The pen is mighter

While getting my breakfast together this morning, I realized something. Just as important as my cereal and fruit is my pen.

Why? Well, because it tastes good dipped in milk.

Okay, not really. But I like to do the crossword puzzle every morning to get my day started. It's roughly the equivalent of that first stretch of the morning. It gets the juices flowing and shakes loose the stiff spots. Trying to make the connections the puzzle maker assumes I'll be able to loosens up the mental pathways as sometimes the clues have the expected answers and sometimes you have to think in a totally different direction. Usually the puzzle has an overall theme and the major clues will all link back to that one premise. It's almost like bullet point plotting.

What do you do to get your mental processes shaken into working order? It might be worth remembering that sometimes, the pen is mightier than the spoon.