A brief interlude from family and Greekness. Yesterday (Thursday) I had an early 7am flight down to NYC for work. Per usual, I set my clock for 4:45, giving me 15-20 minutes to get ready and 45-50 minutes to get to the airport. I have found that plan to be optimal in terms of not feeling rushed. Wednesday night I had a hockey game and luckily we had an 8:30 game, so I was home by 10:15. I got some last minute presentation work done, laid out my clothes and computer bag for the next morning and went off to bed about 11:15.

I woke up at 4am, thanking my lucky stars I’d have another 45 minutes. You know you all do this. It’s wake-up roulette. Often times I don’t even look at the clock when I wake up in the middle of the night, for fear that it is actually time to get up. But on a day where I have to fly and do meetings, I have to check the clock just in case. And I was alright. So I drifted back to sleep and I woke up again – at 5:24! Holy shit, I said.

I was showered, shaved, dressed and walking out of my bedroom at 5:31. Seven minutes! That is a personal record for me and yes, the thought crossed my mind. I grabbed my bag and turned on the car, 5:32. That was, perhaps, the most important eight minutes of the day – the part you can control. The rest was a roll of the dice – traffic could be bad, parking at the airport might be a nightmare, security line could be long, blah blah blah. Well, it truly was my lucky day. I blew through it all and walked into the airport at 6:12. Was at the gate by 6:18. Time to spare! Got myself a bagel and a Boston Globe. Was on the plane at 6:30.

One time or another this happens to us all. But for me to open my eyes at 5:24 and be at my gate by 6:18 is pretty unheard of, given I live 20 miles from the airport. That’s 53 minutes from eyes-open to airport gate. A personal best that I don’t really care to try and beat anytime soon. So…..what happened, you ask? Well, the alarm didn’t go off, that’s what happened. This is the first time in a LONG time that this has happened to me. I am usually VERY focused on making sure everything is ready to go – clothes, bags, alarm, etc. In fact, I can’t remember any time where I’ve missed an alarm for a work trip. So what happened, you ask? Upon my return home at about 2pm yesterday, I discovered that “someone” changed the alarm from AM to PM……

On my way back to LaGuardia after my meeting, I passed something called the Karen Horney Clinic and I thought “I really don’t want to know what that is.” I tweeted it and soon enough and via Facebook found out that it was a place for “adult treatment programs, child and adolescent services, foster care programs and a treatment center for incest and abuse.” Most definitely good causes all, however, if your name is Karen Horney, you seriously may want to reconsider using your name as the beacon of the treatment center. Just saying.