xtcian

I don't imagine this will be one of those stirring, controversial questions, but given your note of fatigue, Ian, and my wildly varied sleep patterns of late, I do wonder: how is everyone sleeping these days? Eight hours at a stretch? In fits and starts? What seems to affect your sleep, and how? And how does your sleep affect your day?

How 'bout words you are fond of?

Here's my list for today:
eschew
abrogate
brio

I used to once in a while use the phrase "between Scylla and Charybdis" until I found, when I mentioned this on rounds one day, about a patient in a bad way, that nobody on my team of interns and residents had _any idea_ what I was talking about.

I could mourn the decline of classical education, but I'm afraid of premature curmudgeonhood. Next I'll be reminiscing nostalgically about the old days, when the Groton headmaster kept the 8th graders' windows open all winter so they'd wake up covered in snow.

Caitlin, I'm a word junkie myself. Ever notice how some words really sound like what they mean? Even words that don't describe stuff. "Murmur," "susurrate," "raspy" and "squeak" are onomatopoeic. Obvious. But your list contains more abstract, conceptual words that STILL sound like what they mean:
eschew: ptui! I'll do without that!
abrogate: toss it out, fast!
brio: oh the joy in that word. I can see the confetti now...

Rachel Maddow's favorite word is "infrastructure"... wow... that word is as full of struts and braces as what it describes.

My word of the day is "throb"... but it's not about the romance novel I'm not reading. I just had a root canal.

Sleep. Words. Two of my favorite things.
I have recently signed myself, my Mom and my daughter up for Word of the Day emails. It's been a lot of fun to talk about these words together.

Here's a good one - perendinate - to put off something until the day after tomorrow. Why procrastinate when you can perendinate?

Sleep.. oh, how I miss the sleep of my youth. As Emma and others could attest.. I was a great sleeper - could nap anytime and sleep well even in a quad room! But somehow after being woken up by a pager or a crying child night after night (and now a dog that wants to go out regularly) I am just doomed to sleep no more than 3 hours at a stretch and I'm SURE it affects my ability to think quickly on my feet, be creative and have enough energy. Sucks.

"I used to once in a while use the phrase "between Scylla and Charybdis" until I found, when I mentioned this on rounds one day, about a patient in a bad way, that nobody on my team of interns and residents had _any idea_ what I was talking about."

Funny you should mention that. After my son's surgery for his broken arm a couple nights ago, the orthopaedic surgeon came out and used that phrase! The first thing that popped into my head was The Police. My son's OK, though.

Sleep! I have not slept well in over a year and it is because of my beloved beagle. You see, he has bladder stones. So he is on a special diet that dilutes the stones. Problem is, he drinks a lot of water and urinates a lot, which is all good for him, but it is KILLING ME AT NIGHT. I take him outside before I go to bed, at midnight, at 2am, 4am, 6am, and then I wake up, feeling grumpy and exhausted.

This is so much worse than being up with a baby. Hell, my daughter slept through the night after just 7 weeks! I have been keeping up this routine for over a year. I have to nap when I get home from work, and I sometimes sleep at my desk in my cubicle. I am constantly exhausted.

My husband won't take part in the night trips and thinks I am crazy for doing it. I can't blame him, but I don't know what else to do. I love Jack, he is part of our family, and if he has to urinate all night long to prevent bladder stones, I will do it. He is 13, and our days left with him are numbered.

Aren't you glad you asked?

LFMD, Could you install a dog door into a fenced area, even a small fenced area?

Caitlin - I admit I had to Google Scylla and Charybdis. Not much emphasis on classical education during my years in the NC public school system.

This isn't the first time I've felt like I have a gaping hole in my education. I'm really sorry I didn't fill up my college electives with more courses in the classics and Shakespeare. Although I suppose Introduction to Symbolic Logic and Human Sexuality weren't total wastes of time....

At the risk of sounding like a complete nerd, I've often thought about purchasing one of the courses from The Teaching Company ( www.teach12.com ). Have any of you guys ever tried one? If so, did you think it was worthwhile?

I like "palimpsest" a lot. Both for what it means, and because it looks like a rack of unsorted scrabble tiles.

I don't think people use "behoove" near enough.

Purportedly TS Eliot's favorite word was "incarnidine" which means to make (stain, dye) red.

How about those gay-loving Yankees? Big up Maine and New Hampshire!

You know what kind of sleep I haven't had in a long time? I guess you would call it sunshine sleep. It's that sleep when the sunshine doesn't make you hot and uncomfortable, it just bakes you gently, like a little brown yeast roll. You did it in a car seat as child or your parents laid out the back seats of your station wagon for trips to Florida. Naps when you were still small enough to curl up in a sunny bay window. On a hammock at my Grandmother's house. Anywhere I sat down at my Grandmother's house. Naps at the beach. Those odd, one beer and a rocking chair on the porch naps. Spring time on the quad in Chapel Hill, when it's too cold to take off your jacket, but the sun bakes you into blissful submission. Yummy. I am longing for a sunshine nap with all its drooling, sweaty goodness. I think there is just the right spot in Hillsdale.

Dammit, a sweet alley-oop pass from Ian with no one guarding me and I'm too weak and sick with a summer cold to finish the shot. Nothing much going on with me, though I did order myself some Championship memorabilia from Johnny T-shirt this week, including little shirts for my kids so they can taunt the Michigan State alum admin lady at their daycare!

I am reading the book, COLUMBINE, right now. It's fascinating if, for no other reason, how much of the popular myths we've all come to take as fact are debunked. Makes you wonder how to look at future tragedies, including everything from eyewitness reports to how the media responds. I recommend the book to everyone.

Salem - I am about to twist my desk lamp closer and try to get some sunshine sleep here in my cube. I got woozy just reading your entry!\

Night night.

Here's an interesting article I think everyone here should read:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30585984/

The headline is: Today's tykes: Secure kids or rudest in history?
Parents' focus on building self-esteem may neglect compassion for others

always loved the word disingenuous. capricious is a close second. pet peeve is when people say irregrardless.

I sleep EXTREMELY well these days - got a waaaaaaaaaaay less expensive version of the Westin Heavenly Bed. It's the cure for what ails ya!

I like serendipitous, apropos, swagger, sustenance, sovereignty, algid - too many to name.

Looks like I get to pick up the torch for saying something that's likely to piss everyone off -- everyone else is being too nice!

Per the MSN article, Dr. Gordon hits the nail on the head:

“There is a feeling that anything interfering with their kid's homeostasis, as they see it, is an inappropriate behavior to be fended off sharply.”

I wholeheartedly agree that this sort of attitude towards child rearing tends to create children that are impossible to be around and that these children are growing up to be adults that are impossible to be around. How can you expect a child to interact appropriately with others when their entire life experience is centered around mercilessly bullying their parents and, with their parents' help, everyone else in their lives. I'm so sick of the attitude that it's our duty to allow our children to grow up in exactly the way that they want to regardless of its effect on others. It seems like a huge number of people are enamored with experiential learning as being the be all and end all of child rearing. I'm all for giving children a valued place in the family -- one that occasionally wields some amount of sway in the decisions that get made -- but for crying out loud, it's not OK for children to rule a household to the extent that they end up ruining experiences for other members of the family or for the public at large.

I think I've had one too many evening at Weaver Street Market ruined by a bunch of 4-10 year old children that seem to have sprung directly from William Golding's mind/pen.

kjf, agreed about irregardless. ranks up there, for me, with people saying ironic when they mean coincidental.

LFMD- I hear you sister. It it comes to that for either of my girls, I'd be up all night too. What about wee-wee pads for puppies or is your dog too well-trained to go in the house again?