Some graphics

First, the weather from The Weather Channel.



Please tell me why it has to go from a high of 63 to a high of 38 IN ONE DAY??? I am not looking forward to tomorrow. After living in Houston for two years, I have gained a new hatred for scraping ice of the windshield. I'm even considering making a canvas "hat" for the car - like a car cover that just goes over the windows.


Next, an election graphic (click to see it bigger) from CNN.



In the one on the left, the bars representing 50 Democratic seats versus 49 Republican seats show a huge difference. In the one on the right, they show almost no difference. Interesting. Was it intentional, to make the Democrats' lead seem bigger? Was it unintentional? As an engineer, I'm kind of perfectionistic about numbers and graphics. Maybe journalists don't have my graphics standards :-)

Next, examples of me falling asleep while trying to take notes at a meeting today:



This is a very poor attempt - actually two attempts - at writing "Spanish Fork". And no, that's not where I live. If I lived there, I would have written it "Spanish Fark".



So, about this tiredness thing. I was so tired that I felt like I was going to pass out. I just wanted to sleep. I couldn't imagine doing anything BUT sleeping. I'm sure the client and the Principal from my company were both very impressed. I'm not too worried about posting this since they were there with me - it's not like they didn't notice. I should've just stood up and walked around the room to look at a map or something. They might've thought I was weird, but it would've been better than looking like I was about to fall over!!

I'm wondering whether this sleepiness is a form of narcolepsy, a nutrition problem (like low blood sugar), or just normal tiredness. It's happened to me many times in the past. I used to sleep through every single event or class I attended during high school and the first year of college - including "The Phantom of the Opera", twice. However, during high school I was going to bed at midnight or later, and getting up by 5:45. In college, I would waste time online until 10 pm and THEN start my homework :-P

Then I got married. I was suddenly staying awake through every class. For once I was getting enough sleep instead of wasting all my time and staying up late. That makes me think it might be typical sleep-deprivation. I usually get in bed by 10 pm and try to get up at 5. That's 7 hours of sleep. I probably need 9, but 7 hours should at least give me a normal level of alertness. However, I sleep with both little boys squished up next to me (dh is a trucker, so is not home). Maybe it's affecting me more than I thought.