On travel and Sickness
Well I find myself apologizing again for my long absence. I have been traveling hard the last couple weeks and doing fearsome battle with a worthy adversary, the head cold. Normally I fight off sickness handily in a day or so. Unfortunately I have been forced to fight my battle unconventionally, which is to say, give all early advantage to the cold . Here are my guidelines for loosing the war against the common cold.
1. change timezones at least 10 times in a month
2. spend at least 1 week in a vegas surrounded by dry air and alcohol (1 week in vegas could hurt anyone)
3. eat out at restaurants every day, 3 times a day, for 3 weeks. (as handy as it is it ain't healthy)
4. fly at least 10 times for durations of longer then 5 hours
2. spend at least 1 week in a vegas surrounded by dry air and alcohol (1 week in vegas could hurt anyone)
3. eat out at restaurants every day, 3 times a day, for 3 weeks. (as handy as it is it ain't healthy)
4. fly at least 10 times for durations of longer then 5 hours
That last one deserves worthy notice as the nasty trench warfare or sickness. If you have never flown with a head cold let me fill you in on the exciting details. While sitting on the runway everything seems fine and the cold is off sleeping in its own trench. You figure you can hold out till you get home without a problem. You have enough supplies (lozenges and contact C) to last until you can call in reinforcements (the caring and sympathetic wife). As the plane climbs into the air you get the first sense that this may be a tougher battle then expected. With altitude the pressure begins to drop in the airplane and mucus begins making regular sorties out of its trench. Did you remember to bring 6 hours worth of Kleenex?
So you spend the next 5 hours trying to stem the tide with any paper product you can find. In the end you are surrounded by wads of tissue, concerned (for your wellbeing) stewardesses and concerned (for there own wellbeing) passengers. Now it gets ugly, the plane begins to descend. For those of you who have fought this battle you know what comes next and are probably nodding knowingly. The pressure begins to rise. As a small mercy the mucus largely retreats back into the trenches. What you don't realize is the cold is now tunneling under your defenses. First your hearing starts to go and then your ears start to hurt, a lot. All that stuff you normally do to pop your ears no longer works so you spend the hour of descent worrying your ear drums are going to explode (it can happen) and wincing with every new drop in elevation.
Finally you land and stumble to your car deaf and in pain. As you drive home there is a sudden pop and you can finally hear. You smugly think you have won your way through. Then in a sudden surprise charge the mucus overruns you (its like a faucet). You shove two Kleenex (the proverbial raising of the white flags)in your nostrils and give up.
So that was my last couple weeks, how were yours ;-)
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