15 Minutes of Fame

It is amazing to me how 10 minutes can make such a huge difference in rush hour driving time.

Usually I leave for work at 730a.m. to be at the office as close to 800a.m. as possible. Some days I'm a little late, some days I'm a little early. It usually just depends on the amount of traffic or any unforeseen WEATHER changes (you'd be surprised at the havoc rain can cause out here in SoCal).

This morning, we had a big All Hands meeting at 800a.m. so I left at 720a.m. A whopping 10 minutes earlier, and I'm at work in 15 minutes. Say wha'?!

I've heard that this is really only the case in bigger cities. (One of my mom's old coworkers lived in Illinois or Idaho or some other "I" state and said that he never understood when his underlings used traffic as an excuse to being late at work. I guess it was just never THAT BAD. But when he moved to D.C., oh how that point of view changed.)

Either way, here in San Diego, a 10 minute difference in departure time DOES equal a 15 minute difference in commute time. That's just crazy to me.

Do you know what I could be doing in those extra 15 minutes of my life?

1. Working out my abs x2.
2. Reading 2 chapters of my book.
3. Making and consuming an egg and cheese sandwich.
4. Bake a batch of chocolate cookies from the tube.
5. Paint my nails.
6. Straighten my hair.
7. Become FAMOUS!
Oh the list goes on and on.

You'd think that this would convince me to leave at 720a.m. every day, but, alas, you would be wrong. Yes, I am encouraged to try to leave that little bit earlier to save myself the hassle of sitting in on-ramp, lacking-in-zipper-abilities traffic. But, oh sleep, sleep how I adore thee. Knowing that I can sleep 10 minutes longer alone will make me sit in 15 more minutes of traffic. It's crazy how the mind of a chronic sleep-button-hitter works.

Give me some tunes, a good morning show, and a cup o' joe at the end of my drive and 15 minutes extra just doesn't seem that bad...