Wayyyyyyyy Too Early

Well, a very good morning to you all! It is 6:00 am Chicago time - and I am sitting at my desk, supposedly working, but obviously doing some much needed blogging instead. Why am I at work at the ungodly hour of 6:00 am, you ask? I'll tell you why. At 3:00 am, I rolled over in my sleep, and awoke to a strange feeling on my arm. A strange, cold, mushy feeling. That stunk. I yanked my arm away and turned on the light to confirm what I suspected: Baby had puked on my bed. GROSS!!!! Cat puke on my arm at 3 AM! Needless to say, I jumped out of bed, cursing the cat and began cleaning up the mess. And then I obviously had to throw the sheet in the wash. And scrub the mattress. And so now, I am wide awake, and decide to turn on my tivo to see if the Cubs won last night. Which they did. (That made me a little happier.) I debated going back to sleep, but since I had planned on coming in to work at 7:00 am anyway (too much work - not enough time) I figured as long as I was awake I would check the train schedule. The first train was at 4:41. AM. Which meant I could either try to sleep another hour on the dry side of my mattress, sans fitted sheet, which was in the wash - or watch a little tv, get ready, and make that 4:41 train.

I realized if I did try to sleep, odds are I would DEFINITELY not want to get up again in an hour. So I watched "Intervention," got myself dressed et al, and left home at about 4:15.

It was still dark out. Weird.

Once I was on the train, I realized I had forgotten to turn my alarm off - which was set to go off at 4:55. Apparently Lexie slept through it, since I didn't get a panicked call to my cell. I hope it stops ringing before I get home tonight...

And since I was mad at Baby, I deliberately didn't feed him. Ok, now stop with your judging! I realize that poor Ace had nothing to do with the cat puke, and that withholding food is a bit on the cruel side, but I was pissed. And besides, they still had food left from yesterday. They'll live. At least I didn't throw him out the window, which is what I REALLY wanted to do. (Just kidding, Alice - I would NEVER hurt my boys!!)

You know, the city is actually pretty neat at sunrise. All quiet, and comfortably cool. There aren't a brazillian people walking along with you down the street, racing to get to the office. The people that ARE awake and out are just kind of strolling, taking their time, enjoying the morning. It was nice.

But I still probably won't come in this early ever again. Cause I only just got here, and I am tired already. Which really sucks. I may just have to use my comp time to leave early and get some sleep. Which would totally defeat the purpose of comp time, which should be saved for a LATER date, not be used on the day you accrue it. And if I did leave early, I would probably not get the work done I came in early to do in the first place. Sigh. Good thing I have a lot of Diet Pepsi stashed here in the fridge. Gotta love that caffeine.

Anyhoo, Alice posted all about her Chicago trip on her blog. If I weren't so tired, I would add links and such, but since I AM tired, I will just tell you to check out "Alice's Wonderland" on my blogroll to see it. I'm glad she had such a good time, so did I! The bummer of it was that it was only a day, and now she is gone. Sniff! Cheryl (again- lazy- see "Places Never Planned") joined us later, and I swear to God, it was like meeting up with old friends. Although we had never met, as Alice pointed out, we have pretty much "known" each other since 2005 on our respective blogs. My brother was a little baffled at how we were all acting relaxed and normal ("Don't you feel a little weird hanging out with someone you don't even KNOW? Someone from the INTERNET?"), but as I pointed out to him, it wasn't like and Internet DATE, for gosh sakes, it was friends hooking up. I think there is a lot less stress when it is a friends thing - more specifically, a "girlfriends" thing. I mean, honestly if a male blogger buddy came to meet me, regardless of the fact that it would still be a "friends" thing, there is always some kind of tension with the whoel "guy-girl" thing, don't you agree? Anyway, bottm line, I was pleasantly surprised and thrilled that my notions of my cyber-pals were right on the mark - these people are truly friends, not just on the blog but in the "real" world too. There were no lulls in conversation, no uncomfortable silences or bored looks, actually, if I wasn't so tired, I would've stayed out all night!

I'm so glad we all got together. We'll definitely have to do it more often. Well, Cheryl and I can hook up sooner rather than later, both of us being in Chicago and all, but I hope Alice comes back soon, too! I'd give you more details on the visit, but Alice covered it pretty well, and I DO need to do some real work.

So although Alice already posted pretty much the same picture, I have to post one of my own, too. Proof positive connections can be built online! Wish me luck on staying awake today...!