1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480i....
What, wrong kind?
Okay, how about these:
1. To replace my mattress. Srsly. It's hurting my back, it's over a decade old, it needs to go.
2. To stop (or at least reduce) the nearly-every-morning stumble, fumble or domestic mishap that makes the last few minutes of getting ready for work a mad scramble.
3. To Do Something about my MGB. Probably sell it, as the cost of fixing it is likely to be way too much. This makes me sad, but perhaps the car can make someone else happy instead of being all-but-abandoned in my garage.
4. More bicycle riding!
5. More motor-scooter riding! (Took the last ride of 2013 only Sunday, during the very last of the unseasonably-warm weather, charging the battery and getting some storage-treated gas into the carburetor.)
6. A. To finish the dining room/library bookshelves, clear the old table of correspondence, catalogs and general home-debris and set up the new table.
B. To build the remaining shelves for the living room, uncluttering media and tall-book storage and rearranging the hi-fi components. Maybe even tackle the large behind-the-couch shelving for my typewriter and Tam's small-computer collections!
C. To build the short "wraparound" bookshelves that will link the living room and dining room bookshelves. (See, kids? That's what a bibliophile's fate was before e-readers. Read -- and learn basic carpentry!)
7. To get my ham radio on the air more. I have a setup for AM radiotelephone about 75% done. It could be a lot of fun. (I decided a long time ago, I wasn't going to use voice modes on the shortwave bands until I could do AM with the other old fossils.)
8. To write more -- and get better at it.
Hey, you've got to have goals, right?
About that mattress: I have a fused spine and nerve damage, the result of a job injury in 2004. Miss D. and I bought a Tempur-pedic memory foam mattress a couple of years ago, and it's made an amazing difference to us. Very comfortable indeed, particularly for problem backs and other body parts.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to spend anything like the price of a Tempur-pedic, either. Take a look at Amazon's selection. They start at about a tenth of Tempur-pedic's prices.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st?keywords=memory+foam+mattress
Recommended.
About that mattress: I, too, have a fused spine (cervical) but no nerve damage, and I will probably need another fusion some day (lumbar). Plus, I've been told by a chiropracter that I'm about as flexible as a railroad tie.
ReplyDeleteWe recently bought one of these: http://www.signaturesleep.com/eng/Products/Mattresses/Details/3094-5426096-Contour-8-Twin in king size. Total price at Walmart, delivered site-to-store, was $284. Really.
Watch the video about it at the Signature Sleep web site. They don't misrepresent this mattress. We've slept on it for about three months now, and it's been astounding.
I've had two memory foam type mattresses; never again. It's like sleeping in a ditch with a heater at the bottom. The foam is a terrific insulator, so I was usually sweaty on the bottom and cold on the top. The "memory foam" means every movement is uphill. Finally, foam sags, and memory foam remembers its sag.
Nope, I prefer pocket coils, and this mattress delivers. I recommend it highly.
I don't make resolutions anymore, but I do think I'm going to try to learn code this year. I'm getting tired of all the "no code extra" cr*p I keep reading on the radio boards.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should make a resolution -- to stop reading the radio boards.
FWIW here's another vote for the Tempur-Pedic/memory foam mattresses. My back loves me for pulling the trigger on that purchase.
DJ, I've never had problems with the Tempur-Pedic. We do reverse (as opposed to turn over, which you can't do) the mattress once a year or so. But neither of us ever get overheated and in fact the wife complains all winter that she can't use a heated mattress pad with the foam mattress.
On the other hand, she complains all winter that we don't live in Florida, too. Can't win for losing.
Fuzzy Curmudgeon, I've never had a Tempur-Pedic brand mattress. I'll admit that different mattresses have different qualities, but therein lies the problem. It's largely a very expensive crap shoot. A short history makes that clear.
ReplyDeleteWe used to travel from St. Louis to northern New Mexico a lot and stayed several times at a Bed & Breakfast in Taos. It had extremely comfortable beds. Later, when we moved to that area and needed to replace ours, I asked where they were purchased. It turned out to be a local furniture store that sold Spring Air mattresses. We bought one, a queen size, and it is the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on. It is still in like-new condition despite years of use, but is now our guest bed as we switched (and never looked back) to a king size some years ago. (Damn, but it sucks getting old.)
Spring Air was a family-owned company that sold out. It was repurchased by a family member, but the product line now has a very poor reputation, so that is not a rational choice. We've had three king size mattresses in the past seven years. The first simply came apart after five years. The second began to sag (4-5 inches) within two weeks, and the seller refused any requests to fix the problem. The third is a gem, and it's cheap; we are quite pleased with it.
The problem is that buying a mattress involves a committment that will consume about 1/3 of your life, and there is little way to make an intelligent choice. You cannot gauge the quality of the mattress by what the manufacturer says about it, nor can you gauge it by the price you'll pay for it. For a more complete overview of this, go visit http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/ The problem with comments you read online is that, usually, only complainers make such comments, so you don't get a balanced viewpoint. A crap shoot indeed, right?
I brought up the Signature Sleep Contour 8 mattress because I am amazed at how it is packaged, at how well it is constructed, how inexpensive it is, and, now that I've slept on it for months, how comfortable it is. Even if I have to replace it after 4-5 years, what the hell do I care? Paying less than $100 per year for a decent king size mattress is a bargain, in my experience.
As to being overheated, well, I am easily overheated. We use thin, polarfleece type blankets. On the memory foam mattress under one blanket, I would sweat on the bottom while being cold on the top. With the new mattress, I am comfortable on both top and bottom at all times using two to four blankets, depending on the season. Any individual's needs may vary; the trick is to know the options.
Long week at work today, so maybe my parser is overloaded, but I'm not sure I get #7. So, you've been operating CW-only on HF?
ReplyDeleteI don't do resolutions, as such, but I do plan on learning Morse, and if my car will ease up on the repair front for a while, getting an HF rig. Lots to learn in the mean time.
Happy New Year, Bobbi!
Mostly a lurker here, but have to say Happy New Year to Roberta and Tam and all who read here. Hope 2014 is happy and healthy and as joyful as possible for all of you.
ReplyDeleteAbout that mattress: I won't recommend a mattress - I've learned that they're just too much dependent on the individual. The most wonderful mattress in the world for one person can be more unpleasant than the rack for someone else. You just have to hunt for one that will work for you.
ReplyDeleteExample: My parents swear by those Serta "Sleep number" beds. I swear AT them. Their old one (the Queen size they replaced with a King) ended up in "my" room / the guest room, and it kills my back every time I visit. I actually left a day early after Christmas this year because I just couldn't do another night on that torture machine, no matter how it's adjusted.
As for resolutions? 1) I'm going to get my yard and bushes under control, if I have to frelling PAY someone to do it for me (and I probably will, due to my lack of skill with green things combined with a lack of time). 2) I'm going to scrape and paint the awning over the front porch, and the outer walls of the porch.
I have other "to do's", but I'm sick of my house looking like crap and making the neighborhood look bad, and it's not fair to the neighbors, either.
Yes, Jed: I have been licensed long enough to qualify for QCWA -- and I have never had a voice QSO below 30 MHz.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/intelligent-wrapping-paper-heals-broken-bones-half-time-190710297.html?vp=1
ReplyDeleteIf there's not an award for that, there should be. I've met a couple hams who give me funny looks re. my interest in CW. Well, to each their own, but I've already found one case where I wish I already knew it -- when I stumble on a repeater beacon.
ReplyDeleteI sure enjoy reading your radio posts.
I have a little thing called a Puma, glassfibre body on a shortened Beetle chassis, that's been parked for more than a decade. Decided I need to Do Something. It'll probably cost more than the car will end up being worth, but it's a fun car (like an MG).
ReplyDeleteHey, I have a new toy you might appreciate. MCR1 "spy receiver". The DPO stuffed it up, but new valves are due today courtesy eBay and I should have most of the correct value caps kicking around so all that's left is faking a HT/LT battery. Details soon to be up on my website.