inane ramblings of a geek

So I woke up at 7:00am today, with the aid of an alarm clock and literally at the crack of dawn this time of year, and was treated to a spectacular view from my 22nd story apartment. Looking out over the city is an oddly calming sensation, and noticing how the light plays with the various landmarks is a surprisingly interesting past-time. At about 7:08, when I was done marveling at what a seriously triumphant accomplishment to man a ‘city’ is, I felt invigorated and was ready to start my day… but then my bed beckoned like that second helping of desert which you _know_ you don’t need, or even really want since you’re completely stuffed, but you reach for anyways and say ‘I can’t help myself, just another little bite’.

I now find myself sitting here, about a half foot from my bed, drowsy, and significantly less excited about the prospect of starting my day at 10:00am. Ten is just too late to start ones day properly. I feel the shame and guilt of that extra little bite, and think of all the reasons that should have been enough to deter me before the act, which now dog at my conscious thought like that annoying guy in Happy Gilmore who keeps yelling ‘You Suck! You jackass…’

It seems a lot of people have been thinking about sleep around me lately. Andrew over at BossJimGettys starts his post off with explaining the odd time of post with ‘As you will note from the time of this posting, I don’t sleep on a regular pattern. It keeps things interesting for me.’ Growing up, I have ingrained in my being the fact that you should get a good nights sleep and that it should be on a regular basis. The first is just common sense which my parents did a great job of driving into me through repetition, but the latter I developed myself (as I now realize) due to all the activities which myself and (especially) my brother had to perform in the ungodly hours of the am. If I wasn’t ready to go at 6am, I was late. That meant getting a regular amount of sleep involved a fairly standard schedule. We developed a motto (I admit stolen from my brother who got it from another source) ‘If you’re man enough to stay up late, drinking and partying, you should be man enough to wake up and do what you need to do’. Sleep was scheduled, and it was our decision to alter the starting point, but the end was non-negotiable.

This leads into the substance abuse socially referred to as ones ‘morning cup of coffee’. I have a relationship with coffee much akin to the way single guys deal with the drunk girl at a party. Shunning it away at all costs, but in the back of your head wondering if one cup will really hurt you in the long run. It will. I have been addicted to and subsequently off of caffeine about 3 times and I can honestly say that I feel better in the morning without it. But unlike the party scenario, a large amount of people feel it is acceptable to depend on a cup of coffee to get you going in the morning. At a meeting last night with a client (Pat’s mom) we had some decaf tea and she felt the need to explain why it was decaf, since she quit ingesting caffeine, and apologized for having to impose that on me.

An interesting conversation followed in the sense that it was fun in the moment, but it got me thinking about just how normal it is to rely on a drug to start/get you through the day. And really, who am I to say that’s wrong? I guess everyone just needs to find out what works for them. If it’s acceptable to have less sleep than ‘required’ and subsidize it with a beverage in the morning, why not? It’ll certainly keep you regular.

So now that I have rambled on and said what I wanted to say, if you’re still reading this, you will know that I am once again excited to start the day. Looking at those buildings in a regular light is just as impressive as the orange glow, just more regular.