Thursday, February 9, 2017

Urg...

Human rhinovirus (Source)
So the other day, last night to be precise, or perhaps I should state (for readers in the future), on Wednesday evening, I felt a bit of a stuffiness in the sinus cavities dwelling behind my air intake. (Nose, think nose.) There was also a bit of a scratchiness at the back of my throat, as if I had dined on sandpaper at lunch.

"Hhmm, that's odd, I've already had a cold this winter."

Followed, of course, by the realization that one can have more than one cold in a season, year, decade, or epoch. It ain't a "one and done" situation. In the case of the common cold, unlike The Highlander, there can indeed be, more than one.



Nope. Not at all.

Now that opening thingee is what the cause of the common cold looks like under a microscope. What it feels like rampaging through one's sinuses, chest, head, neck, and generally throughout one's body is this -

(Source)
So yeah, after having the "cold of the century" back in December (I think) I now seem to have contracted yet another cold. Pleased, I am not.

Some winters I skate by with scarcely a sniffle, only to be hit in the first wonderful, warm days of spring with a massive outbreak of sinus pain, sneezing, coughing, and feeling horribly miserable. Some years I don't get anything. I go through the winter without a care, spring, summer, fall, all virus free.

2016, one cold. That miserable beast I suffered through in December...

"Why don't you just go home? You're going to infect everyone!"

"Will I still get paid if I go home?"

"No, of course not."

"Well, then, I guess we're all shit out of luck." (Again, pardon my French. Yes, I know that's not French. Merde is the French word for that, but "merde out of luck" just sounds wrong.)

Anyhoo, I feel like a deluxe, family size bag of crap. There is a big storm predicted for these environs on the morrow. Oh wait, that would be today, right? Alright, let me rephrase that, a big snow storm, event if you will, is predicted for Thursday, the 9th of February. Predictions vary from a minimum of three inches (remember, we don't do metric here) to a maximum of ten inches. Sources at my place of employment were running about the premises bellowing of the possibility of a foot of snow.

Southern New Englanders are a rather excitable lot. One chap proclaimed, "How about that, in the 50s today, snow tomorrow!" And he, to my certain knowledge, grew up in these parts and the weather in the Northeast can change at the drop of a hat. So he really should know better than to marvel at such commonplace occurrences.

So I just might work from home. Or not. Provided my boss out in Sandy Eggo flashes the "yup, it's okay" to my bosses here at the home office. As of Wednesday, 1700 local, he was unreachable.

Next time, he doesn't get out of town without leaving me his cell phone number. Sigh, well he was a shoe, er, Professional Surface Warfare Officer during his time in the Naval Service. So, yeah, he slipped his mooring, out of touch. I have hopes he will check in at the opening bell on Thursday and I can work from the friendly confines of Chez Sarge. I know the cats like to help when I do that.

Watch. It won't snow at all.

Film at eleven.




32 comments:

  1. Hope you feel better soon. Something's goin round down here also. The primary school had about a 60% absent rate yesterday. We office across the street, so lots of contact and one of my office mate's son goes there and was out. So it's MOPP 3 for me for the near future.

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    1. I had been successfully dodging this latest bug then The Missus Herself caught it. I'm just collateral damage I suppose.

      As of 0900, no snow, rain.

      Delete
  2. I think it's a norovirus down here in Texas. I got hammered last week. Snot locker was draining water. Just water. My eyes were leaking as well. Just one side at a time, tho. I had to plug my nose with rolls of kleenex to keep the sneezing down so I could sleep. Huge headache from the pressure. Every 20 minutes or so, I had to replace the rolls as they were SOAKED. Man, I don't wish that on anyone. 48 hours of misery, now I'm just harking up leftovers... Lots of drainage last week I guess. Dad's old "whisky, honey and lemon" cut thru the sore throat.

    I quit using the Ebola pens at restaraunts and stores. That cut down my colds and flu to near zero. Add in some hand sanitizer and keeping my fingers outta my nose and sickouts dropped to record levels.

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    1. I'm normally pretty healthy and don't fall to the old viral stuff as much as some.

      But when I do get it, it's always a doozy.

      I too need to block one nostril in order to stay somewhat clear in the other. Then when I need to rollover, yup, gotta switch it up.

      No fun at all.

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  3. Replies
    1. Not a phrase the French use. Not all things translate.

      Delete
  4. Cranky! (In the voice of Hedly Lamarr remarking on stampeding cattle through the Vatican).

    As a former medical professional (well, a guy who hung out in sick bay a lot), hand sanitizer, mission oriented protective posture, and isolating are a bad idea. The immune system needs exercise, just like the rest of the body. The "workout" sucks, but it's good for you. Plus you get to stay home and drink whiskey.

    The rooskies know how to turn a phrase: Трахни свою мать, я чувствую себя как дерьмо!

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    1. There are a couple of phrases one hears on Russian dash cam videos. That's close to one of them.

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    2. There you two go Cussin' in Russian again! The DNC is gonna come after you shortly to investigate how you influenced the election or something.

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    3. Well, Shaun did have a lot of time on his hands back in November. What with no cows to watch over.

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    4. Yup, it's amazing what you can do with time on your hands and an internet connection. :) Hillary is still wondering why she has 50,000 annual memberships to the NRA.

      Forgot to mention that Highlander is one of my favorite 80's flicks. What's better than Sean Connery as a proto-Musketeer/Samurai? I thought that Roxanne Hart was pretty hot too, but then again I first saw the movie toward the end of a long deployment. Lulu Roman was startin' to look good on the Hee-Haw episodes.

      Delete
    5. Concur as to your assessment of the lovely Roxanne Hart.

      She's still a "bit of alright." I wouldn't need any Ana's Thesis to spend quality (ahem) platonic time with her. (Juvat, you may fire when ready.)

      Delete
  5. So far so good this winter. Although I never got my flu shot this year. I expect I'll rue that day. Hope it passes as quick as that storm probably will.

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    1. Before I went in the Air Force, I never got a flu shot. While in the Air Force, that was required. Missed it one year, got the flu. My company provides flu shots, missed it one year. And yes, I got the flu.

      I'm seeing a correlation there.

      It started snowing around 1100, coming down right hard it is. Lots of wind, also "thunderbolt and lightning" present. Very, very frightening.

      Accuhunch expects snow all the way through Monday, with the exception of Friday.

      National Weather Service says 11" expected, the spread is 8 to 18. We shall see.

      Delete
    2. So, I'm guessing you got permission to be a Cat Herder today?

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    3. I am indeed herding cats today.

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    4. Here, we have WMTV-15, the NBC affiliate, WISC-3 of CBS, and ABC's WKOW 27, and, of course, the Weather Channel. But I get far more accurate forecasts from my Midland weather band radio. Some things the Government does do very, very well, and the Weather Service is one of them.

      Delete
    5. I get better reports from the National Weather Service than anyone has any right to expect.

      Their snow predictions on Thursday were spot on.

      Delete
  6. Merde needs no enhancement.
    It's a stand alone.

    I wash my hands often for the protection of others and drink plenty of water to flush the pipes

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    1. Yup, plenty of dihydrous monoxide.

      And yes, merde stands alone. Le mot de Cambronne requires no enhancement.

      Delete
  7. Hope you feel better soonest. Colds - suck. They linger too, nasty bastards. And as of 13:50 hours EST we have about 14 inches of snow and it's still falling like mad.

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  8. Here in the condo we share everything like we were at school. A cold or something started right after the New Year and is still making its way down to the first floor. Since Matthew blew off one half of the roof here there have been so many different "worker guys" in the building no one can tell who brought it by initially. One day, totally in bed, no TV and plenty of water usually fixes me up for the good.

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    1. Takes me a day or two to recover enough so that I don't want to die. But back to FMC takes a week.

      Delete
  9. I hope you feel better soon and recover in a timely fashion. No snow ( yet ) in this part of the world, but we are enjoying rain and brisk breezes. My best thoughts are being sent your way.

    Paul L. Quandt

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    1. Why thank you kind Sir. I feel better already!

      Delete
  10. Sunshine and the mercury is flirting with 70 here today. Got a couple of miles of fence fixed. These nice days in February are treasures, but it is only February, and the rodent promised more winter. We're forecast for cold and snow beginning Sunday, but it should still be balmy and warm tomorrow. This warmth is heading your way, whether it gets there or not is up to the lady who hates margerine.

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    1. It was in the 50s on Wednesday, low 40s Thursday morning. Then the bottom fell out.

      21 now, headed to 11 by morning. Nothing a Vermonter can't handle.

      (Again your wicked curve ball has baffled me, "the lady who hates margarine"? As Manuel might have queried, "¿Qué?")

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    2. https://youtu.be/LLrTPrp-fW8

      Time on my hands, internet connection...

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    3. Hahaha!

      You've been riding in the Wayback Machine again, haven't you?

      Delete
  11. Just checking, y'all still ok there?

    Paul

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    1. We received maybe a foot (or so) of snow, lots of wind. A classic coastal blizzard.

      Roads are clear today, sun is shining, wind is howling, temps in the 20s.

      All in all, not too bad. (We've seen far worse in these parts.)

      Delete

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