Wake up at 4:20. Feed the cats, feed the baby, get ready for work. Kiss the kids good-bye, tell Liddy to go back to sleep. Get in the car at 5:30. It's well before dawn. Geese are squabbling on the pond, the half moon is setting, there's a few stars out. I listen to the radio and plug in the cell phone. This will probably be its last day of use, since I just got a new one. The new phone looks uncannily like one of the old Star Trek communicators, which may be deliberate. It also has a camera in it, though I specifically got the second-cheapest one they had because I don't want my phone to have a camera in it. I have a camera. I just wanted a phone.
By the time I reach the highway, the car has warmed up. There's not a lot of other traffic out where we live, but once I pass 495 it thickens up considerably, a steady river of lights headed for Boston, a trickle on the outbound side. Think of all the gas we're using.
It's much brighter out when I get to the city, but the sun isn't actually up yet. The Charles is placid, the surface broken by geese, crew teams, and a few solitary rowers. On the bank are joggers and bicyclists in high-tech, light-weight clothing (and one brave guy in shorts). I make my way to the parking lot among construction workers and the early shift at nearby hospitals, and notice that the car has passed 166k miles. We love Honda.
In good weather, the walk to the office is one of the best parts of my day. Today is chilly, and I'm glad I wore gloves, but not so much that I feel compelled to hurry past the familiar facades of First St. The trees are starting to look impatient; perhaps next week we'll see some green.
I'm the second person at the office today. There's a relatively small bunch of morning people in engineering, and the place will be quiet until 9 or so. I have to restart my laptop ten times before it takes. It's been a little flaky lately. Once it finally gets going, I start a backup, check my mail, and visit the Verizon web site to get my new phone set up. Their service agreement is actually comprehensible (and yes, I did read it); I approve.
My morning has no meetings and I'm ahead on the week's main task, so today is a chance to do fun things like reinstall a product I need to check the UI on, and do some long-term planning. The afternoon is nearly all meetings, and then a presentation on Scrum until 5:30 or so. I make it home around quarter after 7. Dinner, feeding the baby, a few Youtube videos, and a bedtime story take up the rest of the evening.
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