January 25, 1996
Dear Everyone:
Lord, but I do hate
getting up early these cold, dark, winter mornings.
Well, it’s not
really that cold. Rather
than heat the whole place when I’m only there for about 75 minutes in
the morning, I just heat the bedroom.
I have a little space heater with a built-in clock (everything
has a built-in clock these days) that comes on about 45 minutes before I
get up; so the room is really quite toasty.
And it’s not really
that dark, of course.
There’s a lamp in the living room on a timer that comes on just before I
get up and goes off just after I leave.
In the evenings, it comes on when I come home and goes off when I
go to bed. And there’s
another lamp in the bedroom that turns itself on when the clock radio
starts playing.
And I hate getting
up as much in the spring, summer and fall as in winter.
So, I guess the operative word, here, is “early”.
It’s definitely early when I get up.
(The definition of “early” being any time before, say 9:00 in the
morning.)
It starts with the
heater which, at about 4:30 am makes a few clicking sounds, then emits a
soft whirring. And my
sleep-fogged brain says to itself, “What’s that sound?
Oh, it’s just the heater.
Go back to sleep.”
Then the lamp comes
on and the brain says, “What’s that light?
Oh, it’s just the lamp.
Go back to sleep.”
Then the radio comes on and now I have to actually wake up enough to
reach over and hit the snooze button before going back to sleep.
The radio comes on again in seven minutes.
And again seven minutes after that.
This happens about four to five times before the
backup alarm clock goes off, shouting “Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp!
Chirp-chirp!...”
This clock is located on the lower shelf of the bedside table so
I have to really wake up in order be coordinated enough to slam down the
snooze bar on that one.
By this time, I have
to seriously consider actually getting out of bed and going to work.
A dismal prospect viewed from under the pillows.
But I do it every weekday.
In other words, each day begins with a small miracle.
In my opinion, like the
Folgers coffee
commercial sings, “The best part of waking up...” is rolling over and
going back to sleep.
In other news...
No movies, but I did
manage to tape all six hours of
Jane Austen’s
Pride and
Prejudice, unlike some people who only got the first two hours.
For those who missed the rest,
A&E is
re-broadcasting each two-hour installment on Saturdays, beginning this
Saturday (1/27/96) at 7:00 pm (PST) and again at 11:00 (public service
message). Of course, I don’t
know when I’m going to find six hours to actually
watch the show.
I may have to wait for the next 3-day weekend.
One reason no movies
last weekend was that “Alice” came to visit and “Marshall” drove up from
Fresno to join us (and to go into the City to order shirts to go with
his new suit). We had dinner
at an excellent restaurant that “Jeannie” picked out.
Unfortunately, I had come down with some intestinal bug last week
and couldn’t really enjoy the food, but what I did eat was very good and
I’m completely over the bug now.
“Alice” was here for a convention of pharmaceutical people of
some kind.
I’m still playing
with AOL (America
Online). I’m getting
better at remembering that you have to turn the modem on and you have to
switch the phone line for the modem line at the phone jack.
Otherwise, you spend valuable time staring at the screen and
wondering why nothing’s happening.
I’m going to try sending this letter electronically to myself at
work as part of our ongoing experimentation with ordering supplies over
the Internet.
Of course, I’m still
spending most of my time in the Sci-Fi forums.
Lot’s of lively discussions going on.
And they’re much easier to follow than politics these days.
Love, as always,
Pete
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