He's got a point about sheets and blankets. I've never understood the appeal of tucking a top sheet in at the foot of the bed; I sleep with my feet sticking out

He's got a point about sheets and blankets. I've never understood the appeal of tucking a top sheet in at the foot of the bed; I sleep with my feet sticking out of the covers, lest they sweat. He's also got a point about showers, or at least about the timing thereof; I generally take two a day, one in the morning and one when I get home. Not since childhood, though, have I seen a bath as a place to relax, or indeed had a bath at all; the purpose of a shower is to get clean, which rarely takes more than ten minutes, fifteen if I also need a shave. On the other hand, as I understand it, Russian culture includes, or has included until recently, a tradition of social bathing, and perhaps I'd feel differently about bathing had I origins in such a culture; in the United States, no such tradition has ever existed. And, as far as the adulteration of vodka goes, we do it because we're all lightweights! In the United States, being able to drink a big glass of straight vodka and not end up vomiting or passed out on the floor (or both, in any order) makes you an alcoholic; perhaps our Puritan ancestors are to blame for this, as for so many other things, but it's generally true nonetheless.