CHICAGO - Dirt just returned to our hotel room. He bears a Sharper Image bag, which contains a white-noise machine and noise-reduction earplugs. The alternative was my being strangled in my sleep, so I'm an enthusiastic proponent of the plan. He ticked off its settings: rainfall, ocean, meadow, and so forth.
"The only question remaining is whether Yosemite Falls can drown out John," he mused.