Using the power windows in my new car brings back a childhood memory of shutting the window of our family car when my brother’s neck happened to be in the way. (It was an accident! Really!) This is a story that is retold again and again around my family’s dinner table, especially when we have a new guest among us.

Some people can hold serious grudges.

Sometimes you can't get past people's initial impression of you, no matter how much information you provide that you're not quite the person they perceive you to be. Someone mentioned a song title to me, with a smirk that suggested he was certain I wouldn't be familiar with music from that genre. I immediately began reciting some of the lyrics, which apparently didn't prove a thing. "You don't know that song," he insisted. Hmmm ... I wonder what more I needed to do to prove otherwise?

It actually does cool down at night around here. Granted, it's been unseasonably cool the past few days (for Phoenix, in August, that means anything under 100 degrees). But I was surprised to walk outside after my middle-of-the-night video shoot on Monday and discover something that resembled a chill in the air. I've lived in this city for more than 20 years, and can't remember August being anything other than hot, no matter what the time of day or night.

All in a night's work
A local news station featured our Emergency Department on its Monday morning show, and sent a crew to videotape the department in action the night before. I volunteered to coordinate the shoot, even though I'm not a night person and it meant working from 1-3 am. A few random observations from the experience:

• Where EDs are involved, expect the unexpected. I was told that the Sunday/Monday night shift would likely be slow, and we might be hard pressed to find a patient to interview. Contrary to predictions, I walked into a packed waiting room and was greeted by a charge nurse who immediately told me to cancel the shoot, which of course we couldn't do.
  
• I am forever out of synch with the hospital's cafeteria schedule. During my normal workday hours, I always seem to crave a fountain drink or a snack in the middle of the afternoon, just after the cafeteria closes. As we were getting close to wrapping up the videotaping on Monday, I felt hunger setting in. An employee told me the cafeteria closed at 2:30 am, and I looked at the clock - it was 2:35. At least I'm consistent.
  
• You can't become a night person if you're not one by nature. Just when I thought I was doing a good job of looking alert, a nurse suggested I put on a hospital gown and let the staff treat me for sleep deprivation.

I replaced my answering machine with Qwest voice messaging several years ago. For some reason, it was far more disappointing to come home to a steady red light - indicating no messages - on my answering machine,than it is to pick up my phone and discover a normal dial tone, which gives me the same "nobody called" information.

But now I have the occasionally empty e-mail in-box to deal with (particularly on Friday afternoons, when apparently nobody besides myself is anywhere near a computer). Mankind just keeps coming up with new ways to make us feel dejected.

Some people long to return to childhood, but I prefer being an adult. I get a particular enjoyment out of running the air conditioner and leaving a window open at the same time. Just because I can.

I should never go to lunch early. This afternoon seems like it's about 11 hours long.

Zoom, Zoom
I traded my tired Honda Civic for a Mazda 3 on Saturday. It's my first new car in almost a decade, and the first time I've had any of the extras that most of my friends have had for years - power windows, power door locks, CD player, cruise control. It's great fun to drive, except I have typical new-car jitters.

Yesterday I was stopped at a stoplight when an oversized truck in front of me began backing up. I sounded my horn, but the vehicle kept moving toward me. I pounded the horn more frantically - still with no response, and braced myself for the inevitable collision. Finally, the vehicle stopped, inches away from my bumper.

I just need to get my first scratch, and be done with it.

My boss hates the sound of what she calls "paper scraping" - the faint noise that occurs when you run a fingernail across the folded edge of a sheet of paper. Because I've never known another soul who's bothered by this, I find myself doing it absent-mindedly until her shuddering reminds me that it's a problem.

If she were a regular co-worker and not the one responsible for my continued employement, I could really have some fun with this.

Sign that you're really ready to buy a new vehicle: You have trouble finding your car in a parking lot, and actually feel excited rather than panicked at the thought that someone may have stolen it.

I went on a moonlight hike with friends Saturday night. The two-mile excursion was really more of a nature walk, led by a park ranger who stopped frequently to point out distinctive plants, tell some of the region's Wild West tales, and offer desert survival tips. While it was good to learn ideas for locating water in the wilderness, my only real survival concern was avoiding any potential West Nile-bearing mosquitoes. Fortunately, I think my bottle of OFF! did the trick. I shared it with my hiking companions, and called it my good Deet for the day.