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5:30 AM: Airing of Grievances: Decaf Edition
Strictly speaking, Festivus has been over since midnight, but as far as I'm concerned, the day doesn't end till I go to bed. So. My grievance is directed at caffeine. Or perhaps at my inability to function properly without it.
I don't drink coffee. Back in my teens, when I might have been expected to acquire a taste for it, I refused to try the stuff, on the reasonable grounds that I didn't want to become addicted to caffeine. Years later, when that was a moot point, I sampled it on two occasions, both times getting a sip or two in before pouring the rest down the sink. It's too late for me and my taste buds.
What I got into instead was soft drinks. Which soft drink has varied over the years... Coca-Cola, C&C Cola (not as good, but much cheaper), Dr Pepper, Barq's root beer, eventually stopping at Diet Pepsi. I had a two-liter-a-day Diet Pepsi habit for years. Along the way, I discovered that this was no longer a choice, and that I was well and truly caffeine-dependent.
I disliked that as a matter of principle, but largely failed to do anything about it until recently. Over about a month and a half, starting in October, I gradually tapered my Diet Pepsi intake down to zero, replacing it with seltzer. While this was a lovely and really rather surprising achievement, it turns out that my productivity — not to mention the degree to which I'm been awake — has plummeted since. It's almost as if caffeine were a stimulant of some sort...
I'm not sure what to do about this. Faced with a deadline at the end of November, I decided that I couldn't afford to stick with this entirely, and settled on a compromise: for the duration of the crisis, I'd brew myself some tea. This would give me some caffeine, but would also limit the amount I consumed. Unlike Diet Pepsi — or seltzer, a bottle of which is at my side as I type this — tea requires premeditation and effort. This is especially true if one works at home, lives alone, and lacks a samovar. One must fill the kettle, boil the water, steep the teabag, mix in the milk and sugar, and sip the results. I'm not likely to go through all that more than a couple of times a day. It was a reasonable compromise, and it worked, insofar as I got everything done in time. I then went back to seltzer. I haven't been getting much done.
Tentative conclusions after a month or so with very little caffeine: while my internal clock remains about as screwed up as ever, I do find it easier to fall asleep when I'm not caffeinated. And I'm less wired, and less jittery. On the other hand, I find it much harder to stay awake and get anything accomplished when I'm supposed to be up. Which is rather a problem.
I've been trying to ride this out on the theory that once I finish detoxing and my body adjusts to the new regime I might find myself with more energy, but I'm rapidly heading toward the conclusion that I'm not going to, and that it's not worth it. Caffeine works; that's why it's so popular. It's possible that shoving the crayon back up my nose is the most logical course of action.
But that doesn't mean I have to like it.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
I was surfing the Web and happened on Why Obama Has to Worry About Polls from TIME Magazine. This turned out to include a really amazing example of either spin taken too far, or -- more likely -- a reporter who has trouble with basic math:
Something has gone wrong on the long trail to historic health reform. For one thing, Americans no longer support what is going on. The recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that 44% of the country believe it would be better not to pass any plan at all, while 41% said it would be better to pass the plan. As recently as October, the same poll showed those numbers practically reversed.So... what he's saying here is that currently the number of Americans who would prefer not to pass any plan is essentially equal to the number of Americans who want it passed, almost certainly within the poll's margin of error... which is a tidal shift from October, when the number of Americans who wanted it passed was essentially equal to the number of Americans who would prefer not to pass any plan, almost certainly within the poll's margin of error.
Umm, hello?
I'm no fan of the way this administration has been going so far, but let's try to at least get the facts right, shall we?
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