Welcome to “Read State,” a recurring TM Daily Post feature in which we ask noteworthy Texans—from writers and singers to athletes and politicians—what they’re reading. Today we bring you the reading habits of Charles Kuffner, a Houston blogger who writes about current events and politics at Off the Kuff.

{media number=1 align=left}{/media} I’m the first person to wake up in my house, and I take advantage of the quiet time by seeing what’s gone on since I went to bed. I scan the headlines on the Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, and Austin American-Statesman. (I used to look at the Dallas Morning News as well, but now that nearly all of their stories are behind a subscription wall I generally don’t bother.) I catch up on what’s in Google Reader—I have subgroups for things like Texas politics, national politics, local stuff, sports, technology, and entertainment—which is where I get my dose of the Texas Tribune, among many other things.

For what’s going on in my state, I rely on a variety of Texas blogs, including Burnt Orange Report, Greg’s Opinion, Eye on Williamson, Dos Centavos, BurkaBlog, In the Pink, Grits for Breakfast, and the Houston Press‘ Hair Balls. (I’m always a bit squeamish about listing my favorites because no matter where I stop, I know I’ve left a few off. You can leave Catholic school, but you can never truly outgrow feeling guilty.)

Nationally, I’ve followed Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, and Daily Kos since we were all rookies nearly ten years ago. NewsTaco and Somos Tejanos are more recent additions. Dwight Silverman’s TechBlog is my go-to guy for technology, I read Swamplot for the weird and wonderful world of Houston real estate, and The Lunch Tray for all things school food-related, which as a new public school parent I genuinely appreciate.

Of course there’s a lot of news and politics in my feeds, but I need my laughs and other distractions, too, so I’ve got the Pinstriped Bible to stoke my lifelong love of the New York Yankees, Dear Prudence and Etiquette Hell to check my behavior, and the Houston Chronicle’s Tubular blog to help me figure out what happened on last week’s Fringe.

I’ll browse my Facebook stream as well, but I confess I don’t spend much time on Twitter these days. I couldn’t keep up with it and everything else I read, so it’s been dropped from the routine. Some day when they put the chip in my brain so I can really have direct access to the Internet I’ll work it back in.

I’m never too far from a computer during the day, so I can keep up with everything as time allows. I have one old-fashioned habit of long standing. My first job after grad school was at a small software company in Houston, where I served as the tech support department. I spent all day on the phone with customers. When I went to lunch, I took my newspaper with me—I subscribed to the Houston Post, and in those days I’d buy a Chronicle from a street vendor near my office—and have an hour of peaceful reading, after which I was ready to get back on the phones again.

My day now is more about email than phones, but I still take a newspaper with me to lunch (the Chronicle, as the Post is long gone) and enjoy a little disconnected time. Obviously, I couldn’t do what I do without the online versions of the paper, but as far as I’m concerned there’s still no substitute for the printed version of a good comics section, and I say that as a fan of XKCD, Medium Large, and the Comics Curmudgeon.