Unfortunately, my insomnia necessitates another consideration. Let’s call it The Twenty-Minute-Window Rule. What this means is that after my cereal, my reading, and the assimilation of my sublingual melatonin lozenge, I am sleepy for roughly twenty minutes. This is the only opportunity I have to get to sleep. If for any reason I am agitated and do not fall asleep during this Twenty-Minute Window, I am, once again, screwed. Therefore, it is imperative that my wife leave me alone during the Twenty-Minute Window.
Now many readers will look at the first four rules and say really they are all the same and can be boiled down to one rule, which is that I need quiet. Why, then, have I broken them down into four separate rules? The answer is simple. Clarity. It is my duty as my wife’s husband to provide clarity to my rules. Secondly, I must provide justification. If I arbitrarily dish out a bunch of rules with no rationale than I am no better than a tyrant or a despot and for me to become such a god-awful thing, dear readers, is the least of my wishes.
You need to watch the show "The Big Bang Theory" on Channel 2, Mondays at 8... there's a brainy but OCD-nerdy character on there named "Sheldon" who may give you a twinge of recognition.
Posted by: ed | January 02, 2009 at 07:03 PM
maybe Sheldon will make me feel serene in comparison.
Posted by: herculodge | January 02, 2009 at 07:08 PM
I was w/o net access for quite a while there and just saw this.
Jeff, as I've posted before, the extent to which our minds run in parallel is sometimes uncanny, whether it's the radio thing, the fascination with Mulholland Drive, etc.
Now I see you're a Melatonin junkie too. I take one almost every night. I don't know how much difference it makes, but I keep popping them.
I had terrible insomnia in the 80's and 90's, and mostly worked late shift jobs in IT. I think it accounts for much of my past interest in radio, esp. AM and SW DX'ing.
My sleep patterns are more normal now and my radio listening is way down.
I suspect that a lot of DX'ers are insomniacs as well.
Posted by: Mike W | January 22, 2009 at 08:15 PM
Mike, I always wonder about the people who call the late-night radio talk shows... do they ever sleep?
Posted by: Ed | January 22, 2009 at 08:20 PM
As an experiment, I quit melatonin for 2 weeks and didn't get as sleepy. A placebo? Perhaps. But melatonin is too cheap for me to struggle with that question.
Mike, I assume you moved and had to go through the settling process. Best on that.
Posted by: herculodge | January 22, 2009 at 08:49 PM
Again, I'm a Herculodge dittohead.
I quit melatonin for about a week, then wondered about a possible placebo effect, but pragmatism prevailed in the end. As long as melatonin is cheap - and more importantly, harmless - who cares?
Even 15 extra minutes a night of "nature's soft nurse" would make melatonin worthwhile, and my own surmise has been that it offers more than a mere placebo effect.
And yes thank you, I am indeed settling in now after having been enough of a knucklehead to move in a snowstorm so bad that I had to snap my gas cap off with a pair of pliers to refuel, but am making the best of it. Larger place, lovely mountain views, but I still have not shaken my bete noire - the family at the new place makes noise early in the AM and wakes me up.
It's not easy being a night person, Jeff. Sometimes I feel like I should be sleeping in a coffin till the sun goes down.
Posted by: Mike W | January 23, 2009 at 08:33 PM
You'll have to let us know what the RF conditions in your new QTH are like, mike.
Posted by: Ed | January 23, 2009 at 08:36 PM
As I get older, I fall asleep earlier and get up earlier. Must be hormones.
I hope your new bucolic setting results in better night sleep.
Posted by: herculodge | January 23, 2009 at 09:33 PM
There does seem to be a well-established pattern of "early to bed, early to rise" as people age. My late Dad used to get up at 3:30 AM to go out golfing in his 70's. If you think radiophiles are nuts, you should see what a lot of golfers are like.
Ed, the RF conditions at the new place are a bit disappointing, perhaps because of a mountain escarpment and some power lines being nearby, but I have not given up hope yet. Perhaps I can sneak up an external wire antenna after it warms up a bit here, which is one of the main reasons I've held onto my Satellit 800 - it really performs well on MW/SW with a proper antenna.
Posted by: Mike W | January 24, 2009 at 08:52 AM
One last point about melatonin: They don't all work the same. Source Naturals 1 mg works great. More dosage than that has a reverse effect.
Also the cheaper Trader Joe's brand didn't work but its dosage was 3 mg or so, which suggests the brand was inferior or the dosage was not right.
In any event, I use Source Naturals 1mg only.
Posted by: herculodge | January 24, 2009 at 09:17 AM