"I like to spend the in-between hours in silence. After I drop the kids off at school and before I head out for the day, I will return home to a still house. I will open the blinds, straighten up, merge lists, coordinate schedules, compose e-mails, all within the absence of sound. I do not turn on the TV. I do not turn on the radio. Occasionally I will toy with the idea of putting on a CD, but the feeling passes; during these stretches, nothing ever seems more appealing than the quiet. There's nature quiet — vast silence plus crickets plus weird bird noises plus stream gurgling off to the left somewhere. And there's house quiet — vast silence plus clanking of heating system plus dishwasher switching cycles plus hum of refrigerator. The rest of the day is about chatter, cars, music, noise. But for now, it is power button off."