Day 8: The @Casper Mattress Challenge

Night 8. The windows did make a difference. Not a major, earth shattering one, but a difference nonetheless.

Sleep Pattern

I laid down around 10, knocked out around 11.   Hit REM sleep, dreamed about something to do with engineering.  Got up at 6am.

Not as groggy as the night before. But unlike the first couple of nights, I felt like staying in bed.

Body And Positioning

I turned a few times. I get the sense that I will never be able to just sleep without turning, unlike when I was a teen.

Was wrong about 65 degrees as I was hot again.

Mattress Durability

Shape still intact.  Slightly soft, but not sagging.

Day 7: The @Casper Mattress Challenge

Night 7. Tomorrow I (hopefully) get to hear a lot less sound from my windows.

Sleep Pattern

I laid down around 11, knocked out around midnight.   Hit REM sleep, dreamed in the third person watching something going on.  Got up at 6am.

Slightly more groggy than expected, but that might have been the hours.

Body And Positioning

I turned only twice: once to the right and once onto my back, which is where I stayed for a bit. lower left side hurt.

65 degrees seems to be the nighttime sweet spot. I was hot but not unbearably so.

Mattress Durability

Shape still intact.  No noticeable softness, at least not like before the trip. Interesting.

Day 6: The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge

Night 6 and really looking forward to that window install on Wednesday.

Sleep Pattern

I laid down around 8pm, knocked out around 10pm.   Hit REM sleep (don't recall the dreams, but I know I did because it took the alarm to wake me and at first I thought it was part of the dream).  Got up at 6am.

I felt a little groggy.  Definitely less than the day prior.  So my initial theory about my body getting "back used to" the mattress after travel is probably a sound theory.

Body And Positioning

I turned quite a few times. I also had some pain on my left side (which is why I kept turning, so as not to lay on that side, but I eventually felt uncomfortable on my right side and would turn).

Heat overcame, had to pull back the comforter again.

Mattress Durability

Shape still intact.  No noticeable softness.

Day 5: The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge

Night 5 (officially), back from travel.  Having slept on a Spring Air mattress at Residence Inn, I now have a definite point of comparison from a "sink in" perspective.  (If you didn't know, Spring Air is quite possibly the most comfortable overall mattress possible.  But it IS a spring mattress.)

Sleep Pattern

Again, it's the weekend so noise was not as bad or as prevalent.  I was also dead tired due to extensive travel, medication and long working hours.

I laid down around 8pm, knocked out around 9pm, which is a record for me.   I don't exactly remember reaching REM sleep though; I assume I must have and don't remember, but I was out until 7:00am the next morning.  I got up groggy, which was strange.

To compare, the Spring Air mattress plus a waffle cone ice cream had me knocked out cold for a good 12 hours, but with no dreaming, even after reading rather vivid books. Without the waffle cone, I was about 6-7 hours sleep with mid-time wakeup.

Body And Positioning

I turned maybe twice.  To be fair, I was also tossing and turning on the Spring Air mattress, and quite a bit more, so maybe my body just doesn't like being stationary, I don't know.  It's also possible that my body was starting to get used to the Casper mattress and reacted to this totally different mattress.

No heat overcoming.  This is with the thermostat set to 70 and the exterior temperature in the high 30's/low 40's; that's WITH pajama bottoms.

No pain at all this time.

Mattress Durability

Shape still intact.  After my 5-day business trip I noticed the softness was gone, too.  So it will go back firm eventually as long as you don't sleep on it for a while.

Day 4: The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge

Night 4, another difference.  As a side note this is the first mattress where I experienced a difference night-to-night as opposed to, say, week-to-week.

Sleep Pattern

I laid down around 8pm but didn't actually go to sleep until around 11:30pm.  Longer to go to sleep.  Did enter REM because I distinctly the dream having something to do with being called fat (which I'm not even close to, thus why I remember it), but I woke up twice, once at 1am, and again at 4:30am.  I'm not sure what the deal was with the 1am wakeup; it may simply have been too much on my mind in anticipation of my Tuesday travel.  I had to actually read myself back to sleep which took 30-ish minutes or so.  4:30am made sense because again, cars and traffic hitting the roads likely woke me.

Body And Positioning

Tossing and turning while awake, not so much when entering sleep and likely very little after going to full sleep.  Different position, once again feeling rested and not groggy.  I'm noticing a pattern at least with this - regardless of disrupted sleep I don't have a feeling of wanting to stay in bed like I usually would.

No heat overcoming.  This is with the thermostat set to 65 and the exterior temperature in the high 30's/low 40's.  One difference here is that unlike usual, I didn't wear pajama bottoms.  Interesting.

No pain at all this time.

Mattress Durability

The mattress continues to maintain its shape.  However it's significantly softer than when first unrolled, to the point that when lying in bed, you can now feel your "place" as it were.  It's not like you're stuck in that place though, if you move or roll you can still do so without being impeded.  What's not yet known is whether body heat is the strongest reason for this.

Day 3: The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge

The third night I again experienced a difference.

Sleep Pattern

This time, as I was working a little late, I laid down around 10pm but didn't actually nod off until just after 11pm.  So it again took me a little longer to go to sleep than the previous day; two things were different (and one is likely because it's a weekend).  First, I didn't wake up midstream like I did before.  I actually slept through to around 7am-ish; I officially "woke" around 6:45am and was in a half-awake-half-asleep state for the rest.  Didn't take me as long to go to sleep and I woke up after a full night.   

Again, it's a weekend and specifically a Sunday morning, so even fewer cars on the road.  Tonight will be a good test of this theory, as it will be a Monday morning when I expect the worst of outside noise.  If it turns out I get woken up midstream, it means that it's noise disrupting me, and once the new windows are in (which have sound control properties), it should be a somewhat better experience.  The one window that I have in my home office which matches the forthcoming new ones performs so well that I get tempted to sleep in there every night.

Body And Positioning

 Definitely a lot of tossing and turning again, at least initially.  I assume that at some point I stopped and went to dead sleep because I know I hit REM; it was a rather lengthy dream. I woke up in the same position I'd left off, once again feeling rested and not groggy.

Heat overcame me on a few occasions where I had to pull the comforter.  In fact I fell asleep with just the sheet on because it was so hot.  I was almost tempted to grab a fan.  Mind, this is after the mattress sitting in a room not exceeding 65 degrees all day.

The only pain I experienced was on my right knee.  I sleep with a leg pillow to align my spine when I sleep on my side, and if I sleep on the right side (which is more comfortable than sleeping on the left, for some reason), depending on how I sink in, it will shift my kneecap, which is probably what happened here.  I can't confirm that - since I was asleep - but it's the only reason I can think of.  Means I sunk into the mattress more than the first two days.  Although it's rather intriguing that pain seems to only happen in spots.

Mattress Durability

Once again the mattress went down on a simple finger press, very easily, two inches this time.  Felt like a sponge rather than latex or memory foam, only in the area I slept in.  But it maintained its shape, for the most part.  I did observe what appeared to be some slight bowing downward; when I looked under the platform it didn't look uneven.  It might be my imagination.  I'll keep an eye on it.

Day 2: The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge

The second night felt markedly different from the first, not just from my body but from the mattress.

Sleep Pattern

I again laid down around 8:30pm but this time didn't actually nod off until just after 10pm.  So it took me a little longer to go to sleep than the previous day; but I woke up (my usual wake up before the "official wakeup) around 4:30 am this time.  So while it took longer to go to sleep, I slept longer before being woken up.  I'm almost confident this is because of noise outside the window; because it's a Saturday, there are less cars flying by my window early morning than there would be on a weekday.  This may very well be skewing the experience.   

It will be interesting to see what my sleep pattern is like after getting the windows replaced; unfortunately the windows won't be replaced until likely after this 30-day period; so I may need to a follow up period afterwards.  I don't want to extend the period because there will a come a point that there won't be any significant change in results.

Body And Positioning

But what is not affected by the windows is my body and posture.  Again I woke up feeling rested and not groggy despite not getting a full undisturbed sleep.  However, unlike yesterday, I did have two occasions where the body heat overcame my position and I had to pull the comforter back to release it.  It didn't happen after that; the mattress didn't feel hot, but I certainly did, more so than the previous day.  So it seemed as though the mattress hit a point of not being able to absorb additional heat, but that point or threshold was significantly higher than other mattresses.

It felt like I did more tossing and turning than I did the previous night.  I simply could not get comfortable.  On the two occasions that I laid on my back and just turned my head, I was comfortable, but I hate sleeping in that position.  Goes back to what I said about back sleepers vs. side sleepers in terms of getting used to the mattress.  I think as a side sleeper there is just a longer break-in time, unfortunately.  

Unexpected was the presence of pain on my right hip area.  It wasn't on the bone, just above it.  This was just before rolling onto my back, where the pain seemed to move (meaning the mattress was contributing to it).  It wasn't unbearable pain, but pain regardless.  It felt like it was around my diaphragm area, which likely means the mattress didn't have enough "give" to allow my breathing to work properly (your diaphragm expects to move smoothly upwards to expand and contract your lungs.  Anything pressing against your front, side or back can impact this experience, resulting in pain or at least the perception of pain).  If that's the case it might contribute to snoring, something I don't do.  The abdomen/back pain continues as of the time of this writing, though a lot less subdued.  I have to actually focus on it and move around to sense it.  Hip pain is almost non-existent. 

Mattress Durability

I again noticed that the mattress again did not look like anyone had slept in it.  However, pressing down on the mattress revealed a clear softness in the place where I was sleeping vs. where I wasn't.  It still kept its shape nicely, but most certainly was not firm in that area.  It didn't go down more than an inch or so before again hitting resistance.  This is similar to the no-name memory foam mattress I mentioned after I first bought it; it would initially be firm, but as heat increased, would get soft and eventually not go back to original shape.  I will update tomorrow's results with tonight's "press test".  If it goes back to its original firmness every time then the softness isn't that big of a deal.

I will be able to sleep on the mattress three more days, then I'm off on business travel for four days, then I'll pick up where I left off.  Unfortunately sleeping in a different (likely spring) bed is going to throw off my body's adjustment.  Might be a good thing since it's closer to the reality of bed adjustment anyway.

Day 1: The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge

Short and sweet: After setting up the Casper mattress yesterday, I of course slept on it.  Note, it's just me, there isn't a "couple debate" about the firmness or anything.  The feedback is 100% mine.

Bodies take a while to adjust to a new mattress.  It is this break-in period that makes people frustrated, because you can't account for it in a mattress store.  It's the reason I'm going to share feedback over a number of days, because the experience will most certainly be different day-to-day as my body adjusts.

I noticed two things immediately with the Casper mattress.  First, it kept its shape extremely well.  Second, it never sunk in beyond a certain point even when just directly sitting on it.  As a muscular 180-pound guy, this tells me that the mattress can definitely handle at least an "average" sized guy and lower.

My usual routine is to read and/or play mobile games until I get sleepy.  I'll often start at around 8pm and be sleepy by 10pm-ish, sometimes longer.  I didn't last that long with the Casper.  I was definitely out before 10pm.  My body was also its usual hotness, but despite being under a sheet and a comforter, it wasn't ever uncomfortable underneath me.  The mattress started cool like a gel pad, then warmed just enough to match my body temperature.  It never got softer.

I can only describe the experience as similar laying on a mattress pad at summer camp that has a topper on it (obviously, camp beds do not have toppers, I'm just saying).  It's firm, but not uncomfortably firm.  Although people who don't like firm mattresses may be up in arms at that statement, the mattress just did not cause any pain points with its level of firmness because it did give at the sharp points (hips, elbows, shoulders, etc) but stood fast at the dull points (side, abs, thighs, etc).  You have the distinct feeling of lying on top of something flat, in other words, but whatever that something is, isn't pressing against your body like a table might.

I have a tendency to shift position over night mostly because of the old mattresses and I did so also with the Casper, but it was more out of habit than discomfort.  I think my body was just expecting softness and didn't get it.  That's okay, because unlike with the older mattresses, I did reach REM sleep on at least three occasions, and even though I woke up during the night (around 2:30am) like I usually do, it was not difficult to go back to sleep.  I think I was woken up because of noise outside the window (my house is on an arterial, and the windows only cut noise down about 50%.  That's changing in the near future), not the mattress.

This morning, I wasn't groggy when I got up.  I wasn't as sharp as I might have been as a kid, but that could just be age.  What's important is that I didn't have any lower back pain (which was common with the older mattresses), or neck pain, and I felt truly awake and rested.  Had I not woken up in the middle of the night I might have felt even better, and hopefully that day will come.  The mattress, of course, looks like I haven't even slept in it.  Not a single dent, despite my shifting, sitting and turning over 12 hours.

It's safe to say that if you are a back sleeper this mattress will probably feel ultra comfortable.  Side sleepers may have a longer adjustment period simply because your body has gotten used to "sinking in" where it won't with this mattress.  Stomach sleepers (I still don't understand how this is even possible, but yeah) SHOULD be able to sleep soundly on this mattress with the right pillow.  I think the problem with stomach sleepers is that your head and back get arched too much if you use a pillow that's too thick or too firm; you really should go without a pillow or get a down pillow so that your spine remains in alignment.

Tune in tomorrow for the next sleep experience.

The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge: Order Process

Image screenshot credit: http://www.casper.com

Casper, a young New York company, set out in 2014 to attempt to do for mattress shopping what Steve Jobs tried to do in 2007: reinvent the product.  Think of things from a different angle.  Change the market.  After raising venture capital, they launched a mattress brand by the same name.  As I was already on the hunt for the "perfect sleep experience", I figured I would give them a try.  I'll use Blogger (assuming Google doesn't delete my blog because I have a photo of a mattress, which is normally used in porn - long story), and I will track the experience over time.

TemptingReview of "The Godfather" by Francis Ford Coppolla

It's a sure bet I spelled the man's last name wrong, but you get the idea.

You're probably in a state of pure shock that I am just now getting around to watching "The Godfather".  In truth, there's a good reason.  I really got burned out on movies in general, opting to watch certain ones that I already knew must be good, such as Scarface and Back To The Future (odd mixture, yes).  But I really did take a liking to the acting skills of Al Pacino.  Back in the days of HD-DVD, I ended up buying pretty much every movie he had except Godfather (which hadn't yet been released on the high definition formats), and really took a liking to Scent of a Woman and Carlito's Way.  I was determined to watch this movie eventually; and yes, it took me half a decade to get around to it.  But I got there.

I watched this with Blu-ray as I felt I wanted the best possible picture quality, so I'll start there first.  I never did see what the VHS or DVD or even big screen versions of this movie looked like for comparison, but I felt that this transfer was rather muddy.  Scenes were quite dark and there was noise all throughout the movie.  This wasn't the normal "age grain" that you might intentionally put in a movie; but to put it in perspective, Scarface was also filmed as an aged film was it was substantially cleaner.  I also had issues with the audio; while it was Dolby True HD and my stereo readily picked it up, there was some blending challenges where the spoken audio was too low and the music and effects were too loud.  The very first scene, where Vito is speaking to a visitor, caused me to crank the stereo quite a bit just to understand the guys talking, and then when the wedding music came in, I jumped at how loud it was.  This was disappointing, to be sure.

As for the movie itself, well...I did a lot of reading and researching on the movie before purchasing it, and I found a very distinct split between people who watched it.  Some people loved it to death, others simply couldn't stand it.  The ones that didn't like it all had the same word to describe their experience: boring.  They talked about how it was just "...a bunch of people talking at a wedding" and I found that a bit challenging to believe.  So I watched for myself, and guess what?  Those people REALLY have a short attention span, because while the whole wedding scene does dominate the first part of the movie, the rest of it is nothing but, and there's plenty of action to see.  The problem is that the action is strategically placed to enhance the storyline and plot, rather than just action for the hell of it (aka Bourne Trilogy).  When someone dies, it's for a reason, and the back story tells you about some of this and then uses the actual action to make it impact you.  Here, it does a good job as long as you're patient.  Sometimes, I think these action movies have people desensitized to a great story.

That doesn't mean it was all roses.  Part of the issue I saw was with character development.  With the exception of Vito, Mike, and to a lesser degree Tom, there was very little of it in this movie.  People are introduced with little fanfare, some are killed off with very little emotion (which I suppose is the point).  A character is killed in a car, presumably intentionally so, and presumably because he is at fault for a key scene in the movie involving Vito.  But the character looks different from the Vito scene to when he's killed, and it happens so far later that you almost forget it was him.  It's really the only time you connect the dots.  In a later scene, a man is stuttering his way in front of Vito but you really don't know why or who this guy is, but it's revealed much later that he's basically an assassin who has done jobs for Vito in the past.  He ends up killed, but reasoning behind the scene where he's killed is never explained (it's mentioned, but not confirmed and has no background to try and validate it).  Mike, after the incident with Vito, is shipped off to Sicily to protect him from backlash, and he goes through a series of danger spots that, while appear to be closely true to the book with some variations, just don't make sense because they don't have any pre-staged plot development.  There is a botched attempt on his life resulting in the death of another character; the person who tries to kill him is assigned as his bodyguard, but we don't ever learn why this person tried to kill him (yes, I know, it's revealed in a sequel).  The person who really died is seemingly important to him, and they are just snuffed out with no emotion on Mike's part afterwards (yes, I know, it's revealed in a sequel).

Beyond the character development problems above, there are plot development gaps.  For example, Vito steps down and Mike takes over, but this happens immediately after a peace meeting with all of the Dons where Vito is calling shots.  There's no build up to this event at all, and really no logic since Mike is fresh back from Sicily and has no reason to take up this charge.  Then Mike just starts offing people fresh off the heels of his dad calling for peace, including members of his dad's entourage who are apparently traitors (they don't reveal it until the very end).  He intuits that one of these people, who is actually a family member by marriage, is aligned with Barzini somehow, even though there's simply no way he could have figured it out.  He's just like "you think you can fool a Corleone?" Apparently, he did...since neither Vito nor Sonny ever connected the dots!  

Another example of this plot development disconnect involves a run-in with local police.  Guards (who are part of Corleone's entourage) are supposedly placed strategically to protect Vito from an attempt on his life.  Mike shows up to visit but notices there are not only no guards, but no staff whatsoever except one person who seemingly has no clue about what's going on.  There's no evidence of how much time has elapsed here, but he frantically calls for guards.  Outside, police show up and assault him, with the chief claiming that he's well within authority to arrest all of them, until a Corleone lawyer arrives and states that they're all authorized to own handguns and act as guards for Corleone.  The problem here: We assume the guards were armed.  We also assume that this authorization was indicated by the guards.  So why'd they get arrested?  Why did they not fight?  And why did the police leave (I'm trying not to spoil the scene) if their job was to ensure Vito's lack of safety?  Shouldn't they have left a few cops in place to prevent any further protections?

So...while the first part of the movie is filled with a lot of talking and singing, laughing and getting married, the second half is filled with plot gaps, character development issues, and a very methodical pace.  Even granting that, it came across to me as a very deep, detailed presentation of the back story that spawned a culture of "gangster".  It was a solid movie and well presented for those that are patient and don't require instant gratification.  It's long though - well over the standard.  I believe I saw it was nearly 3 hours long?  Yeah.  So you may need to space these out if you plan to watch all three.  I intend to watch part two next weekend, and I'll review it as well.