Website autopilot

I'm curious if other people do this too ...
Every day, when I wake up, I have certain websites I just seem to check automatically to make sure all is right with the world. My day doesn't feel right unless I wake up before everyone else and get a few minutes on the web by myself. This pattern is so ingrained it's like my fingers type in the URLs by themselves.

So what do I check in the morning?

1) www.nytimes.com

On Monday, I like to read Metropolitan Diary; on Wednesday, I check out the Dining section; on Thursday, I go straight to Fashion & Style and Home & Garden; on Saturday, I go to Real Estate (see my posts about fav column archives!); on Saturday night, I usually make a sneak peak of the weekend Style section; on Sunday morning (before my children wake up), I skim the weekend Times magazine, especially "The Ethicist". I vow here that I will do a separate posting about Randy Cohen. I LOVE his columns. They help jump-start my early Sunday mornings in a very ethical way. Ha ha!

I usually check Opinion and Health in the evenings and Education postings on Sunday evenings. I have no idea why I do that ... but it works.

2) I also have to check out www.theeagle.com , my local newspaper, and www.stcloudtimes.com , my hometown newspaper. I may not even read any stories on these sites, but I like to feel as though I have my finger on the pulse of both B/CS and the Granite City!

3) I like to check www.lds.org as well, especially my ward website. I find it helpful, too, to read my scriptures online. Thanks, Gospel Library.

4) Last and least, in terms of significance/value/effective use of time, I go to www.people.com. What can I say? Old habits die hard. Keeping one's mind full of celebrity trivia requires daily maintenance.