I have had to be at work for 8:30 for a long time now, and I have never gotten used to it. I try really hard not to book meetings before 10 AM because my brain does not function in the morning.

I have gotten used to the 7am start time. I don't love getting up so early, but I do like being off at 3:30. I liked 10-6 when I did that, too. I don't think I've ever actually had a 9-5 workday as such. Working in a room with no windows makes it matter less what the time is once I'm there maybe. Like being in a casino.

I am off work today (I am taking all the Fridays in February off because I can afford the vacation time and I wanted to), which is very pleasant although I am not being as productive as I had hoped. Slept in, breakfasted in leisurely fashion, dawdled about and now I am getting ready to have lunch. I should still have time to go for a run and do some kitchen wrangling before sundown, and then I still have the actual weekend (which does have a few scheduled events so having this period of just not worrying about what time it is or when I need to be done with whatever I'm doing by is quite the precious luxury)

That's my favorite kind of Friday, -t. My Friday is way too busy, and only possibly productive. I just finished up 3 hours of office hours. Next up, I have to write or at least start a letter of recommendation, plus make sure I have the files accessible so I can write another two over the weekend. Then a 2 hour committee meeting that promises to be somewhere between mildly onerous to a big ol' fight. After that I get to head home, pick up Frances, and then go meet the other half of the family up at Isaac's school for a school event. By 9pm I predict I'll be sorely in need of a drink.

Lately I have been shuffling in the door at 9:30 instead of 9, which hasn't been a huge problem since work is reasonably paced at the moment and I'm basically never hit with surprise morning meetings on the current projects. I will need to curtail the habit once things get more frantic, though.

Mind you, I'm rarely productive before 10am regardless of what time I actually make it to the office, but it was my higher ups' choice to trade the focused 6pm-7pm hour for the one in which they pay me to be a coffee-chugging zombie.

I just started a new contract job filling in at my friend's company while her employee is on maternity leave. The offices are in Georgetown but I'm only going to be going in like twice a week (which is what my friend does as well). Then working at home the rest of the time. Thank god because on my first day the commute was 2+ hours each way. My friend was driving and she's used to it, also she claimed it wasn't usually quite that bad, so it wasn't total hell for me but still. I don't know how people do that regularly! Her company is pretty flexible and chill about when you're working, though, as long as you're getting the work done. They also have free lunch in the office every day and a take as much time as you want vacation policy. It's pretty sweet.

I'd much rather work a regular graveyard shift - 11pm - 7am at one of my previous jobs than have to get up for work at 4am. Or even 6am.

Amen. Just this morning I was thinking "why do mornings suck so bad? Why do they just not get better?? They keep happening!!" ...the fact that I currently have a bit of a headache probably doesn't help any of this.

Timelies all!

Going to the FSGW Mid-Winter Fest tomorrow. Mmm, folk music.

So I just caught the tail end of my neighbors digging out from this surprise storm, and it was terrible! It was a few inches of slush under a few inches of snow, so heavy and gross, and everything will be an ice slick in the morning.

That doesn't sound good, Jesse. Hey, how did your salads hold up?

2+hour commute, yikes! Otherwise that sounds pretty good, lisah!

I intended to take Walter out, do a short warmup walk and then my training run, but he was walking with not quite a limp but kind of a hitch? And wanting to stop a lot. So I brought him home and went on the run by myself, which was fine. I was slow, but my normal slow, so maybe I really will be able to do a 10k by the end of March? We'll see. Walter's napping now and doesn't seem distressed so hopefully he'll be perkier tomorrow.

Not feeling too motivated to do much else, but maybe I will after I rest a bit. I am still getting over this cold, after all.

I keep getting alerts on my phone that work emails are coming in but I am NOT READING THEM.

Hey, how did your salads hold up?

They would have been amazing, except they got pushed to the back of the fridge and froze! So I didn't eat the cucumbers yesterday, but otherwise, everything was fine. It was a good call, and I should do it again this weekend.