h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I wake up, it's dark, I feel awake enough that doubt I'm going back to sleep. I turn on the radio in the dark, I hear the main (top of the hour) news. I hope it's six o'clock, not five o'clock. I hope it's six o'clock, I hope it's six o'clock.

It's five o'clock

Yesterday, my Friday, I actually slept right through until the (5.30) alarm woke me up. Last night I set the alarm to my weekend wake-up time - 6.30.

That's got to be the height of wishful thinking.

My cat stayed out of the bedroom for most of the night, allowing me to sleep better than usual... until 4:00.

in my face!
Roll over.
in my face!
Roll over.
in my face!

He finally settled down after about 10 minutes but I still woke up before the alarm.

Oh, memories of Dewey doing that

Well, I've decided to make use of this earliness - I'm going out for breakfast for the first time in ages, and it's probably early enough that the place (within walking distance) won't be stupid crowded.

It's also the first day of the local NPR station's autumn fund drive, which I'm very happy to be away from. Ans since Morning Edition has a two-hour rotation and I've already heard two hours of it...

Ours just finished theirs this weekend. It ran long as they didn't meet their goal by Friday.

I didn't donate this year as medical costs have been higher this year and besides, I'm still upset with them bumping Sci Friday for Texas Standard. I'd much rather they had bumped Diane Rehm.

I haven't donated for a few years, mostly because I've been poor, but also partly because of programming decisions that, like you, I don't agree with. Which raises the question; if you haven't donated can you, morally speaking, complain to them about it?

There's a programme they recently started broadcasting on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights when they would otherwise have had the BBC World Service on, called Public Radio Remix http://www.prx.org/ - a sort of two-hour collection of stories, features and weirdness (from overseas as well as the US), and a few things I can do without like the Moth Radio Hour, then they go through the night with the BBC as before. It's nice to go to bed and listen to (or fall asleep to and miss 90% of it).

It's only been running for about six months but they've already dropped the Friday night broadcast. So if I renew my membership this time I have some weight to ask that they bring it back, which I might not otherwise have if I didn't donate, in my opinion.

And if I donate before midnight tonight I can get a pair of grackle socks http://kut.org/post/thank-you-gifts-fall-2015

Why grackles? (I love grackles.)

Because Texas?

I'll tell you one thing about getting up soon after 5am on your day off though - it don't half make the day seem longer It's not even noon yet. I've been up more than six hours, gone for breakfast, come back, listend to two hours of Danny Baker, done the dishes, done some laundry and tidied up a bit, not to mention fart around on YouTube for an hour watching old Level 42 videos

I remember taping this off the radio (I still have the cassette), but it's only recently that I finally got to see the visuals too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFsIRZLgRbc&list=PLxUVyXJDWJV_yoX71h_pwevYVInAfVfyA

I'm streaming KUHF for All Things Considered, on your advice that they've finished their drive. I tried San Antonio public radio first but they're already well into theirs.

Still undecided about the grackle socks. It's not that I can't afford $7.50 a month, and I'm pretty sure that I get more than $7.50 worth of programming from them each week - Morning Edition, ATC and Prairie Home Companion, plus Public Radio Remix now.

I probably should.