It's a cold, rainy, sleepy day, a good time to take some notes regarding instructional videos:

• Our office prefers the Sesame Street gang for motivational training. The material is, simply put, classic. Aside from my own longtime affinity for the Muppets, it is one of those rare shows that doesn't sear through my brain and obliterate all coherent thought. If you do happen to pay attention, they throw in amusing fare for the over-5 set, and also, in general--so important--they don't talk down to any age group. If and when characters directly address the viewing audience, it is more in a jokey way, not a wide-eyed questioning way with an exorbitantly long pause, in which the child is supposedly figuring out the answer. Sesame Street is also timely and clever, always developing new parodies of our pop culture. And, the adults on the show are actually adults, with adult dress, adult speech, and adult lives. They each have a real job and otherwise do not act in a manner that causes the viewing audience to feel embarassed for them.
  
• Other acceptable viewing includes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora the Explorer, Blue's Clues, and Little Einsteins, but for all their bright colors and (very relatively) unannoying scripts, the exclamatory cadence of speech on these shows can easily make one's toenails curl. It's like they are SHOUTING every OTHER word!!! Additionally, Blue's Clues presents the aforementioned problem of feeling embarassed for adult characters, and Dora's eyes are discouragingly vapid.
  
• PBS is maybe the best source of instructional videos overall, showing not only Sesame Street, but also The Berenstain Bears, who are hopelessly nerdy and Good, and yet absolutely engaging. I can't help it, I have to see how the story ends. Curious George, Mr. Rogers, and Caillou (pronounced Ki-you) are also great, but at present, K.Lo could not be bothered. Which, of course, is totally fine.
  
• On the other hand, Barney the Purple Dinosaur inspires feelings of violence from deep within. I have tried to embrace him for K.Lo's sake, because she loves that marching-band-ish intro music and dances around like it is the greatest thing ever. My efforts at dinosaur tolerance lasted approximately 30 seconds, until Barney spoke. The dopey timbre of his voice made me want to snuff the life out of him in too many creative ways.
  
• I can't abide the singing shows. I can't tune them out, aurally or visually, as most of them are like a superbad acid trip. The adults don't act like adults, nor do they really act like children; they act like adults who are trying way too hard to ingratiate themselves with children. It's ugly, the whole scene: the songs, the outfits, the antics, the sheer noise. K.Lo loves music, loves to dance, but she can do these things just as well to say, The Beatles, or whatever else we feel like listening to around the office.