Similarly, when making chocolate milk, put in the chocolate first, otherwise it just floats on top and refuses to dissolve properly.

When making dough or anything with flour and liquid, pour the liquid into the flower, not the other way around. It makes for way less smoothing-out time.

When writing a long paper, write first, think later. The thinking is the time-consuming part; and if you've already written something, the thinking is both limited and aided by the writing.

When driving, drive first, think la... nevermind.

Flour! Sheesh. s/flower/flour/

Shoes first, THEN corset.

Right about the milk. And when I choose to add sugar to coffee (rarely) my method is to sift it off the spoon from as great a height above the coffee as I can get away with, in the belief that if it hits the surface a bit harder it will be more likely to dissolve on its way to the bottom without the need for any stirring. That way one avoids wetting a spoon that would then need to be cleaned.

Drink coffee black. Cross milk and sugar off grocery list; leave spoon in drawer.

I've often thought about inventing a chemical coating to sugar (or artificial sweetener) that reacts with the coffee (or any liquid) in a way that would make the crystals temporarily "jittery", Brownian motion on a macroscopic scale. This would solve a number of problems, namely the odious need to stir and related dirtying of a spoon, and would ensure a relative consistency of sugar and anything else in the mix (like milk) in the coffee. Of course the coating would have to be non-toxic, cheap, and not cause the mug to explode if used in too-great quantity. But those are details. Chemically-active, auto-stirring sugar crystals are the wave of the future.

Jason took my suggestion. Black coffee makes my world a better place.

Actually, being non-facetious for a minute... there's a problem with putting the milk in first if you do take sugar. The sugar dissolves better in coffee without the added fat molecules; if you go milk, coffee, sugar, you actually need to stir MORE or you end up with sugar granules in the bottom. Adding he sugar will sort of stir in the milk for you (though not as well as John's Brownian crystals would) but then they'll just sit on the bottom without some extra elbow grease. I suppose if you were given to taking sugar, you could put a great deal of sugar in the pot and let it dissolve there, and then add milk first to each individual cup. But that doesn't work well for those of us who live in coffee shops.

Heard on NPR's "Day to Day" program:

www.npr.org/programs/day/

"Short List"-- a list created from the experience of listeners' daily lives. These 60 second lists, a feature of NPR's partnership with Transom.org, are inspired by Monika Mueller's "Short Self Portraits":

www.transom.org/shows/2003/200308.3_about_me.mueller.html

Ms. Mueller, clearly inspired by Don DeLillo (who has noted with great flair that "America loves lists"), works in the 60 second self portrait format with impressive results.

These lists may not help us facilitate our morning coffee routines. But they may help us to recognize a little bit more about ourselves... what it means to be in our 30's, for example.

Thanks to all for the wit and wisdom amassed above.

John T., nice to see you here!

Apropos of nothing: if you're going to a conference and your flight leaves very early in the morning to come home, go ahead and change hotels to the airport hotel the night before. It's likely to be a bit cheaper than the conference hotel, and you're right there, so you don't have to get up at an ungodly hour to catch your flight.

Also, the "things are better on the bottom" maxim does not apply to bananas and cereal. I cannot verify that there is any appreciable benefit from putting in the bananas before the the cereal.