How I won the Daytona 500.

I wandered away from the office on a recent night shift
and snapped this picture. 

One of the not so good side effects of having a job in meteorology, is the hours. The weather waits for no man (or woman) and like donuts, people want a fresh batch when they wake up. This means that there are night shifts in which we prepare forecasts for the following day. I have in fact muttered "time to make the donuts" as I stumble out of the house on my way to the graveyard shift at the NWS.

I've been doing this for 30+ years on a rotating basis and I'll tell you there's no good way to work nights and try to get a reasonable amount of sleep. Everyone seems to handle it differently. I'm exhausted by the time I get home, around 730 am and normally just collapse in bed. Some manage to stay up for a good part of the morning, falling asleep in the afternoon, not waking until it's time again for work. That method is not real good for family life, but may result in better sleep. For me, I've noticed that it has become more difficult to sleep during the day as I get older, and I often wake up between 11 am and noon, giving me only a few hours of sleep. This in turn leads me to take an evening nap before returning to work at 10 pm. This leads me to winning the Daytona 500.

Alas, my name does not appear here. 

Sleep deprivation and odd hours can result in strange behavior. In my case, I occasionally have episodes where I awake with a start, completely disoriented. I need a complete reboot in these instances, since I do not know the day, time, or sometimes even where I am at. It can be unsettling. Another effect can be strange and vivid dreams, which I can often recall after waking. This is how I wan the Daytona 500. I recently had a vivid dream in which I was asked to drive for one of the Earnhardt's, which one, senior of junior, I do not know. I was asked to step in mid race as the driver became ill, and through a series of crashes and dumb luck, I managed to win the race. I woke during the dream, thought about it, fell asleep and the dream continued. I was receiving accolades in person and on social media when my alarm awoke me. It was time to head into work. The dream was so realistic, I was still somewhat disoriented for the first few minutes of the drive to work (why am I in this SUV and not in a Stock Car?).

The dream itself is a mystery to me. I am not a NASCAR fan, haven't watched the race in years, and don't even know who the current champion is. Why would my brain create such an elaborate fantasy for me is really strange, I had no idea I even had the base information to create such a story. Still, I enjoyed it and appreciate the effort.

On the home front, my "solution" for the pipes in the half bath was a bust, literally. In the epic cold spell, the pipes froze once again. I will have to pull out the insulation and get to the pipes and repair the damage. The plan now is to install drains so I can turn off and drain the pipes in the coldest weather to avoid further damage. That's going to have to wait until warmer weather so until then, the half bath is out of service.