Monday and Tuesday Notes 3.7.06

Thanks to a complex family schedule yesterday morning, my wife and I switched morning duties. That meant I fixed breakfast and got our youngest teenager off to school while she drove the carpool and was able to get to her early-morning workshop on time.

I mention this because it gave me the opportunity to vary my morning routine, stopping at a different coffee shop and taking a different route to work. While it kept me from getting to my blog (sorry about that), it gave me a fresh perspective on the day, however subtle. Different streets, a different chair to read the paper in while taking notes, a different radio station than the agreed-upon compromise station the carpool can tolerate.

For me, certain grooves just run out of ideas. Just when I think I've found the mother lode of cartoon ideas at a certain Starbucks or bagel shop, the creativity ions seems to dry up and blow away. A key to staying fresh is variety, even in small things. Something as simple as driving down an unfamiliar street helps me see the people and houses there with a new eye. If my thinking goes stale and I find myself pacing the same ruts in my brain, the first step is to change my routines.