We have a dog alarm clock, too, but it only goes off for the SO.

I need to get one of those SOs!! Actually, Steve was here last night, and helped immensely. He even took them for a walk while I was on a concall.

and once the wife is up, I'm unable to continue sleeping

So sweet. :)

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

Pfft. I wish I had an hour long commute and a root.

Actually, I wish I had some work right now but the temp market has been dead.

But on Emmett days when I do have work downtown, I leave the house at 7:05, we drive Matilda to daycare, and then turn around and head across the Bay. Emmett gets to school right before 8:00am, then I park near BART and ride the train in usually arriving at Embarcadero (downtown SF) right before 9:00, which allows me to get coffee.

In the evening, on nights Emmett is coming back to SF, I BART back over after work, get the car, pick him up at his mom's house, and drive him back. We usually get back to our house in SF between 6:45 and 7:00. So that's another two hours of commuting on those days.

All I can say is thank goodness I work in the tech industry, and on a team where there are other people who stroll in later than me:

• Alarm goes off at 8:00, I finally stagger out of bed around 8:10 -8:15.
  
• Eat breakfast, reassure the kitties I still love them, do makeup while drinking a pot of tea, get dressed, and am out the door by 9:10 to catch the shuttle to work.
  
• On the shuttle to work, answer work emails, check my personal mail, read LJ.
  
• Barring hellacious traffic, I'm at my desk by about 10:15.

(And by about 10:30, I decide if I need another pot of tea to get me through the day. Which today? I do.)

The cat alarm clock went off early this morning. I had my alarm set for 6:55 so I could do laundry, yet the meowing started at 5:30. What's really annoying is that she'll just sit in the doorway and MRRROOOW! MRRROOOW! MRRROOOW! as long as it takes to get a reaction from me. If she jumped up on the bed, at least I could toss her off and get her physically pissed off enough that she'll stomp off in a huff, but just yelling, "Will you shut up already?!?" isn't enough to get her to shut up.

Alarm and up at 7:00 (after being bugged by cat several times since 5:30am for some inscrutable but evil daily reason), let the dogs out in the backyard, shower, dress (quietly, since the DH is still sleeping). Get to work about 8:00--I only live about 3 miles away. I get to work a liitle later on those days I ride my bike. Easy-peasy.

Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates

Go dolphins!

I am so bad about getting up with the alarm. But it's usually set for about 6:50ish and I get up by 7:15 or so. (Unless it's a 6:30 yoga day.) Give the cat his shot, put together lunch, eat breakfast, shower, walk the dog in some order usually dependent on the dog. Try to leave by 8:40 to get into work by 9.

Often I am slow though.

I have two coworkers who work from home in California. One of them wakes up at 9 and starts working then, so it's a huge burden for her if we have to schedule something in the morning in New York. The other one starts working by 6 local time, because she's already up with her kids, and I swear some days she has already worked out by 6am. Bananas! But it's great for her, because she can stop working when her kids are getting home from school.

Back when I had the 80-mile commute I had to be out the door by 7:30am to make it to work by deadline. But early mornings were not a happy time as Casa Matt.

I am so bad about getting up with the alarm.

Once I discovered my OT Alarm Music ("Morning Mood" from Grieg's Peer Gynt), the alarm became a lot easier to handle.