The result of my hesitation is that I awoke at 10 a.m., rather than the hoped-for noon, which gave me just enough time to catch some Sesame Street, which I haven't watched since 1976. My first thought: Where's Grover? He used to be my favorite. Now Elmo seems to have taken on the goofy Grover role. He even does that weird double take that takes him out of the TV frame like Grover used to do.

My second thought: Did Muppets always talk this way? I can hardly understand a thing Elmo's saying. He said, "How many elephants can sleep in this bed," and I thought he said, "How many underpants..." His words are coming out all clotted. Do kids like that? Is that part of the challenge?

Ah, such are the questions that consume me when I have a day off from work, as I do today. It's as though all my serious thinking during the week has to be negated by mulling Elmo's diction. Maybe I will take that extra Ativan after all.