I'm somehow in the same situation Michael was in the 80s.
I'm young, my couple has to wake up at 6 and I can stay in bed easily till 8.
I've been trying to be productive in my personal projects (programming) either at night, after she goes to bed, or starting up very early at 6... but I haven't been able so far.
At night I'm brain-dead after the whole day programming at the office. On the other hand, in the morning I need at least 30 min to really wake up and start thinking correctly in front of the computer and that doesn't leave much time to do almost anything before going to work.
Hmm, you can try this submission if you haven't seen it - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1041820. Check out the comments for it, too, since there are a lot of suggestions to use it to get started in the morning.
Good luck! And keep in mind that napping is a skill to practice. Don't despair if you can't fall asleep within a few minutes the first few times you try it.
At night I'm brain-dead after the whole day programming at the office. On the other hand, in the morning I need at least 30 min to really wake up and start thinking correctly in front of the computer and that doesn't leave much time to do almost anything before going to work.
Anyone with a good advice?