Saturday, April 16, 2005
A very taxing day
Isn't that the WORST pun, lol?
As always, April 15th was the culmination of the massive stress and effort necessary to get our taxes done... and I don't just mean the "doing the taxes" part, I mean the "dealing with the stubborn, lazy, procrastinating husband" part. He got the tax-doing software well in advance, but that's about ALL he did right:
Our printer broke down a couple of months ago; he never told me, didn't take it in, didn't write a note to remind himself or inform ME, and then just FORGOT (!!!!!!) about it until *I* tried to print something a couple of weeks later. With my shrieks of fury ringing in his ears, he took the printer in, and then failed to hammer them about taking WEEKS to get the part they needed, and we literally didn't get the frigging thing, which we needed to print out the tax forms, back until YESTERDAY.
Getting our IRA's sorted out shouldn't be that hard, but time always gets away from us, and suddenly it's an emergency; we got MINE done in plenty of time, but he kept dragging his heels about HIS, and then he discovered that he no longer had the information he needed to set it up online like he thought he could, and he didn't ask ME for the info, which I DID have even though those accounts are only in his name, until a couple of days ago... I don't know what he would have done if I hadn't had what he needed.
He did alot of stock trades last year, and he KNEW that the tax situation on them would be complicated, but he didn't even START working on it until a few days ago, never mind the rest of the taxes... with the result that we had several consecutive nights of far too little sleep, and the taxes were finally done, as always, at DAWN on the 15th. Not trusting our ability to double-check them when we hadn't slept, we looked them over and signed them after the business day was over, and then my husband went off to spend over 2 HOURS in line to mail them at the closest post office that was staying open late (and believe me, it was NOT close-you'd think a city this big could've done a little better). He got home after 9:30PM... at which point we actually got to have DINNER.
Oh, and did I forget to mention; we OWED $.
What a day. What a WEEK. I'm exhausted, worn to a frazzle, and so wound up that the sky is starting to lighten and I'm wide awake... while my husband, of course, has been sawing wood for HOURS, having shrugged off the entire tax experience as if it never happened, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. What I need now is to relax; the remake of "The Amityville Horror" has hit the theaters... after dealing with the taxes, it'll qualify as light entertainment. Maybe I can find it in a double feature with "The Ring Two"... since I'm not sleeping anyway, what could it hurt? ;-)
As always, April 15th was the culmination of the massive stress and effort necessary to get our taxes done... and I don't just mean the "doing the taxes" part, I mean the "dealing with the stubborn, lazy, procrastinating husband" part. He got the tax-doing software well in advance, but that's about ALL he did right:
Our printer broke down a couple of months ago; he never told me, didn't take it in, didn't write a note to remind himself or inform ME, and then just FORGOT (!!!!!!) about it until *I* tried to print something a couple of weeks later. With my shrieks of fury ringing in his ears, he took the printer in, and then failed to hammer them about taking WEEKS to get the part they needed, and we literally didn't get the frigging thing, which we needed to print out the tax forms, back until YESTERDAY.
Getting our IRA's sorted out shouldn't be that hard, but time always gets away from us, and suddenly it's an emergency; we got MINE done in plenty of time, but he kept dragging his heels about HIS, and then he discovered that he no longer had the information he needed to set it up online like he thought he could, and he didn't ask ME for the info, which I DID have even though those accounts are only in his name, until a couple of days ago... I don't know what he would have done if I hadn't had what he needed.
He did alot of stock trades last year, and he KNEW that the tax situation on them would be complicated, but he didn't even START working on it until a few days ago, never mind the rest of the taxes... with the result that we had several consecutive nights of far too little sleep, and the taxes were finally done, as always, at DAWN on the 15th. Not trusting our ability to double-check them when we hadn't slept, we looked them over and signed them after the business day was over, and then my husband went off to spend over 2 HOURS in line to mail them at the closest post office that was staying open late (and believe me, it was NOT close-you'd think a city this big could've done a little better). He got home after 9:30PM... at which point we actually got to have DINNER.
Oh, and did I forget to mention; we OWED $.
What a day. What a WEEK. I'm exhausted, worn to a frazzle, and so wound up that the sky is starting to lighten and I'm wide awake... while my husband, of course, has been sawing wood for HOURS, having shrugged off the entire tax experience as if it never happened, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. What I need now is to relax; the remake of "The Amityville Horror" has hit the theaters... after dealing with the taxes, it'll qualify as light entertainment. Maybe I can find it in a double feature with "The Ring Two"... since I'm not sleeping anyway, what could it hurt? ;-)
Friday, April 15, 2005
More tech stuff
There's never a dull moment in my sidebar; it got a big overhaul today. I found yet another cool javascript, one with a different twist on the geolocater deal that I already have in my welcome message; it shows you what country you're from, along with your national flag, AND, if anyone else is reading here at the same time you are, it shows the same thing for THEM... and hopefully is more accurate for people in Africa and India than the one that tries to guess your city is. You could make the case that it's excessive to have TWO geolocation javascripts, but I'm totally unable to resist novelty stuff like that, so as they come up with more of 'em I'll probably install them too.
As you'd expect, the darned thing DID do its best to thwart me; it refused to right-justify, even though everything else in that part of the sidebar does it without problems, so I had to adjust the width of the element to force it over... and it didn't just move over the minimum amount to be within the limit I'd set, it moved ALL the way over, and I don't know why, but it looks good so I don't care.
Another thing I did today was to add a couple of new click-to-donate-for-free buttons; to the best of my ability to research, all of those sites (which are obviously run by the same people, as the buttons are the same design) ARE set up such that businesses donate $ to valid charities for every time you click... and no, *I* do NOT make any $ from this, the entire sponsored value of each click goes to the charities. If you haven't already done so, take a couple of minutes to click them all; it's the easiest charitable contribution you can make.
I also changed the order of the sidebar elements in the upper section, to reflect which ones I think are the most useful or important, and to make as nice-looking of a layout as I can manage; the welcome is much more prominent now, especially since I discovered accidentally that I could make the text bold (by unintentionally deleting an "end bold" command, which made the entire sidebar suddenly go bold, lol), and the link to blogroll me is easier to find, so it's more user-friendly, I guess you could say. I nearly took out the Freefind search, since I'm sure no one has used it since the Google search got put at the top of the "page," but... that search was the first tech thing I struggled with and succeeded at (I tried at least 2 other site searches 1st, including an older version of the Google one, neither of which worked), and... and I'm just too nostalgic about if, if that's the right word for something I did only last year, to take it out, so I just shifted it down a little. Besides, if the Google search breaks down at some point, I'll be glad to still have it available, right?
My other big tech news has nothing to do with my blog; we finally got digital cable. Because the reason for the switch is to get Showtime before the next season of "Queer as Folk" starts (in my area, they'll only give you new premium channels if you have digital, how's that for pressure to switch?), we now have the full spectrum of Showtimes, plus all the HBO's now that we have the ability to see them all, plus an INSANE # of new channels, including things like BBC America, Oxygen and the Sundance channel, PLUS free access to the "in demand" libraries of about 20 channels, which means we can choose from THOUSANDS of programs to watch any time we want. We can't make heads or tails out of all of it yet; we don't know what most of the channels are, or what they show, or what #'s are for what channels... but we're learning fast, because it's like a fabulous new toy that we can't put down.
The biggest problem is just finding out what's being shown, and in such a way that it doesn't take half an hour to sort through it all; I tried the TV Guide site
http://tvguide.com/listings/
and their system can't seem to handle listings for this many channels-the text all overlaps, so it's just impossible to use, AND it has no descriptions included in the grid, which is NUTS. The Excite TV listings
http://www.excite.com/tv/grid.jsp
handles showing all the channels perfectly, but it includes the dozens of channels that we DON'T get with our digital package, and a bunch that we do get but will never watch, so it's time-consuming and confusing to sort through it all to get useful information. Luckily, this site
http://tvlistings2.zap2it.com/grid.asp?partner_id=national
allows you, once you've registered, to customize the channel listing you see, and shows it all perfectly, descriptions and all... as you might imagine, it's my new favorite site.
There was a movie, or I guess it could have been a TV show, from many years ago with a scene where someone got cable for the 1st time, and stayed up all night watching and watching in amazement; we haven't managed that yet, but we're coming close, lol. Have we actually reached the point where there'll always be something decent to watch, at long last? Time will tell.
As you'd expect, the darned thing DID do its best to thwart me; it refused to right-justify, even though everything else in that part of the sidebar does it without problems, so I had to adjust the width of the element to force it over... and it didn't just move over the minimum amount to be within the limit I'd set, it moved ALL the way over, and I don't know why, but it looks good so I don't care.
Another thing I did today was to add a couple of new click-to-donate-for-free buttons; to the best of my ability to research, all of those sites (which are obviously run by the same people, as the buttons are the same design) ARE set up such that businesses donate $ to valid charities for every time you click... and no, *I* do NOT make any $ from this, the entire sponsored value of each click goes to the charities. If you haven't already done so, take a couple of minutes to click them all; it's the easiest charitable contribution you can make.
I also changed the order of the sidebar elements in the upper section, to reflect which ones I think are the most useful or important, and to make as nice-looking of a layout as I can manage; the welcome is much more prominent now, especially since I discovered accidentally that I could make the text bold (by unintentionally deleting an "end bold" command, which made the entire sidebar suddenly go bold, lol), and the link to blogroll me is easier to find, so it's more user-friendly, I guess you could say. I nearly took out the Freefind search, since I'm sure no one has used it since the Google search got put at the top of the "page," but... that search was the first tech thing I struggled with and succeeded at (I tried at least 2 other site searches 1st, including an older version of the Google one, neither of which worked), and... and I'm just too nostalgic about if, if that's the right word for something I did only last year, to take it out, so I just shifted it down a little. Besides, if the Google search breaks down at some point, I'll be glad to still have it available, right?
My other big tech news has nothing to do with my blog; we finally got digital cable. Because the reason for the switch is to get Showtime before the next season of "Queer as Folk" starts (in my area, they'll only give you new premium channels if you have digital, how's that for pressure to switch?), we now have the full spectrum of Showtimes, plus all the HBO's now that we have the ability to see them all, plus an INSANE # of new channels, including things like BBC America, Oxygen and the Sundance channel, PLUS free access to the "in demand" libraries of about 20 channels, which means we can choose from THOUSANDS of programs to watch any time we want. We can't make heads or tails out of all of it yet; we don't know what most of the channels are, or what they show, or what #'s are for what channels... but we're learning fast, because it's like a fabulous new toy that we can't put down.
The biggest problem is just finding out what's being shown, and in such a way that it doesn't take half an hour to sort through it all; I tried the TV Guide site
http://tvguide.com/listings/
and their system can't seem to handle listings for this many channels-the text all overlaps, so it's just impossible to use, AND it has no descriptions included in the grid, which is NUTS. The Excite TV listings
http://www.excite.com/tv/grid.jsp
handles showing all the channels perfectly, but it includes the dozens of channels that we DON'T get with our digital package, and a bunch that we do get but will never watch, so it's time-consuming and confusing to sort through it all to get useful information. Luckily, this site
http://tvlistings2.zap2it.com/grid.asp?partner_id=national
allows you, once you've registered, to customize the channel listing you see, and shows it all perfectly, descriptions and all... as you might imagine, it's my new favorite site.
There was a movie, or I guess it could have been a TV show, from many years ago with a scene where someone got cable for the 1st time, and stayed up all night watching and watching in amazement; we haven't managed that yet, but we're coming close, lol. Have we actually reached the point where there'll always be something decent to watch, at long last? Time will tell.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
In search of sleep
Primitive man laid down when it got dark and slept until it was light again, like all the other diurnal creatures; you can't mess with biology with impunity, and our creation of artificial light, and all sorts of things to do by that light during the time we're supposed to be sleeping, has made insomnia, sleep deprivation, and overall exhaustion the rule rather than the exception in the modern world.
Ever since my teenage years, I've been a chronic insomniac. It takes a normal person 10 minutes or less to fall asleep; it takes me from 1-1.5 HOURS... and even when it's VERY late, and/or I'm utterly exhausted, it doesn't usually cut this wait-time down much, if at all. Some insomniacs fall asleep easily but wake up far too soon, and often without being able to get back to sleep; I'm usually spared not being able to stay asleep, but if I get woken up with 5 or more hours of sleep, it's a significant risk. To try to improve things a little, I've compiled some ideas for getting better sleep over the years; they aren't magical or anything, but every little bit helps.
I've long since realized that I need the room to be dark, quiet, and between 67-75 degrees in order for me to have any chance of getting to sleep, which is, not coincidentally, what the experts recommend for people in general; it's what we're biologically programmed to expect, after all. They also say to not eat or watch TV in your bedroom, so that your mind associates the room with sleep only (and sex, of course, lol), and as a result, I'm probably the only person in America who doesn't have a TV in the bedroom; then again, some people can't fall asleep without the TV on, so for all I know I'm missing out on something beneficial.
The old advice about counting sheep is still valid, at least from a conceptual viewpoint; it's a good idea to focus on something very specific, and non-stressful, to keep to-do lists and such from seeping in and preventing you from relaxing enough to drift off. Generally, if I try to tell a story to myself in my head, instead of just letting my thoughts wander, that'll put me to sleep, although it takes a while and is harder to keep doing than you'd imagine; anything you can think of to keep your mind from running in circles will probably do you some good, and as a bonus can influence the sort of dreams you have.
I copied this from a website long enough ago that I no longer have the URL:
"If you are suffering sleep problems, try these treatments:
* Maintain a regular sleep-wake pattern. Go to bed and wake up at the same times each day, including the weekend. Also, do not awaken too late, because the early morning sunlight is best at resetting your biological clock.
* Don't exercise strenuously within two to three hours of retiring. Exercising early in the day helps you sleep, but exercising too close to bed keeps you awake.
* Don't eat a large meal within one to two hours of going to bed. Major digestive efforts can keep you up.
* Have a light snack before bed. A little bit of food before bed can help you sleep.
* Adopt bedtime rituals. Read for a while. Change into pajamas. Brush your teeth. Lock your doors. Turn out your lights. Rituals help ease you into sleep.
* Turn down your thermostat. Cool temperatures help induce sleep.
* Don't nap during the day. Napping can interfere with night sleep.
* Limit your caffeine consumption. Drink less regular coffee. Caffeine can also be found in tea, colas, cocoa, chocolate, and many over-the-counter drugs (read labels and ask your pharmacist). Avoid caffeinated drinks eight hours prior to sleep.
* Avoid shift work. If at all possible, work days (9 to 5 or a schedule close to it). Working afternoons (4 to midnight) and nights (midnight to 8) disrupts sleep. The most sleep-disrupting schedule is rotating shift work: periods of day, afternoon, and night work.
In addition, several antidepressant medications may disrupt sleep, notably MAO inhibitors, tricyclics, and SSRIs. If you take any of these medications and have sleep disturbances, you may not be aware of them. They may cause "micro-awakenings," momentary rousing during sleep that you don't realize is happening.
So how can you tell if your antidepressant is causing sleep disturbances? One tip-off is daytime drowsiness. If you have this, discuss it with your doctor. Dose adjustment may resolve the problem. If not, you might be able to switch to a medication not associated with sleep problems."
I think it's best to not pop pills to sleep unless you're desperate, but if you ARE desperate, as *I* periodically am, here are a few things you can take that have a good chance of working (if you're on meds, ALWAYS consult with your doctor or psychiatrist before taking ANY sleep aid):
MELATONIN:
Melatonin is a chemical your body produces to tell you when the "day" is up, and it's time to go to sleep; when it hits your bloodstream, it makes you sleepy. You can buy it in pill form without a prescription at any health, drug, general or grocery store; when you take the pills, the melatonin they contain acts in your body exactly as your OWN melatonin does, safely and usually with no side effects. The down side is that you should NOT take melatonin nightly long-term, because it's been found to cause "mild depression" when taken protractedly; sleep and depression are both affected by the neurotransmitter serotonin, so pushing that sleep button too often appears to slide over into depression territory. Whatever the reason, it's best to use melatonin only to change your sleep schedule and/or help you catch up on your sleep.
MY experience has been; it makes me sleepy an hour or hour and a half after I take 1 pill, and in 15-20 minutes if I take 2; the more behind I am in sleep, the quicker and harder it'll hit my system. When I take it several nights in a row, which I try to avoid, it has a lesser, slower effect on each successive night; I have a 3-night maximum, usually, after which it does nothing for me at all.
KAVA KAVA:
from "The Little Herb Encyclopedia":
"Captain Cook discovered Kava Kava and gave the plant the name "intoxicating pepper."
Kava Kava as an analgesic sedative is used to relieve pain in rheumatic complaints, alleviate insomnia and calm nervousness. It was used by the ancient Tahitians to create a "stupefying" drink. They used Kava Kava as a tonic and stimulant in small doses.
Kava Kava root is also known as one of the most powerful of the herbal muscle relaxants. Kava Kava is helpful in increasing flexibility influencing the motor units of the nervous system, relaxing muscle tension and aiding with structural alignment.
It has been used to treat the following: Anxiety, asthma, bronchitis, fatigue, gonorrhea, gout, insomnia, nervousness, pain, rheumatism, spasms, urinary tract infections, vaginitis."
You can buy it in most health, general, drug and grocery stores.
VALERIAN:
Another herb that many swear by to get restful sleep without side effects; you can buy it in, you guessed it, most health, general, drug and grocery stores.
If you need prescription meds to get some sleep, and especially if you suffer from depression and/or anxiety and might need longer-term help, here are a few possibilities:
AMBIEN:
This well-advertised prescription drug gets high ratings from people who use it; it knocks you out and makes you sleep peacefully for 7-8 hours, with no serious side effects. However, it's ADDICTIVE, so you can only take it for 7-10 days.
TRAZODONE:
This prescription anti-depressant/sleep aid can be taken long-term, and seems to work well for most people; it tends to cause dry-mouth, however, along with a metallic taste in the mouth, and some people experience trouble breathing from using it.
REMERON:
This is another prescription anti-depressant/sleep aid; it's much more expensive than the other 2, but half a tiny tablet will probably knock you out... it'll likely leave you sort of groggy the next day, but if you're really suffering, it might be worth it.
Here's something else that I've found useful, that I saved from an old issue of Cosmo (2002?):
"At night, your body starts to cool off; the drop in body temperature then signals it's time to drift off to dreamland. So if your bedroom is blazin', it will be tough to fall-and stay-asleep because your body is never able to reach that optimal sleeping temp. Studies have also shown that a too-toasty room can cause disturbing dreams.
Snooze solution: If you have a bedroom thermostat, set it to 65 degrees or lower. You can also help along your body's natural cooling process by taking a hot bath pre-bedtime. It sounds counterintuitive, but when you come out of the water, your body temperature drops rapidly, setting your sleep mode in motion. No time for the tub? Put on warm socks at bedtime. They cause blood vessels in your feet to dilate, which takes heat away from the rest of your body."
You don't need to have a thermostat in your bedroom to take advantage of that cooling-off idea; if it's hot and you have A/C, run it before bedtime to cool the house down enough for you to sleep, and cool your body down at the same time, and if it's chilly and you've been running the heat, turn it down a while before bedtime so that the house, and your body, cool down before you get into bed.
And, finally, the thing that would provide the biggest sleep assistance for most women; make that snoring, thrashing, stinky, overly-hormonal husband or boyfriend sleep in another room!! ;-)
Ever since my teenage years, I've been a chronic insomniac. It takes a normal person 10 minutes or less to fall asleep; it takes me from 1-1.5 HOURS... and even when it's VERY late, and/or I'm utterly exhausted, it doesn't usually cut this wait-time down much, if at all. Some insomniacs fall asleep easily but wake up far too soon, and often without being able to get back to sleep; I'm usually spared not being able to stay asleep, but if I get woken up with 5 or more hours of sleep, it's a significant risk. To try to improve things a little, I've compiled some ideas for getting better sleep over the years; they aren't magical or anything, but every little bit helps.
I've long since realized that I need the room to be dark, quiet, and between 67-75 degrees in order for me to have any chance of getting to sleep, which is, not coincidentally, what the experts recommend for people in general; it's what we're biologically programmed to expect, after all. They also say to not eat or watch TV in your bedroom, so that your mind associates the room with sleep only (and sex, of course, lol), and as a result, I'm probably the only person in America who doesn't have a TV in the bedroom; then again, some people can't fall asleep without the TV on, so for all I know I'm missing out on something beneficial.
The old advice about counting sheep is still valid, at least from a conceptual viewpoint; it's a good idea to focus on something very specific, and non-stressful, to keep to-do lists and such from seeping in and preventing you from relaxing enough to drift off. Generally, if I try to tell a story to myself in my head, instead of just letting my thoughts wander, that'll put me to sleep, although it takes a while and is harder to keep doing than you'd imagine; anything you can think of to keep your mind from running in circles will probably do you some good, and as a bonus can influence the sort of dreams you have.
I copied this from a website long enough ago that I no longer have the URL:
"If you are suffering sleep problems, try these treatments:
* Maintain a regular sleep-wake pattern. Go to bed and wake up at the same times each day, including the weekend. Also, do not awaken too late, because the early morning sunlight is best at resetting your biological clock.
* Don't exercise strenuously within two to three hours of retiring. Exercising early in the day helps you sleep, but exercising too close to bed keeps you awake.
* Don't eat a large meal within one to two hours of going to bed. Major digestive efforts can keep you up.
* Have a light snack before bed. A little bit of food before bed can help you sleep.
* Adopt bedtime rituals. Read for a while. Change into pajamas. Brush your teeth. Lock your doors. Turn out your lights. Rituals help ease you into sleep.
* Turn down your thermostat. Cool temperatures help induce sleep.
* Don't nap during the day. Napping can interfere with night sleep.
* Limit your caffeine consumption. Drink less regular coffee. Caffeine can also be found in tea, colas, cocoa, chocolate, and many over-the-counter drugs (read labels and ask your pharmacist). Avoid caffeinated drinks eight hours prior to sleep.
* Avoid shift work. If at all possible, work days (9 to 5 or a schedule close to it). Working afternoons (4 to midnight) and nights (midnight to 8) disrupts sleep. The most sleep-disrupting schedule is rotating shift work: periods of day, afternoon, and night work.
In addition, several antidepressant medications may disrupt sleep, notably MAO inhibitors, tricyclics, and SSRIs. If you take any of these medications and have sleep disturbances, you may not be aware of them. They may cause "micro-awakenings," momentary rousing during sleep that you don't realize is happening.
So how can you tell if your antidepressant is causing sleep disturbances? One tip-off is daytime drowsiness. If you have this, discuss it with your doctor. Dose adjustment may resolve the problem. If not, you might be able to switch to a medication not associated with sleep problems."
I think it's best to not pop pills to sleep unless you're desperate, but if you ARE desperate, as *I* periodically am, here are a few things you can take that have a good chance of working (if you're on meds, ALWAYS consult with your doctor or psychiatrist before taking ANY sleep aid):
MELATONIN:
Melatonin is a chemical your body produces to tell you when the "day" is up, and it's time to go to sleep; when it hits your bloodstream, it makes you sleepy. You can buy it in pill form without a prescription at any health, drug, general or grocery store; when you take the pills, the melatonin they contain acts in your body exactly as your OWN melatonin does, safely and usually with no side effects. The down side is that you should NOT take melatonin nightly long-term, because it's been found to cause "mild depression" when taken protractedly; sleep and depression are both affected by the neurotransmitter serotonin, so pushing that sleep button too often appears to slide over into depression territory. Whatever the reason, it's best to use melatonin only to change your sleep schedule and/or help you catch up on your sleep.
MY experience has been; it makes me sleepy an hour or hour and a half after I take 1 pill, and in 15-20 minutes if I take 2; the more behind I am in sleep, the quicker and harder it'll hit my system. When I take it several nights in a row, which I try to avoid, it has a lesser, slower effect on each successive night; I have a 3-night maximum, usually, after which it does nothing for me at all.
KAVA KAVA:
from "The Little Herb Encyclopedia":
"Captain Cook discovered Kava Kava and gave the plant the name "intoxicating pepper."
Kava Kava as an analgesic sedative is used to relieve pain in rheumatic complaints, alleviate insomnia and calm nervousness. It was used by the ancient Tahitians to create a "stupefying" drink. They used Kava Kava as a tonic and stimulant in small doses.
Kava Kava root is also known as one of the most powerful of the herbal muscle relaxants. Kava Kava is helpful in increasing flexibility influencing the motor units of the nervous system, relaxing muscle tension and aiding with structural alignment.
It has been used to treat the following: Anxiety, asthma, bronchitis, fatigue, gonorrhea, gout, insomnia, nervousness, pain, rheumatism, spasms, urinary tract infections, vaginitis."
You can buy it in most health, general, drug and grocery stores.
VALERIAN:
Another herb that many swear by to get restful sleep without side effects; you can buy it in, you guessed it, most health, general, drug and grocery stores.
If you need prescription meds to get some sleep, and especially if you suffer from depression and/or anxiety and might need longer-term help, here are a few possibilities:
AMBIEN:
This well-advertised prescription drug gets high ratings from people who use it; it knocks you out and makes you sleep peacefully for 7-8 hours, with no serious side effects. However, it's ADDICTIVE, so you can only take it for 7-10 days.
TRAZODONE:
This prescription anti-depressant/sleep aid can be taken long-term, and seems to work well for most people; it tends to cause dry-mouth, however, along with a metallic taste in the mouth, and some people experience trouble breathing from using it.
REMERON:
This is another prescription anti-depressant/sleep aid; it's much more expensive than the other 2, but half a tiny tablet will probably knock you out... it'll likely leave you sort of groggy the next day, but if you're really suffering, it might be worth it.
Here's something else that I've found useful, that I saved from an old issue of Cosmo (2002?):
"At night, your body starts to cool off; the drop in body temperature then signals it's time to drift off to dreamland. So if your bedroom is blazin', it will be tough to fall-and stay-asleep because your body is never able to reach that optimal sleeping temp. Studies have also shown that a too-toasty room can cause disturbing dreams.
Snooze solution: If you have a bedroom thermostat, set it to 65 degrees or lower. You can also help along your body's natural cooling process by taking a hot bath pre-bedtime. It sounds counterintuitive, but when you come out of the water, your body temperature drops rapidly, setting your sleep mode in motion. No time for the tub? Put on warm socks at bedtime. They cause blood vessels in your feet to dilate, which takes heat away from the rest of your body."
You don't need to have a thermostat in your bedroom to take advantage of that cooling-off idea; if it's hot and you have A/C, run it before bedtime to cool the house down enough for you to sleep, and cool your body down at the same time, and if it's chilly and you've been running the heat, turn it down a while before bedtime so that the house, and your body, cool down before you get into bed.
And, finally, the thing that would provide the biggest sleep assistance for most women; make that snoring, thrashing, stinky, overly-hormonal husband or boyfriend sleep in another room!! ;-)
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Why I love Scott Adams
Brilliant cartoonist (and metaphysical philosopher) Scott Adams sends out periodic e-newsletters based on the "Dilbert universe"; the current one, which you can read here
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/dnrc/html/newsletter60.html
includes the following:
"Sometimes my brain ties together things that are better left alone. Here are three things I've thought about recently:
- Microchip designers often embed microscopic messages on the surface of the chip as a way of signing their work.
- DNA has a lot of "junk" parts that don't seem to have any function.
- A lot of people think evolution is obviously "designed" by someone.
I wonder if any cryptographers have looked at that junk DNA to see if it's a message from the designer. I'm guessing that it's a code that says something like, "I am Kaloopah, from the star system Nebulon IV. I have sent this evolution program into space as my eighth grade science project.""
Aside from this being terribly clever and funny, it made me think; who does this concatenation of disparate ideas remind you of? ;-)
Typically, Adams isn't just being amusing, but also has an intellectual point to make:
"I suspect that the only way time can be infinite is if the past connects to the future like some huge Mobius strip-wormhole kind of deal."
We already know, both from quantum physics experiments (which demonstrate, for example, that effect can precede cause), and from the existence of precognition (which shows us that the future already exists in some form and to some degree) that time does NOT exist the way we think it does, if in fact it exists at all. Up until this point, I've been at a loss as to what form it might exist in, but a Mobius strip is a good way to visualize one way it might "look" if you suspect that the universe goes through an endless cycle of rebirth, which I think it very likely does; it just doesn't seem intuitively right for time to "reset" for each cycle as if it were a cosmic odometer, which makes the idea of it looping attractive, and the Mobius strip, which is one-sided, is a little simpler than a classic loop, which has 2 sides... and, fond as I am of Occam's Razor, I've gotta go with the simpler model.
Ahhhhhhh, I LOVE Scott Adams!! :-)
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/dnrc/html/newsletter60.html
includes the following:
"Sometimes my brain ties together things that are better left alone. Here are three things I've thought about recently:
- Microchip designers often embed microscopic messages on the surface of the chip as a way of signing their work.
- DNA has a lot of "junk" parts that don't seem to have any function.
- A lot of people think evolution is obviously "designed" by someone.
I wonder if any cryptographers have looked at that junk DNA to see if it's a message from the designer. I'm guessing that it's a code that says something like, "I am Kaloopah, from the star system Nebulon IV. I have sent this evolution program into space as my eighth grade science project.""
Aside from this being terribly clever and funny, it made me think; who does this concatenation of disparate ideas remind you of? ;-)
Typically, Adams isn't just being amusing, but also has an intellectual point to make:
"I suspect that the only way time can be infinite is if the past connects to the future like some huge Mobius strip-wormhole kind of deal."
We already know, both from quantum physics experiments (which demonstrate, for example, that effect can precede cause), and from the existence of precognition (which shows us that the future already exists in some form and to some degree) that time does NOT exist the way we think it does, if in fact it exists at all. Up until this point, I've been at a loss as to what form it might exist in, but a Mobius strip is a good way to visualize one way it might "look" if you suspect that the universe goes through an endless cycle of rebirth, which I think it very likely does; it just doesn't seem intuitively right for time to "reset" for each cycle as if it were a cosmic odometer, which makes the idea of it looping attractive, and the Mobius strip, which is one-sided, is a little simpler than a classic loop, which has 2 sides... and, fond as I am of Occam's Razor, I've gotta go with the simpler model.
Ahhhhhhh, I LOVE Scott Adams!! :-)
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
The hidden karma
Ok, technically ALL karma is hidden, at least in the sense that you can't see it directly, but what I'm referring to is that part of the karma that affects your life that you probably don't give any thought to; the karma of the people around you. I've written about this before, and my conclusions were: In the same way that, if someone throws a water balloon at the person standing next to you, you'll probably get splattered, the karma directed at the people in your life can "splatter" you; karma is energy, after all, and, like the other forms of energy found in nature, doesn't travel in a narrow, sharply defined path... it spreads out, sort of like how you could turn a flashlight beam on someone, and nearby people would also get dimly lit. What effect does this have on your life? Usually, none; most karma isn't that powerful, even for the person it's aimed at, because most of what we do is of little karmic consequence... but when someone in your life DOES earn a big karmic response, for good or bad, look out.
What brought this into my mind today was another aspect of karma that I've covered before; how the "no good deed goes unpunished" concept can be explained for those situations that aren't attributable to the ungratefulness and resentfulness of many of the people who need good deeds done for them... and my conclusion there was that, when you give, it creates a "hole" where that energy used to be, and, although karma will try to send you positive energy to fill the hole made when you sent out positive energy, if it can't, it'll send you something negative to fill the hole, because karma, like the rest of nature, abhors a vacuum.
Looking at those 2 things, I've belatedly made a connection between them; oftentimes when you're doing good deeds, you're doing them for people around you who're going through bad times (or else why would they NEED your good deeds?), and who thus are unhappy, worried, angry... radiating negative energy, in other words, so karma sends negative energy back at them, and if you are, not just in the "karmic splash zone," but with a karmic hole from what you've been giving, karma doesn't have to do anything to try to fill that hole-the negativity already flowing near you just pops right in.
No, it's not fair, but karma, like the other forces of nature, follows laws that do NOT include our idea that good people should get good things; bad karma can hit a good person in the same way that lightning can strike a good person if they happen to be standing outside in a storm. You can't always avoid people who are radiating negative energy, and in fact you might not be able to be a good person if you do so; all you can do is be aware of the situation, and make a conscious choice as to when and what to give... and keep your overall karma clean, of course, which is your best defense against just about everything.
What brought this into my mind today was another aspect of karma that I've covered before; how the "no good deed goes unpunished" concept can be explained for those situations that aren't attributable to the ungratefulness and resentfulness of many of the people who need good deeds done for them... and my conclusion there was that, when you give, it creates a "hole" where that energy used to be, and, although karma will try to send you positive energy to fill the hole made when you sent out positive energy, if it can't, it'll send you something negative to fill the hole, because karma, like the rest of nature, abhors a vacuum.
Looking at those 2 things, I've belatedly made a connection between them; oftentimes when you're doing good deeds, you're doing them for people around you who're going through bad times (or else why would they NEED your good deeds?), and who thus are unhappy, worried, angry... radiating negative energy, in other words, so karma sends negative energy back at them, and if you are, not just in the "karmic splash zone," but with a karmic hole from what you've been giving, karma doesn't have to do anything to try to fill that hole-the negativity already flowing near you just pops right in.
No, it's not fair, but karma, like the other forces of nature, follows laws that do NOT include our idea that good people should get good things; bad karma can hit a good person in the same way that lightning can strike a good person if they happen to be standing outside in a storm. You can't always avoid people who are radiating negative energy, and in fact you might not be able to be a good person if you do so; all you can do is be aware of the situation, and make a conscious choice as to when and what to give... and keep your overall karma clean, of course, which is your best defense against just about everything.
Monday, April 11, 2005
When is it porn?
This probably seems like a simple issue to you; a clear definition probably popped into your head as soon as you read the title. The problem is that not everyone shares your definition, or mine, or anyone else's, and that leaves us with no way to truly judge where the line is between porn and almost-porn.
I recently discovered that one of the HBO's has "adults only" features late at night, which is the euphemism for movies with weak, limited bits of plot connecting sex scenes... porn movies, in other words. Everything I've seen thus far is softcore, which mostly means that you don't see, er, anything being inserted into anything else; still, I don't think that anyone would try to claim that these are anything but porn movies.
By comparison, consider the awesome Showtime series "Queer as Folk," which is NOT considered porn: It shows full frontal nudity of both genders, often fairly close up, while the HBO "adult" movies I've seen thus far haven't shown ANY shots of male genitals, and the female frontal nudity has NOT been close up. QAF shows anal sex, sex toys, S&M, group sex, anonymous sex in back rooms, prostitution, everything but the kitchen sink, sexually... and the HBO features show fairly tame intercourse and very little else.
So, why is QAF not considered porn? Do quality scripts make even pretty graphic sex scenes somehow not porn, in the same way that even the most explicitly painted nudes, even the ones by Lucien Freud that show women with their legs wide open, are considered not pornographic or indecent or inappropriate to show minors, because there's talent involved in their creation, making them "art"? In the same way that if you go to a play and see nudity, or even a sex scene, on stage, it's "theater," but if you put $ into a slot to see live nudity or sex in a peep show at an adult bookstore, it's sleazy and pornographic?
When is it porn? When there's nudity and/or sex such that most people don't see enough artistic merit to it for it to NOT be porn. Silly, isn't is?
Neither the naked human body, nor any of its biological functions including sex, should even merit special notice, much less special names and special rules; can you imagine what our lives would be like if none of the parts of our body, and none of our activities, were considered "dirty"? Me neither...
I recently discovered that one of the HBO's has "adults only" features late at night, which is the euphemism for movies with weak, limited bits of plot connecting sex scenes... porn movies, in other words. Everything I've seen thus far is softcore, which mostly means that you don't see, er, anything being inserted into anything else; still, I don't think that anyone would try to claim that these are anything but porn movies.
By comparison, consider the awesome Showtime series "Queer as Folk," which is NOT considered porn: It shows full frontal nudity of both genders, often fairly close up, while the HBO "adult" movies I've seen thus far haven't shown ANY shots of male genitals, and the female frontal nudity has NOT been close up. QAF shows anal sex, sex toys, S&M, group sex, anonymous sex in back rooms, prostitution, everything but the kitchen sink, sexually... and the HBO features show fairly tame intercourse and very little else.
So, why is QAF not considered porn? Do quality scripts make even pretty graphic sex scenes somehow not porn, in the same way that even the most explicitly painted nudes, even the ones by Lucien Freud that show women with their legs wide open, are considered not pornographic or indecent or inappropriate to show minors, because there's talent involved in their creation, making them "art"? In the same way that if you go to a play and see nudity, or even a sex scene, on stage, it's "theater," but if you put $ into a slot to see live nudity or sex in a peep show at an adult bookstore, it's sleazy and pornographic?
When is it porn? When there's nudity and/or sex such that most people don't see enough artistic merit to it for it to NOT be porn. Silly, isn't is?
Neither the naked human body, nor any of its biological functions including sex, should even merit special notice, much less special names and special rules; can you imagine what our lives would be like if none of the parts of our body, and none of our activities, were considered "dirty"? Me neither...
Sunday, April 10, 2005
An ad with a lesson
Picture it: A handsome man is making a romantic dinner for his lady. As he's chopping veggies, the big, fluffy white cat jumps up on the counter by the stove and puts its paws on the handle of the pot of tomato sauce, which falls to the floor; the cat jumps down into the mess, the man grabs it and lifts it out... and the lady walks in to see him standing there with a knife in one hand, and the cat with red stuff soaked into its fur in the other hand. The punchline comes on the screen; "Don't judge too quickly."
Now, granted, we've all seen countless movies where someone walks in on their partner in bed with someone else, and the partner says, "This isn't what it looks like," even though it of course IS, and we get the idea from that that incriminating-looking things are always as they seem at first glance... but they're NOT. Usually, yes, but not always, so we need to remember that, with the obvious exception of when we find naked people in bed together, we should take a moment to make sure we have all the facts before we leap to a damning judgment... especially if the person involved has a solid history of virtuous behavior (funny, isn't it, how much quicker we are to judge against the righteous than against the known wrong-doers?).
If you haven't seen this ad yet, you can view it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbZzDPx1gas
One final, totally unrelated thought, too small to merit its own entry but still worth a mention: I don't know where this idea came from, but apparently I'm still on a color/interior decorating kick; out of nowhere, I got an image of a comforter in a deep, tranquil blue, made of some version of changeable taffeta or shot silk such that the color change as you move around it makes it look like it's a pond with ripples spreading out from the middle... doesn't that sound COOL? What could be more soothing, more inspiring of lovely dreams, than having it look like you're going to slip into a "magic pond" when you get into bed? I'm sure it'd cost a fortune to make, but it'd be worth it.
Now, granted, we've all seen countless movies where someone walks in on their partner in bed with someone else, and the partner says, "This isn't what it looks like," even though it of course IS, and we get the idea from that that incriminating-looking things are always as they seem at first glance... but they're NOT. Usually, yes, but not always, so we need to remember that, with the obvious exception of when we find naked people in bed together, we should take a moment to make sure we have all the facts before we leap to a damning judgment... especially if the person involved has a solid history of virtuous behavior (funny, isn't it, how much quicker we are to judge against the righteous than against the known wrong-doers?).
If you haven't seen this ad yet, you can view it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbZzDPx1gas
One final, totally unrelated thought, too small to merit its own entry but still worth a mention: I don't know where this idea came from, but apparently I'm still on a color/interior decorating kick; out of nowhere, I got an image of a comforter in a deep, tranquil blue, made of some version of changeable taffeta or shot silk such that the color change as you move around it makes it look like it's a pond with ripples spreading out from the middle... doesn't that sound COOL? What could be more soothing, more inspiring of lovely dreams, than having it look like you're going to slip into a "magic pond" when you get into bed? I'm sure it'd cost a fortune to make, but it'd be worth it.
