The power of the nap

I do not want to start out today by alarming, or shocking, you Dear Reader, but I do want you to realize one thing — not everyone does things the same way we (in the USA) do.
Yes. It’s true.

Now, I’m not talking about simply using a weird language (non-English) to talk to each other. I’m talking about methods of accomplishing tasks, and how we live life.

For instance:
I am told that if you travel to some Distant Lands, you will find that the people there insist on driving on the wrong side of the road. In fact, in those places, so many people drive on the wrong side that the car builders have taken to installing the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car.

I am also told that there are Distant Lands where it takes several hours to eat your meal (no Drive-Thru windows, I guess). I am also told that wine is served every night. In some of these places, it is said that the evening meal doesn’t begin until about 10pm. That one pushes my credulity, 10?! That’s my bedtime.
I have been told this is true in places like Spain, and also in Italy.
I have also heard that in France they give you three hours for lunch. That has to be a lie… my last “real” job gave me 30 minutes.

Also unlike here, many Distant Lands do not treat smoking a cigarette as a Criminal Offense… and the smoker as a leper.
Weird stuff.

* Now back to today’s title:
I mentioned Spain and Italy before, and I want to get back to them because one of the bizarre things I’ve heard the people there do is of extreme (well.. moderate) interest to me, now that I’ve reached my “middle years”– I am talking about the “siesta“.

Now to my, admittedly limited, understanding.. the way it works is like this: you eat your midday meal (with wine), BS with your friends for a while, and then go lay down and take a midday nap.. then you get up and go back to work. (Maybe that’s why it takes 3 hours?)
I gotta confess..  when I first heard of this, it sounded pretty good to me. In fact, it sounds so good, it surely must be a lie. However, I have taken to adopting this mythical siesta-thing into my own life, and now I regularly (well.. as often as possible.. which isn’t as often as I’d like) lay down for 20 minutes in the afternoon.
Only I don’t call my lay-down a “siesta”; I call it a “power nap” (some folks call it a “NASA nap”).
And folks, I can attest: what you’ve heard about power naps is true. A brief eye-shutting does rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul. And now that I’ve tried this wonder, I ain’t going back.. I am now a “siesta guy”.

What does this have to do with Tech?
Glad you asked. First let me say that (gasp!) life is not all Tech.. and suggest that you may want to look into this midday nap thing yourself (it will actually increase your productivity) and give Personal Sleep Mode a try, and then…
Tip of the day: Putting computer into a low power mode, such as “Sleep” or “Standby”, or “Hibernate” is a good thing to do when you’re not actively using your machine. You will save on your electricity bill, and actually reduce wear-and-tear on your machine.
To learn about adjusting your computer’s low power-state options, read the second “question answered” in this article. And to learn how to enable Hibernation mode on your desktop PC, click here.

Today’s free link: A fella who calls himself “Mr. Electricity” has a page on his Website which helps you understand computer (and attached devices) power consumption, and by reading the information there, you can calculate how much money you’ll save by taking advantage of your computer’s ability to “power nap” too. (It can be an eye-opener to see how much your monitor is costing you.)

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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