I feel as if I don't know enough.

There was a time where I felt better educated. A couple of times. From 1994 to about 1996, I was listening to NPR's Morning Edition every morning, and other news programs throughout the day on other stations. (For some reason, I've never been much on All Things Considered. I was reading The New Yorker and either Time or Newsweek cover to cover. I read a few books. I even watched the evening news fairly frequently.

Things are different now. A couple of reasons:

1) I'm sleeping as late as I can in the mornings (because Danny comes in and snuggles during the night, and I don't particularly want to leave), so I don't have time to listen to the radio.
2) During my commute, I'm listening to CDs.
3) I don't have a radio here at the office, and they've asked that we not listen via Internet. Apparently it's hard to pick up FM stations inside the building anyway.
4) I am getting home around 6:00 three nights a week, but the network news in Illinois airs at 5:30. I can't remember the last time I watched a broadcast.
5) I've thrown Entertainment Weekly into the mix, which takes up too much of my brain with no results. Honestly, why should we care about Britney and her current issues?
6) The internet also takes up a lot of my time, and I'm breezing through stories without keeping much in my head.
7) Danny takes up more of my time.

What I need to do to fix things:

1) Go out during lunch and buy an AM/FM radio for the office. Preferably with a cassette deck (sounds ridiculous, but there are a lot of albums I have on cassette and nowhere else).
2) I've subscribed to Atlantic Monthly, and will read Time, The New Yorker, New York, and Atlantic in the office. (I switched back from Newsweek to Time, partially because we got a good deal, partially because I feel like Time has gotten more serious and is starting to cover international news more.
3) I will read books at home. One sports book, one non-fiction history book, one novel, one self-improvement book a month.
4) I will wake up at 5:40 every morning, and not roll over and go back to sleep.
5) I will listen to Morning Edition again on the way in, and find something I like on the way back. (This may be hard -- I've never liked the all-news WBBM here in Chicago very much, and I'm up and down on WGN's Steve Cochran. It may be All Things Considered by default. WLS is too conservative, WIND is worse, and despite my liberal views, I've never really warmed up to Air America either.
6) I will try to watch the news in bed at nine or ten P.M., or listen to Milt Rosenberg on WGN.
7) Danny still comes first, no matter what.

There's no excuse for ignorance, and there's no excuse for stupidity. (Not that I'm stupid, but still...)

First, the official Friday Five:

1. Do you have a car? If so, what kind of car is it? Two, actually. I drive a 1996 Ford Escort with over 96,000 miles on it. When I switched jobs two months ago and a second car became a necessity, we bought a 2002 Nissan Sentra for Karen; it's got about 2,000 miles on it so far.

2. Do you drive very often? No more than I have to. I work just two miles away from our apartment. I like walking, and having lived in New York City for so long, I don't feel as if I must drive to get where I'm going.

3. What's your dream car?A convertible Ford Mustang. This seems an unlikely purchase, however, since I have never driven a stick shift.

4. Have you ever received a ticket?No. Karen (a.k.a. Princess Leadfoot) has gotten two in the past two years.

5. Have you ever been in an accident?Three times while driving -- sideswiped a large curb/sidewalk in Chatham, MA (the next year, they made it a one-way street going the other way, so I suspect I wasn't the only one to do this), rearended once (guy behind me didn't see the Yield sign), rearended someone once (misjudged space between our cars). No significant damage in any of these.

And, the Weekly Wrapup:

1. Do you consider yourself an outdoors person? Why or why not? What do you enjoy/dislike the most about being outside? I like the outdoors, but top:m not really an outdoors person, because I hate camping. I enjoy being someplace where I can feel the changing of the seasons -- I don't think I'd like to live in Florida or Arizona.

2. What size community do you live in? Do you think that the degree of urbanization influences your enjoyment of the outdoors? Is that influence negative or positive? Please explain. Is it difficult for you to enjoy the outdoors because of the population or sprawl of your community? Wheaton, IL has about 55,000 residents. But the Illinois Prairie Path runs right near our place, and I do a five-mile power walk on it every day. I'm probably outside two hours a day or more every day.

3. What is your favorite warm-weather outdoor activity? Why? What is your favorite cold-weather outdoor activity? Why? Warm weather: swimming or walking. Cold weather: not much. Illinois is very flat, which eliminates most snow-related activities, and I don't enjoy skating or cross-country skiing.

4. Have you ever been camping? If so, share a memory. What is your idea of "roughing it"? A couple of times. My time in the Boy Scouts came to an abrupt end when I realized all we would do was camp out and then talk about what we did on the previous campout/do on the next campout. I didn't take to cooking out or sleeping in a tent. Roughing it would be in a cabin with no electricity, but as long as there's a cot or mattress, that's fine.

5. Where is your favorite wilderness and/or natural scenic location? What makes it special for you? How far do you have to travel to reach your favorite spot? I love the mountains in New York, both the Adirondacks and the Catskills. Also, we just went to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan; the Painted Rocks are unbelievable. I like being near lakes and/or oceans if possible.