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On most weekdays, I have a morning routine. Assuming my alarm wakes me up, I get up sometime before 7 and hit the bathroom. I pop in my contacts and I shave. It is at this point every morning that I also think to myself, "Self, you should probably just get in the shower now instead of whatever it is you’re going to do." However, I inevitably do what I do next instead of getting into the shower, and this is almost always a timely mistake.

Dixie is usually laying down right outside the bathroom door desperately waiting for me to finish so that she, too, can go to the bathroom (outside, not inside). I walk out to the hallway and turn on the hallway light, turning off the hallway bathroom’s light before I reach the stairs. When I hit the kitchen, I open Dixie’s food container and take a scoop for Dixie’s bowl. On most morning, Dixie is at least half remembering the routine and sits in front of her bowl, waiting for me to tell her to go ahead and eat.

Once Dixie starts eating, I head on down to my office and open Thunderbird to check my e-mail. By the time I sift through the five inboxes and spam folders, Dixie comes down to let me know that she’s finished eating and wants to go outside. I do my morning run up to the sunroom and let her out. Then I return to my office to actually read the e-mail I chose not to immediately trash. When I’m done with the e-mail that doesn’t require a lengthy response before I leave the house, I run back up to the sunroom and let Dixie in, wiping her paws if necessary.

At this point it’s usually past 7. If I’m smart that morning, I head back upstairs and jump in the shower, get dressed and go to work. If I’m stupid, I’ll head back to the office and watch some combination of GeekBrief.TV, Fast Lane Daily, Mahalo Daily (I just watched day 1 at CES - I heart Logitech), or a portion of Diggnation, all from Miro. Once I’ve realized that I should have been in the shower ten minutes ago, I run upstairs and finally get clean. After I get dressed, I rush to leave the house, and then rush to head into work. With any luck, I make it just barely on time.

The last part of my morning routine is one that I am hoping to change. I’d much rather do the smart thing and get ready earlier. I hate having to rush into work, despite how much better that is than coffee for waking me up. I suppose I can make that my one New Year’s resolution: to get ready for work earlier and stop stalling in the mornings. It’s not like I don’t end up going to work, anyway.