Insomnia Hertz

I'm leaving shortly for my first day in the office after my first night of insomnia -- I woke up around 1 a.m. and was wide awake and hungry (it was 2:30 Chicago time and according to my body), and it took 3 hours, a few herbal "Calms" pills, and a sleep mask to finally fall back asleep. But not before I'd woken Mark up and ruined his sleep as well. Hopefully I won't fall asleep at lunch with all of my coworkers!

On the upside, a couple of mysteries have been solved. I figured out the right switch-n-valve combination to get hot water for my shower this morning, which was crucial to keep the belligerence to a minimum. Also, my brother-in-law, Pat, has been offering his knowledge from his experiences overseas to help me figure things out -- not only had he used the free-form shower while serving in the Army in the Middle East, but he also advised that it's not just the voltage that matters in the electrical system, but the hertz as well. So my alarm clock is expecting 60 Hz and is only getting 50 Hz, thus the loss of 10 minutes an hour. So at least I can time it each night, or as my sister suggested, just buy a new alarm clock (if I can find a shop that has one) or get a wake up call each day. I still don't really get the electricity thing, but oh, well.