Blech!!

I’ve spent the the last two days sick. Seems like some kind of head cold. At this point, whatever I might have accomplished over the weekend could be on hold.

I feel bad, because I have plenty of tasks at the office, but just couldn’t get there.

I have a new book to read and might have to limit my activities to that. Hopefully, I’ll be fine when it’s time to return to work on Tuesday.

No telling how I’ll feel tomorrow, so I have no plan at all.

In other news, I’ve always liked cars. I typically use them to define character for those who populate my books. Long term readers will remember Clovis’s GTO, or Ray’s bagger Harley, among others. It’s always nice to have a source to pull from. This is my cars Pinterest Board https://pin.it/4TpJxxR Maybe it will inspire something you’re writing.

Under the Weather

I felt it coming on all weekend, made an effort to drink more water, and even chugged down some orange juice. It didn’t change much.

I’ve called in to work twice now, and that bugs the crap out of me. I’m not swamped currently, but miss a couple of days and I could be.

Right now, I’m drowning in my own gravy. Any productivity is dead and will stay that way until this cold leaves.

I might try to do some reading. It all depends on this sinus headache.

Speaking of reading, there is an excellent series on sale right now. At 99¢ per title, the Hode’s Hill series is a steal. I’ve read it, and recommend it highly. You can learn more over at Mae Clair’s place by following this link.

Sniff, blech, snot

I have a ritual of speaking to my parents every Sunday. First I get Mom, then I talk to Dad. It took me years to train them not to get on the phone at the same time.

Dad always manages to ask how everyone is feeling. I honestly answered that everyone was great. By noon, I was feverish and trying to cough up my liver.

Fingers crossed, my flex day was Monday. Maybe this would pass and I wouldn’t have to miss any work. Stupid human, microbes care not for your hopes and dreams.

I spent most of the day in bed Monday. Then I “went” to bed about 6:00. I never got up until 7:00 the next day.

I coughed most of the night, and had to get up hourly for various reasons, mostly involving spitting. A few involving shivering fever-like symptoms.

Last night wasn’t much better.

I went to the doctor today, but didn’t have a lot of hope. I know the drill with a virus. They gave me some nasal spray that ought to help. The pharmacist changed it out for a generic version of Flonase.

My MO is to check for the dosage. I flipped the box over, and learned not to take it if I’m addicted to certain substances, pregnant, have a bad attitude, or might ever have a cataract. When I reached the bottom, it invited me to open the box and read the paper inside to find the directions.

By this point, I was getting a little pissed off, but after passing muster with their lawyers, I figured I was home safe.

Turns out this paper has all of their corporate history, names of their future entitled children, and other information I really don’t need to know. Then it invited me to flip it over and look at the cartoons.

In other words, I’m sufficiently trained to read all of their disclaimers and corporate bullshit, but need a cartoon to explain how to blast this shit up my nose.

Turns out some kind of assembly is required. This thing was shrink wrapped so tightly, I couldn’t get it open. It did not come with the standard perforations that I’m familiar with to help remove the shrink wrap. I tried scissors, but this crap was so tight I couldn’t slip a blade under the wrap. Finally, I resorted to a knife.

Seems odd to me they didn’t have a disclaimer about using a knife and driving it through your hand while attempting to open it. Seems like they’re setting themselves up for a lawsuit. Heaven help them if I’d have punctured the bottle and sprayed this crap in my eyes. Probably causes cataracts.

I also got some kind of Pseudoephedrine pills that Old What’s Her Face had to sign her life away for. Honestly, I have more faith in these. Time will tell.

I still nodded off multiple times today. Work tomorrow is still questionable. I may have to get up, then decide.

It took several tries to write this blog post out. It may not even be good, but at least give me a handicap.

I haven’t written a single word of fiction this week either. That’s a double impact for me. My brain hasn’t been in the right place.

Does researching biological weapons for a story mean you’re going to come down with one of them? I can’t imagine Ebola feels any worse.

Honestly, if I surfed past your blog and hit the like button, feel honored. That’s about all I could manage.

Secrets, colds, date night, and new words

I took vacation from Wednesday through Monday. This time, I didn’t tell anyone, including my wife. This is because the last time I tried to get some writing time it got pirated away. I lose the vacation hours either way, and my employer doesn’t qualify whether I was content or not.

While everyone was reading my group post about hosts willing to promote our work, I was working on new fiction.

Old What’s Her Face was off Friday, and we both woke up with colds. No idea what that was about, but we were phlegmy and both had headaches. She got over it before I did, but by mid-afternoon we both felt fine. Fine enough to go to Old Chicago for pizza and craft beer.

I slung quite a few words today, but didn’t keep score. My tale moved from a transition scene into an action scene, and those move quite a bit faster.

I’d have to consider this vacation a success already. Tomorrow I dedicate some of my morning to calling my parents, so I don’t expect much else to happen. My story is at a point where I have to think about it, and hopefully the Muse will show up for me.

I’m also off Monday, but so is my wife. This isn’t necessarily a deal killer for new fiction, but it’s usually much less than when I’m alone.

If I were to wish for anything, it would have been a couple of guests for Lisa Burton Radio. I didn’t get any takers, and don’t quite understand why. I’ll probably do a promo again, but the risk is to get over a hundred at once like the last time. (At one per week, that’s two years of applicants to get through.)

I could have done without the cold, but it’s been a pretty good vacation so far and I have two days left. Maybe I should look for some December wallpaper.

Lost Opportinities

I’ve been quiet for days here now. This is because I haven’t felt well. I don’t have any real sickness conditions, but there has been an occasional wet cough. Mostly, I’m just tired. I’ve never experienced this before. One day I woke up and was ready to go to sleep an hour later.

I’m not writing this to garner sympathy, everyone gets sick eventually. I missed a couple of days at work because of this crud, and that pisses me off. I still don’t feel awesome, but I’m going to work tomorrow come hell or high water.

What irks me about the whole thing is the loss of a weekend. This is when I write new words, work on outlines, and get Lisa Burton Radio all written and scheduled. I won’t have an interview this week, and that bugs me.

I managed to send out one guest post, and made some word searches on The Hat. That’s about it for me. We managed date night last night, but even then, I felt like I was going to fall asleep during it.

There are some who try to take care of me though.

“Here, Dad, you can have my ball.”

Sick Day

My entire household has been under the weather this week.  All of us have used sick time, and it appears to be my turn now. I intended to update this site on Wednesday, but never got that far. It was supposed to be a cute post about partying too much with the old under-the-bed monster. Halloween is a distant memory tonight, so that ship has kind of sailed. By the time my commute ended, the game was already on, and I wasn’t up for blogging.

I managed to update the wallpaper for November. I snapped a photo of Old What’s Her Face’s maple tree in the front yard. The image is so big it kind of blurs along the edges of my site, but it looks artsy. Boise is ablaze with colors right now, and her tree is awesome.

Today is a good day for the fireplace, a cup of good tea, and complaining. Let’s complain.

Advertising

The radio ads on Sirius radio are worse than ever these days. There is one about getting help paying off credit card debt. It annoys me when they say you don’t have to pay it all back. The fact is you borrowed the money, you spent it, and you agreed to the terms of the loan. You get to keep the big-screen television, and they make it sound like a good thing that you don’t have to pay for it. What really chaps me is they say, “Don’t let the credit card companies trick you into thinking you have to pay it all back.” They even emphasize the word taaRICK to make the point. Nobody’s being tricked here. What they don’t tell you is that you are supposed to give them money to help you avoid paying a bill you owe. Bet they don’t take credit.

The other one is a mortgage lender who talks about a “yourgage.” Oh-my-God! That’s soooo cool, I’ll take out a loan against my house because yourgage sounds so much better than a mortgage. Getting a mortgage is a big deal, and it’s complicated. It should not be reduced to a click type app based upon snap decisions, and I don’t think they need some fake buzzword to make it sound better than what their competitors offer. Consumers really should shop around and even work up a budget themselves to see if they’re ready for this massive step.

Just throw the damned ball.

I’m excited for the Houston Astros. Last night they won their first ever World Series. It was a good series too, taking all seven games to decide the victor. It will never match 2001 in my mind, playing in New York the same year as the 911 attacks, oh and my Diamondbacks won. It doesn’t match the series from last year, or the bloody sock series, but it was pretty darned exciting. So where’s the gripe?

The gripe is in the length of the games. These guys start playing at seven or eight years old. They’ve played all their lives, including  the minors and major leagues. They’ve had access to the best coaching. They know this game. A batter steps out of the box to mess with the pitcher’s timing. Do you really think that’s going to do anything to Kershaw or Verlander? What it does is adds time to the game.

The pitcher then comes off the mound to talk to the catcher, but wait,  the entire infield has to come in too. Presumably, they’re talking about what to throw and the expected outcome. When he’s ready, they all go back to their positions, the catcher delivers his signs, the pitcher nods… and the batter steps out of the box again. This brings the pitching coach out of the dugout to talk to the entire infield once more, and the process starts all over again.

The guy delivers his pitch and then they replace the pitcher. Add fifteen minutes for the next guy to get ready, then repeat the whole process.

Just throw the friggin ball! This isn’t your first time on the mound. This isn’t the first situation you’ve ever seen. All of the position players have trained their entire lives for this.

When I was young, games used to last about two and a half hours. These games have been lasting six hours or more. I’m in the mountain time zone and one of them didn’t get over until midnight. Heaven forbid you’re an East Coast fan. “Sorry, son, you can’t watch the World Series, because your school bus will probably leave before the game ends.”

The regular season isn’t like this, but the playoffs always are. I understand there’s more on the line, but if you aren’t ready for it, maybe you shouldn’t be playing at this level. It isn’t going to get better until MLB does something about it. When it comes to baseball, I hate changes, but it’s time to act.

I probably have more, but my kettle is boiling and I need to get back to blowing my nose and figuring out what moved into my throat. 

That’s a wrap.

Old What's her Face* just turned on Grease Live, and that puts the punctuation to my efforts. Things have been pretty quiet around here, so I'm content.

I managed to work my way through all the critique submissions. This included a Cableone failure that prevented me from printing for a couple of hours. I stockpiled documents on Pages and printed them when the Internet reappeared.

I always get nervous submitting new stuff to the group. This is the first appearance of Yak Guy anywhere. I don't know what's more frightening, they like it and have nothing to say, or they hate it and make suggestions. It never winds up being bad, and the fear ahead of time is the worst part.

I spent the afternoon with a beta reading project. I promised results and intend to deliver ahead of the deadline.

I honestly never even looked at any of my own projects today. I should probably feel bad, but creativity wasn't in the cards. As a self publisher, the only deadlines I have are the ones I set. There aren't any risks of fading away, because that isn't in my nature. I'll be beating myself up to produce chapters in no time.

I'm going to the office tomorrow. The way I look at it, I'll get more done at half speed than I will staying at home on zero speed. That work does pile up and won't be denied.

That was about it. I toured through social media, and read some blogs during breaks. I've had better working weekends but some things progressed slightly.

I generally post on Mondays, but unless some brilliance strikes me I may give it a miss. You guys can only read about me feeling under the weather so many times before I get branded as a whiner.

* Entertaining Stories, protecting my wife's online identity since 2013.