Kid Tetris

My alarm clock in grade school had something that said "battery back up" on it. I didn't understand that this meant there were batteries to keep the time if you unplugged it. I assumed it was a warning that it would explode at some point - a variant of "you better back up". I'm not sure why I thought anyone would sell an exploding digital alarm clock (maybe the time-bombs in movies?) but it didn't seem to bother me that I thought my parents put it in my room. Danger is all around us - sharp knives, hot stoves, and exploding alarm clocks.

A nice diversion when you are watching the news or listening to the radio is to take the position that the people are talking directly to you. It adds quite a bit of color to the experience: why are they telling me this? Why are they showing me a picture of this bank robber? Is he hiding in my house? Where in my house? What about the weather? What does it really mean for my weekend? etc.

I can remember my first email address: nvvw47b. And when I forgot the password, its replacement: nvvw47e. I do remember the password for the latter one. I think that, generally, remembering passwords is one of my talents. So is being able to tell if someone is in the bathroom stall without pushing on the door. It is an appreciation for more subtle things, like the way the light hits the floor. Also, sometimes the quality of the silence in the room. And I think I can generally figure out what on a menu you ought to not order. For example, chicken caesar salad.

If you watch PBS at 2am, you can see the guys from This Old House telling people How to Deal With the February 2009 Digital Conversion.