Yes, exactly. I now know not to confuse sleep inertia (from waking midcycle) with sleep deprivation. Mix and match as needed.

Yeah. I've noticed the same thing. And if I wake up before the alarm (but reasonably close), I now know not to go back to sleep because it will wake me mid cycle and I'll feel terrible. Really useful bit of info that has improved my rest.

The 8 hour recommendation allows for time to fall asleep and some time to rouse yourself. So actual sleep time is closer to 7.5 and the recommendation is pretty close.

Johnson exactly describes my creative process - bits of random pieces showing up at odd times. In fiction writing, I am what is known as a "pantser." When I was writing short stories, that approach was OK because it wasn't that daunting to tear a story apart and restructure it if needed. But a novel? Shudder. Yet…

Good in theory, and I would if I could. However , I'm in a West Coast office with three Eastern Time offices full of direct reports, a manager, and coworkers. I'm already more than 3 hours behind when I get in. I have no choice...

I hear ya. Long, long days leave me too exhausted for anything else. I take heart in this quote, though:

Hey Whitson, were you looking over my shoulder yesterday? Newbie, babe-in-the-woods here. I'm way out of the typical demographic for these games, but for the last year or so have been playing HOPA games and yesterday decided to see if I could find something more challenging and sophisticated. Checked out Steam and it…

I like the idea of a foil sling. But for lasagna or other dish with tomatoes, the aluminum will dissolve right into the food. I wonder how to hack that suggestion? Parchment wouldn't hold up to the wet, I think. Maybe something silicone?

Yes, me too. But I've found that to be true for nearly all of OKC's questions. The good news is that there is space after each for commentary. :)

Yeah, sometimes it is legit. Except that I'm pretty sure they are breaking the law by continuing to contact you. You might want to report them to the FTC.

Interesting to hear it's worked for you. I get good results by not answering. Either way, I wish there was a truly effective way to eliminate them completely.

I started getting this type of call around 10 years ago. I'll get calls for a variety of names from a variety of agencies. Lately, they don't bother to say a name; they just ask for a call back.

No, not recommended. If you are on the Do Not Call list, the majority of calls you are getting are illegal scam artists. Pressing the number they say will not put you on the their do not call list; it will only confirm that they've reached a valid number. Google the phone numbers and read the comments to see what I…

Thanks, Melanie. Great stuff. Thank Walter, too. :) Didn't know that one, and it's a good one!

I wish my employer would allow us enough storage space to maximize our use of Outlook so I could try that tip. Instead, they restrict how large our inboxes can get, and that seems to include calendar, task, note items. If you hit the max, you spend half your morning trying to get out of "email jail" by deleting…

LOL. To Adam's point, the judges have heard it all, and it's blatantly apparent when someone is trying to get out of jury duty. I was in voir dire when the judge got sick of all the claims of bias he was hearing, and he did the exact same thing. Said, OK, but I'm sending you to civil court. That does seem to do the…

Another LA person here. The last time I was called, I could see that the administrators in the jury room had baskets labeled by paid time from the ER as well as a reference book of paid time by employer. If you work for a large enough company, they can just look up how much time you're paid, and boom, into that…

Oh weird. These replies are indented even though none of the other are? Sorry for the OT comments. Just trying to figure this out.

Also, I see that this new Kinja formatting is going to take some getting used to. My first reply was to Stradenko. The other two to dave. I guess I'll have to start using the @ designation since the reply isn't under the comment to which it applies?

dav - It occurs to me that you might be thinking of the "earnest money". That goes to the seller if you back out for reasons other than those allowed for in the contract.