeah, it makes me bananas if I think about it. A not-long work day means I'm out of the house from 8 to 7 most days.

I like my commute - it's almost the only time of day I get to me alone inside my own head. No toddler or clients demanding attention, just me and my headphones.

I get to work about an hour after I get up. When exactly I get up is highly variable. On average, I probably get out of bed at 8:20, leave the house a little after 9, and get to work around 9:30. But sometimes I don't make it in until 10:30. And occasionally I'm here at 8, which startles our secretary.

My mornings are usually me getting up around 8:30 and then stumbling to the bathroom to shower and get ready and then head out the door by around 9:15/9:30. At least, that's the goal. Yesterday, it was up at 9:45 and out the door by 10:05, and today it's up at 7:30 to do laundry and planning on being out the door by 9:45. My drive into work is only about 15 minutes (five miles), so that's no longer the big factor on my starting time like it was when I lived in Oak Park and drove 35 miles to work.

For the next two mornings, I have to be in by 7:00 to do the morning load for a co-worker who's off for Passover, but at least I get to leave by 3:30 on those two days.

I can't imagine needing an hour to get to work (twice a day! every day!).

When I was commuting into NY from PA, I got on a 6:50 a.m. train and arrived in Penn Station at roughly 7:50. Then I took the E up to my office, and usually got there about 8:20. I always had my first huge cup of tea on the train, and read while drinking it -- and then crashed until we pulled into Penn Station. Same thing on the way home -- read for maybe fifteen minutes, and then slept till Trenton.

I don't miss that at all.

Today I left the house at ten to nine and sat down at my desk at 9:30. I was out of bed at eight.

I get annoyed that my commute involves changing trains.

I usually get to work at 8:00 or 9:00.

Today I got up at 7:35, left at 7:55, caught a train, transferred to a bus and got to the McDonnalds near work at 8:45. Now I'm at work, eating my breakfast.

Sometimes I'll get up at 6:20 and make my own breakfast and get to work at 8:00. Other times I'll get up at 5:55 and go out for breakfast before getting to work at 8:00.

Dear bacteria living alongside my wisdom tooth:

Please die. No, seriously: just die. I'm going to keep taking the penicillin so you know you're all gonna die soon anyway, so why not save us all the bother and die now?

New commute will be 5 minutes or less. 10 if I hit all the lights wrong. Maybe.

Walkthrough @11:30. Meeting that goes on forever @11. But I'm skipping out early.