There are plenty of wind turbines that need cleaning!

from Jon Abad

Mike D: He didn’t really eat his treat. He just kinda let it fall out of his mouth into the bottom of the crate
Sarah T: Geeze Mike D. Give the dog a break. You try eating without opposable thumbs.

There’s a lot going on right now! Christmas was a blast, time with the family was awesome, the House of Rock is being improved, Sarah T is here, and it’s almost 2010. I apologize for the lack of posts, but stay tuned as there’s so much to share. The big story of the moment, however, is that Tony and Paulette headed up for a ski week this week and were brave enough to leave their 35 pound dog at the House of Rock.

I have never owned a dog, nor have I ever babysat a dog. But I think it’s safe to say that The House of Rock is treating little Toby well. Today we had all sorts of walks and played fetch. He’s clearly a little nervous at the wealth of persons living at this establishment, but he’s taking it well. It’s been a lot of fun having a dog around. I look forward to the day when my schedule allows me to keep one permanently.

Merry Christmas Everybody!!

Occasional insomnia has a very odd effect on me. About once a month I find that my mind goes into overdrive as I try and fall asleep and the distance from mattress to dreams inflates from a typical 20 minutes to a mind-numbing 4+ hours. While the immediate result of these bouts with sleeplessness is Zombie D, the secondary result is a complicated fear of sleep.

After such a night of sleep struggles, I find that I start fearing the sleep process. I don’t want to have to deal with insomnia so I stay up to the point where sleep is all but guaranteed. Let’s call it planned insomnia. It’s 10pm, it’s bedtime, and I’m exhausted but i know I’ll have an easier time falling asleep if I wait until after midnight. On one hand, I’m improving my ‘falling asleep’ efficiency while also getting an extra 2+ hours of productive guitar practice or such. But, obviously I experience a far more debilitating and sustained exhaustion.

Has anyone dealt with this odd fear of sleep symptom? I’d be very interested in learning what techniques you used to conquer it. Do any of the psychology-smart readers have valuable input into why I have adopted this ridiculous avoidance strategy?

Patrick! This is for you.

My best score so far is level 6, 6435

This was mostly through luck though, because most of my other attempts have landed me in level 4.

Enjoy!

From Kurt.

An impressive TED talk discussing the removal of the computer from the box and putting it in our environment.

From Sarah T.