Sleep .... Naps ... REM

Everyone of us is alloted the same 24 hour period - yet, somehow the 24 hours doesn't always last as long as it does for some of us as it does for the rest of us.

For an example. One who requires several naps during the day accomplishes less during their day as one who may require no nap. Now I'm not adverse to taking a nap. Anytime I have a short nap during the afternoon I always awaken feeling refreshed and ready to start my task with a fresh eye and a recharged brain. But that's not what I'm talking about.

You know someone who never seems to get their act together -- they are always taking naps. That is, unless, there is something they want to do that meets their specific needs.

Then there are those people who seem to never require sleep. Of course that can't possibly be true. Everybody needs sleep. The experts say we need six to seven solid hours of sleep every night - and that's for adults. Children and teenagers need even more. But, I'm not talking about children and teens.

I've seen fellow employees falling asleep at their computers/desks because they didn't get enough sleep the night before and so they struggle to do their jobs. There are cultures around the world that enjoy an afternoon siesta before going back to work. The quality of work seems to improve when the brain has an opportunity to get an increase in oxygen and rest.

Getting enough sleep at night may or may not be enough in the long run. All I have to do is see someone yawn, and my eight hours has gone to the wayside. That yawn becomes contagious and the only thing I'm thinking of is a nap and where the closest pillow is. Sorry, but someone just yawned on the the TV and I've gone hunting ...

Technology -- Sometimes It Is My Folly

Several years ago I wrote an article about the wonderment of technology and how addictive I personally had become.

Certainly, through the years nothing has changed. My cell phone is attached to my hip, and my lap top is on 22/8, I mean 21/6, or 23/7 ... at any rate, it sleeps little. Fortunately, it needs little sleep as opposed to me.

As I get older, gently so, it becomes harder to sleep for longer periods of time, which is why my daily naps have become so, important. After about five hours I am up and ready to do something and there sits my faithful lap top waiting on me.

My browser is Firefox -- which seems to perform so much better for me than IE. This day, though, Firefox (hereafter known as "FF") performed some updates, (as technology is want to do), and all of my settings - that I relied so heavily on - were gone. Whiff of smoke, gone. Rude. You can't do that to a brain cancer survivor who also has epilepsy. You just can"t.

It was not a moment of peace with FF. Every setting on my blog was gone -- which may not be a problem for some of you, but for me it represented months of work. Not something I was especially interested in applying myself to at this time. However, perseverance prevailed.

It's interesting to me that even at this point in my life and all the people that I have taught to use different computer programs, a simple update should put a crack in my fragile eggshell. Several attempts at one sitting, taking a break, coming back, and repeating the same process many times over simply to find it was a simple change in the settings.

Reminds me a little of the great inventors and minds of our times. Failures only represent lessons learned. If you really give up then it is truly a failure. As long as we - in this instance it was me - keep going, then it is a lesson, and I truly learned it.

I hope I never feel that I am above learning, that there is not something left for me to learn. Have a good day, and I hope you keep learning too.

Sleeping -- Kinda Sorta ...

I've been sleeping. Kinda sorta like the fella who slept for so many years and woke up with a long, long gray beard. Still the same me, sans the gray beard.

But, I've been sleeping. I don't do well in the cold winter months. The Texas panhandle has been brrrr cold, and I've been brrrr cold to the nth degree. It's been like a hibernation for me - just trying to stay warm. Knowing that Florida looms in my future is the warmth that keeps me going.

Have you ever tried to type with gloves on your hands?

Have you tried to eat an ice cream cone with gloves on your hands and tried not to brrrr at the same time as the freezing cold ice cream went down your warm throat making your insides temporarily as cold as your outsides were? It's hard to do!

Have you ever thought about how cold the toilet seats are on cold brrry mornings when the toilet backs up to the outside and the outside cold temperatures are in the teens? Now think about sitting down on that cold toilet seat and try not to slide off from the brrrr.

Have you ever thought about all those people who paid all that big bucks to get rid of the allergens living in the filthy carpets only to wind up with brrrr tile floors that don't hold heat?

When I get to wonderful-warm-Florida, I will want tile floors, and I will use area rugs so I don't have to walk on brrrr tile, but, here in brrrry Texas I refuse to give up my allergen filled carpet that keeps my little toes warm.

This past December and the first half of January I have consumed more coffee and hot tea than the previous months combined. Anything to keep warm.

On the positive side, I have discovered a myriad of coffee and tea flavors!