To Sleep, Perchance to Travel

Once again I seem to have made the wrong decision.

It's 2:30 AM as I write this and SuperShuttle is supposed to pick me up between 3:50 and 4:05 AM. When I woke up today— about Noon— I wondered how I was going to get some sleep before hopping in the shuttle. Since I normally go to bed about 3 or 4 AM, it looked like a problem. But, a few minutes after I awoke, I realized I was still pretty tired. It occurred to me that I could sleep as much as I wanted all day long and then stay up all night. With luck, I could get a little shut-eye on my flights. I immediately put this plan into action, jumping back into bed from 1 to 3 PM. Then I got up for a few hours and had lunch, followed by another light nap from 5:30 to 7 PM. I've been up since 7 PM with a venti coffee from Starbucks in me as well as a huge Diet Coke from dinner. The end result is— I'm damned tired and could easily go to sleep right now. It's going to be a long day.

I heard from Russell that the snow has stopped falling on the east coast and the roads are already cleared. There shouldn't be a problem with me getting into Philly this afternoon. As usual, even though I generally enjoy flying, I'm looking forward to the actual travelling portion of my day to be done. In fact, I'm already looking forward to snuggling into a nice bed this evening.

I've had a real hard time the last few days staying out of the Kindle book store. I haven't bought much, but I keep remembering authors or books to look for. The few books that I have picked up since last writing on this subject have been fairly cheap— a collection or Robert E. Howard Conan novels for 80 cents and four volumes of H. P. Lovecraft stories for 80 cents apiece. I also picked up another series of Peter F. Hamilton's books at 2/3 paperback price each. I am growing more and more concerned about the price of books I'm finding. By and large, books new enough to still be protected by copyright generally cost more than their paperback versions, which is a disturbing trend. Supposedly, one can shop from a few other websites that are generally cheaper than Amazon. I will check these out.

Well, I guess I'll close this out for tonight. I expect to be in New Jersey the next time we meet.

Until then.

"Books are a narcotic."— Franz Kafka

New Jersey is receiving a blanket of snow as I write this.

I'm still safe and warm in California, where it was over 80 degrees this afternoon. It's been so long since I've had to deal with cold weather that I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I'm looking at the heavy jacket I plan on packing for the trip, and I'm wondering if it will be enough. When I was a kid, growing up in New Jersey and Illinois, we used to where ridiculously heavy coats all winter long. It was the 70's and I remember various coats of corduroy and artificial wool and big fake wood buttons. The best thing about the coats were the pockets big enough for me to slip a paperback book into.

Now I'm looking at a hooded and lined thick denim jacket, wondering if my body is going to be found sometime after the Spring thaw begins. Oh well, guess I'll find out. If nothing else, I'm sure winter coats are available in the stores...

I booked SuperShuttle for my trips to and from the airport. Let's hope this time they don't forget to pick me up again. I'll be standing outside looking for the van in about 26½ hours.

Short post tonight. Hoping to get to sleep early.

Until next time.

"I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood."— Bill Watterson