Daughters doing their thing

I have been home scrapbooking because…. I didn’t have a vehicle or anyone to go with me to scrapbooking and the weather is rotten so I’ve been at home in the Western Caribbean and loving it this evening.

I was pleased to discover that the baby daughter managed her first night shift in style and is a certified night owl like her mother. She managed to get home in plenty of time for me to head in for my workday. Apparently the written threats on the door and unplugging of phones were partially successful as she slept all day with the only detractor being the boyfriend who needed reminding to ‘use his indoor voice while talking on the phone’ at some point late afternoon. So she’s headed off for the second long night and was pretty perky as she exited.

Had a phone call from daughter # 2 who is sorting out her paperwork for the summer job in the city, application to the Bachelor of Education program and apartment living. Apparently a full day off has finally settled the unpacking and sorting and she felt nested. Her next adventure will be the trip home for her graduation on May 10th with the Bachelor of Arts, which is kind of a dress rehearsal for the final grad in two years.

Also had a phone chat with our western daughter and things are going fine in the Stampede City where she had been called for an interview with Berlitz (the language courses/books folks), which sounded like it had gone well. Room for advancement, discounts on language courses, and enough variety to entertain so it sounds like it’s designed for her. She was considering attending (another) job fair at the Calgary Zoo – this one for the zoo itself on Sunday as they are looking for all sorts of employees and that would be a fun ‘pick up’ job for an occasional weekend shift. In the meantime she’d been called to do some orientation with the Boston Pizza which is near her place so will hold her over until other options are sorted out – you do have to support yourself while those great breaks materialize. Calgary sure sounds like the place to do it.

Mind you all this fast paced living reminded me of an article I read last week:

You are feeling very sleepy . . .

By JOHN WARD The Canadian Press
Wed. Apr 23 - 1:27 PM

OTTAWA — That higher-paying job or the longer commute comes with a hidden cost in lost sleep, a new study suggests.

And sleep researchers say Tom Edison and Henry Ford have a lot to answer for with all those sleepy people walking around yawning.

A Statistics Canada survey of Canadian sleep patterns, released Tuesday, found that those earning $60,000 or more a year slept 40 minutes less on any given day in 2005 than someone who made $20,000.

It said women, generally, got slightly more sleep than men — eight hours and 18 minutes a night compared with eight hours and 11 minutes — but women also had more trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep.

The data showed that men who worked full time slept 14 minutes less than women who worked full time, or about 85 hours — 3.5 fewer days — of sleep a year.

The study asked more than 19,500 respondents aged 15 and over to complete a detailed record of the time they spent on all activities on a given day, including the time they fell asleep and awoke.

Longer working hours, longer commutes and young children shaved precious minutes of sleep, but researchers say this is part of a general trend that has cut into sleep for a century.

"It’s our drive-by, drive-thru society," said Dr. Helen Driver of the Sleep Disorders Research Group at Queen’s University.

A century ago, people slept nine hours or more a night. Often, they divided the night into a long sleep and a short sleep, rising in between to do chores or snack.

"Our sleep has evolved."

Driver and Dr. Harvey Moldofsky of the Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology at the University of Toronto blame Edison for many of today’s sleep problems.

Edison’s invention of the incandescent light bulb provided a cheap, effective way to banish the darkness. By turning night into day, it eroded the traditional hours of rest.

Combine Edison’s bulb with Henry Ford’s mass-produced auto, the continuous conveyor belt, shift work and the jet engine — and sleep time is besieged.

"It’s really not sleep that’s the issue, it’s time," Moldofsky said. "We live in a time famine.

Speaking of which I’d best pick up my scrapbooking supplies as the cats like to scrapbook during the night if not and head off to bed.