breakfast routine reset

For many years, at different times and in different locales, when I was single and lived alone, I didn’t turn on the television at breakfast time. My routine was to turn on the radio tuned to my local NPR station.

When Terry moved to the Bay Area in 1993, her habit was to turn the TV on in the morning to Good Morning America on ABC. I didn’t object, but at some point I got tired of Joan Lunden saying, “Isn’t this a wake-up call?” in response to any number of issues. I suggested we switch to the local morning show on Channel 2, which was then independent and later affiliated with the new Fox network. (Wisely for the Bay Area, they have always kept arms length from the news side of Fox.)

This has been our routine ever since, but while the routine has stayed the same, the program has evolved. It has morphed from a Today-like news magazine into a straight newscast. It has also evolved from covering serious news and issues to specializing on murders, car wrecks, and fires. We were both getting tired of that. Never mind that that the weatherman wasn’t giving us the forecasts we wanted to see (we need rain!).

I suggested to Terry that we leave the TV off in the morning and that we listen to NPR instead. She agreed. This has worked out well. The news isn’t necessarily positive or encouraging, but it is not sensational and is well-reported in the familiar NPR style.

Sometimes it’s good to look at those ingrained routines and change things where it makes sense.