How to...

start the day off better than yesterday in four easy steps.

1. End yesterday with a few Guiness and some "Bored to Death" DVDs.

2. Leave early enough to walk to Starbucks after arriving at the office.

3. Find a $10 bill in the snow walking your bike to the curb as you're leaving.

4. Have enough to buy coffee and an apple fritter, end up $3 ahead for the day.

It's easy to skip the first step, or substitute other alcohol for Guiness. And actually, I usually remember to have a drink of whatever I have on hand. So that step is pretty much automatic for me. The key was the snow-covered $10 bill waiting for me as I walked frankenbike out this morning.

My street is still in pretty shitty shape as far snow at the curb and the only clear spots being the pair of tire tracks running the street. I've been debating how much of a douche I would be to ride the clear sidewalks up the alley before Fullerton and then out to the street, but I hate it when people do that. Just walk three feet off the curb and ride where you're supposed to or don't ride at all. So I walk through the slush and wait for an opening in traffic to take one of the tire tracks up the street. As I stepped off this morning, a little bit of light green caught my eye sticking out of the snow. Reaching down I saw it was currency, and picking it up realized it was a whole ten dollars. Woo hoo!

So even stopping at Starbucks, I'm $3 ahead for the day. Even after getting something to save for lunch. Throw in a quick ride in decent conditions and that's a Thursday off to a good start. Now I can start looking forward to pouring some whiskey tonite (I finished the rest of the Guiness last night).

Current beer-scale: 7.1