Margret Sloan

Condo life sometimes means putting up with little nuisances that you might not have to deal with in a single family home with a yard and good distance between neighbors.

Even though this condo development is upscale and the construction is high end, there can still be nights where the noise from your neighbor’s TV or sound system creeps into your bedroom and makes sleep difficult. I don’t have a garage band next door, but for some reason the neighbors like to listen to rock and roll ALL night. Now, I like rock and roll, but not at 3:00 in the morning when I’m trying to sleep.

So we’ve come up with a solution other than calling the police and filing noise complaints against the neighbors. We bought a little machine called Sleep Mate, which makes a nice little sound during the night called white noise and you don’t have to listen to that rock and roll or even hubby’s snoring anymore. I’ve known about White Noise Machines for years, but it wasn’t until we moved here that I needed it.

And to take the chill off in the morning, I bought a pair of foot cozy heated slippers from Vat 19 – the same site that sells the Sleep Mate. A good night’s sleep is a whole lot easier now, and getting up in the morning is just a little nicer, too.

My brother called on Friday to tell me that he’d be riding in the Rolling Thunder this weekend. I saw last night on the news that they had a great turnout of motorcycles and parade viewers along the procession route in Washington DC, and that they even had the pleasure of President Bush come to the event. He was presented with an honorary leather jacket and although this is WAAAAAY out of his league, Bush seemed to be a good sport about the whole thing.

I have a girlfriend who decided to ride in Rolling Thunder this year, too. She has become quite the patriot since 9/11 and I hope she met some guys on the ride that opened her eyes and her mind to a totally different lifestyle from her little cocoon of a teacher’s life in suburbia that she’s enjoyed all these years. I can’t wait for her to call and tell me all about her biker experience.

Years ago I would keep a backgammon board in the car. It looked like a little grey leather briefcase, with two luggage latches and leather handle. Inside were the dice and markers, a deck of cards, and an envelope with two dollars worth of quarters. Every time we went to the emergency room, one of us would grab the backgammon board to take in with us, so we had something to do and keep us distracted for the 4- 6 hours wait time we would have to endure. We would play backgammon or Acey Deucey for hours, and even taught the ER registration clerk how to play one night when it was very slow.

Now I play backgammon online when I need a mental health break from the busy days around here. I love the way you can go online and jump into a game with a worthy opponent with almost no wait time to find another player. I’ve had the same screen name for years, and now there are dozens of other players who recognize my name and will search me out for a game or two.

Interesting how the only way I ever would have met these wonderful people is over the internet. All those terrible days and nights of waiting in the hospital emergency rooms have evolved into friendships with people from all over the world who share the same interest and passion for a game of online backgammon.

Some of us play in online backgammon tournaments, too. Those are great fun and a better test of skill and staying power than just a casual game or two. If you can win 8 or 9 games in a row, then you are a deserving champion or very very very lucky.

This morning’s newspaper came with a nice surprise – two free boxes of breakfast cereal were in the special plastic bag that holds the paper. There was a small box of Honey Nut Cheerios and a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, along with coupons to save 75 cents at the grocery store on a full size box if you like the cereals.

It is always nice to get something free to try – it surely must open the minds of a good percentage of people who might not otherwise try a particular food or drink but soon discover that they actually like the product. Part of this is due to favoring brands or flavor with which you grew up or are accustomed to eating and drinking. Part of it is due to a natural resistance to try new things without some incentive. And part of it, in my household anyway, is that the person doing the grocery shopping is a creature of habit and only searches out the brands and items that we know we like or prefer so they can get finished with the chore of shopping and get back home as quickly as possible.

My son is getting more and more serious about his internet gaming. That boy spends hours and hours – after his homework is finished, by the way – playing these first person shooter games with his internet friends. Now he’s complaining that his computer is outdated and too slow and he “needs” a new one.

Well, since school is out for the summer, I thought it would be a great idea for him to build his own computer from a Do It Yourself kit. That way he can pick and choose exactly what components he wants and he will learn a lot from the hands on experience of putting together a computer.

There is a great site on the internet that sells the kits for different kinds of computing needs, including the super charged gaming computers like my son wants. The parts are all big name brands and fully warranted, so I’ll be sitting down with him tomorrow morning and choosing the specific parts he wants to order and we’ll order his DIY kit.