It is no secret that I am not a morning person. According to my parents I have never been a morning person. From a wee babe I stayed up late and then would not wake up in the morning (however, apparently, I would awake prior to then demanding food, a diaper change, or attention-- and sometimes all three at once. This information comes from my mother, though, and her hours in labor extend from somewhere between 10 and 72; so, she is perhaps not the most reliable of sources.). So, why would I decide to upset this streak of late risings? I'll tell you why, for the love of a man. Or at least his parking decal.
See, here at Public U. a parking decal isn't so much a license to park on campus as it is a license to hunt (for a parking space). This is why I was riding my bike to work. Notice the key word: was. Dr. Man, as a resident, has a kick-ass parking decal. It is the holy grail of parking decals. Angels descended from the heavens and a chorus sang the Hallelujah Chorus when he purchased it. It's all rainbows and sunshine and it's a ten minute walk to my lab. Ergo, I ride in with Dr. Man. This is a problem, though, because he, unlike me, has an actual schedule. He has appointments with patients who won't accept the "Eh, I don't feel like getting out of bed so do you think we can reschedule this for later?" excuse. He, also, gets paid a real salary. And the Powers That Be expect him to meet with his first patient at 8:00 AM. As in Ante Meridiem.
So, now I wake up at 6:30 AM (again with that stuff) and roll out of bed. And proceed directly to the coffee machine where freshly brewed coffee is waiting for me (God Bless Cuisinart Automatic Grind and Brew). About 20 minutes later I've woken up enough to realize that I need to move on to showering/dressing/etc. Somewhere in there I ingest breakfast and pour myself a travel cup of coffee.
After doing this for a few weeks I have found the main advantage of arriving to the lab early: no one else is there. This means that I am free to use any piece of equipment I want and there are no distractions. I have been oh-so-productive prior to noon so far. Then, about noon everyone else trickles in and my day is shot. Well, not shot exactly, but slowed down.
I have also found the main con of this schedule: I could fall asleep by 10 pm most nights.