Thursday, February 26, 2004

Lent, Diet Coke, and Moray Firth Radio

I think I have too many things running around right now: work is a pain; I may be freelancing on a project at Evelin's university (I talked to the people there after the OB/GYN appointment on Tuesday, but last night Evelin said another department may be delaying things); we're coming into a ton of prework for a big convention (both the daily newspapers at the show -- that's right plural, we do a morning and evening edition -- and the preshow coverage for my regular newspaper). Add to that the baby worries/joy, and it's no wonder that I haven't been sleeping well.

Yesterday, to keep the disturbing Evelin to a minimum, I got out of bed around 4:30 a.m. after trying not to toss for about 45 minutes and just went to work early. This morning, I went down to the basement to do a little exercise followed by websurfing until she work up. I'm tired at work, but not exhausted (at least not yet), but it doesn't help that I traditionally give up caffeine for Lent, something I realized at 5:00 a.m. while driving to work and thinking how good that morning Diet Coke would taste.

[ASIDE: I am one of those people who has coke (generic form of the word, a.k.a., soda, pop, cola, or soft drink, depending upon where you’re from) for breakfast. I used to drink a lot more of it than I do now, but with all the infertility issues, Evelin convinced me it couldn't hurt to cut down on the Diet Coke intake. I went from an estimated liter or three each day to one 20-ounce bottle. It's not that I don't drink coffee and/or tea, I just prefer the cold fizzy stuff, particularly in the morning.]

I'm not a particularly religious person, but growing up in South Louisiana, I was surrounded by Catholicism, so it wasn't odd for us to give up things for Lent even if Presbyterianism doesn't require it. Since I tended to drink so much caffeine, it made sense to give it up each year. I viewed it as a bit of detoxing for my body, plus it annoyed me to be addicted to the point where I would have withdrawal symptoms. Today, I'm noticing a low-level headache, but hopefully it'll be gone in a few days.

Right now, I'm looking forward to "All Scottish" this afternoon on Moray Firth Radio (MFR). I just discovered the station's webcasts from Inverness, Scotland, last week, and it's a great little station. The music is a mix of typical pop and AC stuff, not all to my liking, but it's listenable and surprises me from time to time (right now, they're playing Was (Not Was) "Walk the Dinosaur," which I don't think I've heard it at least 12 years, followed by The Housemartins, "Happy Hour"). It's also cool to get the afternoon traffic reports for Inverness. The programs are in English, not Scots, unfortunately, but I guess you can't have it all.

The MFR webcast follows the AM channel, which airs specialist shows each week night, including "All Scottish." Presented by Andy Ross, Ben and John the Prof, the show features a ton of contemporary and traditional Scottish fiddling, piping, and other Scottish music; I stumbled upon it last week, and I've been looking forward to hearing the show again.

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