New job, new routine.
I'm working early hours right now for training purposes. I have to be there at 7:30 in the morning which translates to setting the alarm clock for 4:30 in the morning. It's been a great number of years since I've had to do that and I'm not adjusting very quickly. Oh, I manage to get my ass out of bed by 5:00 or so, but it's a struggle to be functional enough to turn on the heat, make the coffee and shower. You see, in the winter time, my body reverts back to some ancient genetic imprint in my cells that remembers we were once reptiles and decides that if the temperature is under 50 degrees, then it must move slowly. If it's 40 degrees then it must move VERY slowly. And if it's 30 degrees, then it must not move AT ALL. The mammalian brain knows this is all a bunch of crock and so it starts shouting at the body to get a move on. All that shouting in my head is what usually manages to propel my ass out of bed since I can't continue to sleep with all the racket going on in there. I then inch my way towards the bathroom and crank up the gas heater (shutting the door so it will get toasty in there after about 30 minutes), inch my way into the office to start up the under-desk heater to get the desk area warm and then inch my way back towards the kitchen to get the coffee going. The first two cups of the twelve cups of coffee is usually in the pot after about 10 minutes (provided I remember to plug the damn thing in) and I go grab it even though it's the strong, bitter first bit that's supposed to be mellowed out by the brewing of the next 10 cups. I like my coffee strong, but Rob likes his weak. Or rather, I should say Rob likes his coffee to be "normal" strength and so this is a good way to compromise on the weekends when Rob drinks coffee. He doesn't drink coffee at home during the week, but it's too hard for me to remember different brewing instructions at that ungodly hour of the morning and so I make the pot the same way. The next twenty minutes are spent reading my email or blogs and drinking coffee, though I never remember anything I read and I'll have to read it all again later. After the bathroom is warmed up, I'll go stand and waste water for the 5 minutes or so that it takes for hot water to reach the shower (it has to warm up the pipes in the attic first) and then attempt to get my hair and body washed without using up all the hot water since Rob will shower next. If all goes well, I'll finish up and be dressed by 6:00, which gives me time to play with the hyperactive dog (Sullivan) before we lock him up in a room for the rest of the day. Rob will get up at some point, take his shower, get dressed and we'll be out the door by ten minutes to seven. On a perfect day, we will not have had any conversational interaction during this time because that's downright dangerous. This is the only time that Rob and I will snarl, snap and otherwise act like the usual married couple. We've avoided this confrontation for the last several years by having different schedules, but fate has cursed us at the moment. It's only been two days and while there's been no ugliness yet, I know it's lurking there, waiting to happen. Been there, done that and thankfully Rob and I both have the same problem so we can just laugh it off later provided we've made the required apology phone call sometime after nine in the morning.