Perpetually tired lately

I know why I’m tired, there just isn’t anything I can do about it. Someone needs to take care of Mrs. the Poet and I’m elected by default because there were no other candidates. The problem is the previously noted difference in our sleep cycles. I have to be up and active during the day because that’s when she’s active, but my body doesn’t like that schedule and keeps trying to force me back to my normal nocturnal schedule. Thus, sleep deprivation and lack of cognitive functions that arise from that deprivation.

One of the things that comes with sleep deprivation for me is the inability to shut my brain off and go to sleep. The more sleep deprived I am the harder it is to get the monkey to shut up and let me sleep and the more sleep deprived I get in an endless feedback loop. And I have to be awake and functioning for an 1015 appointment for Mrs. the Poet’s doctor, when I usually go to bed around 0400-0500 and getting her up and dressed and fed is about an hour process and I have to get showered and dressed and fed also because I’m the one with the phone apps for Lyft and Uber. If I’m not up Mrs. the Poet can’t get there.

Current writing jam: Fairdreamers by Kliment

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Trying to shift sleep schedules is hard

I have managed to keep it up for almost 2 weeks now, but I’m running out of the OTC drugs I use to maintain my diurnal schedule. One is Ibuprofen to keep the nagging discomforts of being old (and all those injuries I survived) from keeping me awake, the other is diphenhydramine that allows me to shut down instead of letting my mind wander where it will (and my mind has the metaphorical legs to lap the world several times).

The bad news is we forgot to get more diphenhydramine last trip to the store and now we are down to the last one, and we are also running low on the ibuprofen. I have to make another attempt at banking tomorrow, so I can extend that to a stop at the drug store to get more of my homemade sleeping aids. I didn’t post about my previous attempt to go to the bank Friday, but it breaks down to I went to the bus stop and waited for enough time that 2 buses should have passed but none showed up. By that time my injuries said I had spent too much time standing and I needed to have a lie down or at the minimum a sit down. The bad part is I activated my PM pass just before the first bus should have showed up and now I’m out the $1.50 for a disabled PM pass. That won’t break me, but I am annoyed at wasting the money.

So the plan is tomorrow I go to the bank and deposit the checks I was supposed to deposit Friday, get a massage, buy the OTC meds I use to get to sleep, maybe grab a burger for lunch, and go home. I can do that because there is a CVS, two fast food places and two places to get a massage all on the same corner, so I can do this on two bus rides out and back. There used to be a comic book shop on the same corner, but it was closed and now sits vacant over a rent raise. Real smart move for the landlord unless there is some kind of tax benefit from having the store vacant.

And I’m also making another attempt at Free Senior Day that also falls on Thrifty Thursday at the State Fair, I still have lots of fair food Mrs. the Poet wants me to try and tell her about.

But for the nonce I’m going to go deposit checks and do the other things tomorrow. I will probably spin a tale of derring do about my exploits tomorrow night.

Flogging of the deceased equine continues

I’m running out of topics, but not running out of words. I was lying awake after going to bed last night and of course I’m thinking about the Sprint-T, as that seems to be the topic I can’t not think about. What I was thinking about was various engine and transmission combinations and relative performance advantages and disadvantages. Specifically, I was comparing the Pentastar V6 and the Subie turbo engines and their available transmissions.

Since I was trying to go to sleep I left my various calculation and information tools beyond arm’s reach so I wouldn’t spend the night punching buttons or tapping screens instead of shutting down and sleeping. That… didn’t work so well. Since I didn’t have a calculator handy I did everything in my head, which is the opposite of what I needed to do to get to sleep. When I’m trying to stay awake I do math in my head, a trick I learned from making cross-country trips as a solo driver back when I owned a business in Nashville but lived in Dallas. Anywho I didn’t reach any new conclusions, or even any conclusions at all. What I did reach was I need more information to reach a definitive conclusion. The question is will the reduced weight and higher potential peak power of the turbo Subie result in better autocross performance than the fatter low-end torque and perfect gearing of the Pentastar and ZF 8 speed transmission? Between the variable valve timing and increased displacement of the 3.6 liter Pentastar there is about twice as much torque on tap below 3000 RPM compared to the Subie 2 liter engine, but the Subie and transmission weighs about half the Pentastar and ZF combination, so it comes close to a wash and really depends on the course, with longer straights and more sweeping turns favoring the higher peak power and light weight of the Subie where lots of single pylon turns favor the Pentastar and its higher low-end torque and better transmission matching.

So I guess the answer is the best is whatever I get first. 🤑 So whatever is available when I have the money, that will be the best choice. And the post title is “beating a dead horse” with more expensive words.