Wetter day

It was a wild, windy night, with lots of rain today, pouring down since last night.  It also is a lot cooler than it has been for the past few days, so out came the sweaters again, and the warm throw blankets.  It’s really not that cold, but the difference is definitely noticeable.  Jerry was extremely unhappy last night / early this morning with the wind. He burrowed under me to hide himself and go to sleep.  He stayed hidden under the pillow and blanket and then darted under the bed… he was really upset, poor little guy!  Don has been dozing most of today; he had a lot of difficulty sleeping last night and is catching up on that today.  He also was watching the Draft (which sends me to sleep immediately) and getting excited with the picks!  It’s also playoffs for both men’s and women’s hockey, so he’ll be busy!

I slept a lot today.  My nurse gave me a 2-hour window for her arrival, so I woke up ahead of the earlier time (8am) so I’d be alert when she arrived, which was around 10.  After she left, I went back to bed and slept peacefully for a couple of hours.  I woke up because I was hungry, otherwise I’d likely have stayed asleep longer.  I feel a little drained today, which might be a result of the warmer weather and humidity.  It’s bothering me a little as the temperatures were in the mid-20s, and if that’s draining, then I am not enthusiastic about the summer, even with AC!  I made a frozen mushroom pizza (second one; better than the first, but still not great.  I’ll have to make my own pizzas if I want one that tastes right!) and had that for lunch; my worker has made a large bowl of chicken salad for sandwiches over the next couple of days, and I’m planning to make some Trinidad-style peanut punch.  That should boost both my calorie and protein levels nicely.

I’m working on my reviews again; I joined in a discussion today where we talked about several key points to evaluate (we’re not addressing the actual submissions, just general questions) and I feel like I’m not doing anywhere near enough as compared to the others, who are picking apart line items in the budget, questioning the status of the applicants, etc.  I confess that for the budgets I generally just validate that there are no disallowed requests and that proposals for spending are reasonable (like, for instance, funds are allocated across all the years covered and no $0 years included) but I don’t get into specifics of “is that the cost of a microscope?” kind of thing.  

So I noticed something interesting this week.  We watched part of the trial in the US of a prominent individual, in which cameras are not allowed in the courtroom.  A reporter commented that the testimony of a key witness was given very quickly and included a lot of detail, such that reporters “could not keep up with their note taking.”  Don and I both commented that shorthand is obviously not taught or used any longer, as a competent shorthand user could take dictation at over 110 words per minute, which is really faster than a human can speak and still be coherent.    We did wonder if the court stenographer was able to transcribe the full conversation, as they’re usually trained to a faster rate than a regular writer.  It’s just one of those things that has vanished over time but which definitely had a good purpose when it was popular.

OK, I’m hungry now.  I know there’s a good salad and some croissants to make sandwiches, so I’m off.  Good night!