Matt, do you mean lisinopril? I doubt it would ever be prescribed as a sleep aid, only because it's a blood pressure med, and if it were prescribed to an insomniac with normal or low blood pressure, they'd have some serious blood pressure problems.

I thought my bottle said Lisiprin/HCL (the hydrochlorothiazide is a minor ingredient), but I could be mistaken.

Probably the reason you slept so well, and would fall asleep right away, is that lisinopril can cause fatigue, because it basically suppresses your heart rate and your adrenalin response. I was on it for about a month, when I had to stop it b/c I was so exhausted all the time.

Oddly enough I didn't feel particularly fatigued during the day while I was moving around. But it took me months to get sufficiently used to the effect that I could stay up late at night. Or, y'know, actually make it to my bed to turn in intentionally rather than wake in a sitting position on the couch after 10 hours.

Where are you in Broward?

West Hollywood, on the Border between Hollywood and Pembroke Pines. I'm skulking in the South Regional Library as we speak.

Four blocks away, there's a huge region with power, and then theres our chunk of land, where there is not one, but two downed powerlines. Also, a distinct lack of generators here so the nights feel vague and depressing.

My uncle accidently burned his house down already. The poor man didn't have any fire insurance, so we're sending him any spare food and ice we have.

However, we have friends in the area with power who have graciously allowed us to take hot showers at night, and watch Smallville. True friends know man needs more than hot showers to feel human. They need their weekly dose of HoYay, too.

As soon as everything goes back to normal, I will send them a very large gift basket.

I have a question. Could I go and get a masters (or PhD) in a field completely unrelated to my B.A. degree? If, say, I degreed in Lit but wanted to study economics-- does one go and get another b.a. or apply to a masters program?

I think apply to a Master's program. My friend had a BA in Theater, but got a Master's in Family Therapy.

Depends on the requirements of the program. Most have some vague language about how the applicant should have some "experience in the field"

I would consult with a graduate program in your field of choice. You may have life experience that makes up for your lack of formal schooling in this particular area. Also, sometimes you can get a "conditional acceptance", which requires you to take some prerequisites before being officially admitted to the program. t /graduate school administrator hat

Some have background requirements that you can make up while in the program. It depends on the program. My brother is getting his PhD from the Neurosciences program, and his background was a bachelors in psychology from a community college. I don't think he's had to do any makeup classes, but I do know he's had to work harder to get up to speed on the chemistry and biology than some other students.

Bon, I've known people who have done graduate work in very different fields from their undergrad, but they've come in with a lot of background in the new field. People don't typically do a second BA, but hypotethetical-you would have to cover any specific admissions requirements either during undergrad or classes you've taken since you've been out of school, plus prove to them that you knew your shit, perhaps even more than someone with a background.

The requirements vary by field -- when I was in grad school in Lit, there weren't many specific "you must have courses in X, Y, and Z", but they were heavy on the knowing-your-shit. OTOH, when I looked at doing a Master's in CS, there was a very specific checklist of courses that was the same pretty much everywhere. Econ (if that was a real example) is probably somewhere in-between.

</graduate school administrator hat>

Is the Graduate School Administrator Hat related to the Sorting Hat?

Some programs might require you to do a little post-bacc work (i.e. take a few college-level courses without being in a degree program), but I don't think you'd need a whole BA or BS.

Normally I put TiVo links in the Technology thread, but this one, about Overlap Protection is important enough for natter.

About time, and shame on the networks for making it necessary.