Wednesday, December 05, 2007

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.

7 comments:

J said...

So glad you're enjoying Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me! I LOVE podcasts, what a wonderful thing to be able to listen to wonderful radio programming whenever the heck I want to. LOVE it.

The other two podcasts I love are To The Best Of Our Knowledge, which is much more serious but also wonderful, and This American Life, which is sometimes funny, sometimes serious, but also worth a try.

Ted said...

"Wait! Wait!" is a laugh-a-thon. I don't get many chances to hear the program, but when I do, it's amazingly funny.

Mary Lou said...

I LOVE Wait wait...I also like (well HELL I just forgot the name of it)...also on NPR.

J said...

I tried that map...after a few tries, I COULD HAVE made it before the timer went red, but it wouldn't believe me that I knew where North Dakota and Maine were. I do. I swear. ;)

Maya's Granny said...

Julie,
You have to hit North Dakota near the upper left corner and Maine you almost touch the MA for Massachusetts.

Anonymous said...

I was listening to an episode of Wait Wait on the commuter train tonight and had to keep covering my face with my scarf I was laughing so hard (silently - and let me tell you, that is a real trick!!) - I'm sure other passengers thought I was totally off my rocker!

Uncivil said...

I used to do that 3rd grade map all the time, but boy have I gotten rusty and I couldn't get used to it when it wouldn't let me put states where I knew for a fact they were supposed to go!
It took me about six trys before I actually got it down pat!