Getting Ready for Bed

I like to listen to comedy CDs and play computer games the last thing at night. It sends me to bed relaxed and happy. So, this last Sunday, Julie turned me on to NPR's Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! Julie downloads it to her ipod and listens to it while walking the dog. Let me tell you, it is just as good to listen to while playing Mah Jong or Ishido. Click the link, go to "This week's show" and click "Play it" and you've got 45 minutes of material that makes me laugh out loud while the tears run down my face and, every little once in a while, I spit ice water* out of my nose.

Then I open The Map of the US and solve that as my first game of the night. They have solved the problem of Alaska and Hawaii by leaving them out; as an Alaskan, I'd just as soon they leave us out as put us down in the Gulf of California about the size of Ohio.** It takes some practice to get the map right, because it isn't just getting the correct names on the states. It is also knowing where to put them*** and learning that some state's names are so big that when you go to pick up the name of one state, you can get the other. Heading for Utah with Pennsylvania's name isn't going to work. When you have used half the time, the timer line turns red. My goal is to get them all placed while the line is still blue.

Anyway, it isn't anything wild, it is just how I like to get ready for bed.

* I also like to drink ice water last thing at night. I have no idea why, it just tastes good.
** It's no wonder tourists ask us if we take American money!
*** Labeling California at about San Diego works, labeling it further north causes a buzz and an X. Which means you're wrong, even if you are correct.