Sadly, I have too much experience here.

On the CR2, get to the gate early and ask for seat 1B or 1C - by far the best seats on this plane (which isn't saying much, I know) because you can stretch your legs around the bulkhead a bit. And you're first off the plane.

While these seats are only available for assignment at the gate (a huge frustration for me), I have had about a 90% success rate in getting them.