Funk Babblings

Not a lot of solstice happenings around here, though I am as always quite happy that the days are getting longer again. There was talk of building some sort of solar clock/calendar sort of thing on the promontory behind the barn.

We spent most of the weekend doing last-minute gift planning and shopping -- often, by necessity, completely changing the plan because things were unavailable.

Shopping tip: When looking to buy home audio/video equipment, it's fine to go to Best Buy to look -- they're quite good at leaving you alone to look -- but don't bother trying to buy from them because they'll continue to ignore you. Go down the street to H.H. Gregg, where they apparently work on commission and are quite eager to help, at least if you're not looking at the deep-deep-discount shelves at the time. (This is all assuming that a locally-owned store is not around, though they usually can't compete on price.)

Christmas music drives me crazy, but I was usually able to ignore it. The positive exception was when I heard "Greensleeves" played surf-guitar style; later, wondering who that might have been, I learned that "Greensleeves" seems to be a surf-guitar standard, done by lots of people in the genre.

Monday I made brownies (this time with chocolate chips on top too) that turned out a little too dry, and cookies both chocolate-chip and butterscotch-chip (using the classic "Toll House" recipe). At one point I considered making pizzelles, but ran out of time and energy (as well as coming close to running out of eggs). I still want to look into trying some vegan cookie/brownie recipes sometime.

Toward the end of my baking, duriyah came home and pointed out the big orangy moon coming up. We even managed to go out and see it without any cats messing with the cookies.

[Warning: excessive mundanity. Please be advised.]

I like to sleep with the curtains open so that the morning sun helps wake me up. But today it was the moon, high in the southern sky, that helped wake me at 5:30am, 90 minutes before my alarm, and two hours before I usually manage to roll out of bed. So I've passed the time doing more than the usual amount of morning net-surfing.

Once I'm awake, I kinda like being up early, except that I know I'll regret it later in the day at work. For some odd reason siestas and afternoon naps (not even with little squares of carpet to lie on) haven't really caught on at the American workplace.

Maybe I'll get a decent breakfast for a change.

The AP says that Congress may extend daylight-saving time by two months in an attempt to save energy.

The quote that has me puzzled: "The more daylight we have, the less electricity we use." - Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-sponsor of the measure


By the way, this would apparently provide a whole 0.05% energy savings. But hey, at least Congress is starting talk positively about saving energy again, for the first time in thirty years.

Update: They're questioning this over at Daily Kos too.