In the still of the chill of the night

This may sound counter-intuitive but there’s something really nice about being at work really, unreasonably, early.

"...and that is why Ace of Cakes is the greatest show on television today. The End."

For those of you who don’t know what I do for a living (like --- for example --- stalkers or our friends in the Russian Federation) I work for a small town newspaper just outside of Portland. Once a week on production day I get to work early. I mean E A R L Y to finish up my stories and get started putting the newspaper together.

By early I mean "I didn't even know that time existed" early. I'm talking "Holy Crap What the Heck are you THINKING!?!" early.

This week I was at my desk at 3:30 in the a.m. and didn't get home until about 5 or 6 in the nighttime.

And you know what? It’s really nice.

Yes, you read that clock right. It's 4 a.m

Now, I don’t consider myself much of a “morning person” but I have to say that there is something incredibly relaxing about being up when the rest of the world is asleep.

Everything is so quiet. You feel like you're the only person in the entire world.

Plus my 45-minute-long drive to work is also shorted to about 17 minutes, which is REALLY nice

I’m used to early mornings, having had them most of my childhood, but I’ve never really embraced them. Most of the time I’m too groggily choking down caffeine and sweating bullets to get my stories finished to realize it, but today I really enjoyed myself.

The newsroom has a tendency to get a little crazy during the day. People spend their days running around, making calls, shouting across the cubicles at each other, driving back and forth and everything else that has to do with making deadlines.

But at 3:30 in the morning, when you’re sitting in the office in the dark, all alone. When there’s nobody around but you and your thoughts and Pandora turned up as loud as you want it’s actually quite relaxing.

And hey, I.T.-guy from work, if you're reading this: Yes. I use Pandora. At work. And don't care if it takes away bandwidth from everybody else in the building. It's 4 a.m. and I'm at work. I'm gonna listen to whatever the heck I like. Deal with it.

Of course, I'm write this after having worked a 14-hour day yesterday, so I might just be a little sleep deprived.

I'm gonna go to bed now.

Speaking of Pandora, everyone should listen to Seasick Steve. You shan't be disappointed.