Cough. Cough. Hack. Hack. Ptooey.

A-hem. Sorry.

Is it bad to cough up green stuff?

I've been a little under the weather since Saturday. I'm not a good sickie, as Catherine can well attest. It started on the way back from our trip to see the redwoods (pics to come, the B&B was awesome!). It began as a little sore throat, just a little scratchy feeling is all. I thought, 'Surely I can will this away with lots of water and juices.' Then we stopped for dinner at this BBQ place outside of San Francisco and I made the mistake of having a beer. The Pacific Northwest, and San Francisco in particular, has some of the best brews in the US, and it's really hard for me to pass up a fresh Anchor Steam on tap. But soon after having a few swallows, the scratchy thing turned into an all-out swollen, dry sand-paper feeling. I should have known that would happen. On the rest of the ride home, swallowing was like trying to jam a wad of tissue down my throat. I went to sleep that night hoping I would wake up and it would all be gone. But it proved to be only the beginning.

The next couple of days I tried to pretend things were getting better. We went into San Francisco on Saturday to see Andy and Brin and I was good and stayed clear of any alcohol or other dehydrating substances. But it did me no good. I still felt bad on Sunday and stayed at home and stewed over my condition while Catherine had more fun with Andy and Brin in town. A side note here: Catherine got to ride on Andy's new Kawasaki motorcycle while I got to drive the BMW. A win-win situation for all involved.

Sunday evening I started feeling a little better. Catherine's parents treated us to an excellent dinner at Evvia where we all ate Greek salad and wonderful lamb ribs. Then we boarded our red-eye flight back to DC at 10:40. I came equipped with Afrin to spray up my nostrils just before take-off and landing. Aside from making me feel like a coke addict with a stuffed up nose, the Afrin, mixed with the Tylenol Sinus I had taken earlier, actually worked quite well. My head felt awesome. Unfortunately, with all the pseudoephedrine in my system, I still felt, well, like a coke addict, only with a runny nose. I was wired the entire trip and didn't sleep a wink. At the same time, I wasn't actually clear-headed enough to do anything else. So I stared at the bright sign at the front of the plane that said 'Airbus' while everybody snored peacefully all around me. Good times.

We landed around 6:30 am, Eastern time. I'm actually not sure what happened after that. All I know about yesterday is that somehow we got home, where I managed to stumble around my apartment and feed myself, drink lots of liquids, and make frequent trips to the bathroom. Other than that, it's all a blur. I couldn't sleep, so I pretended to do lots of other things, but none of it with much efficacy. Kudos to Catherine, who somehow made it to work yesterday and today with no problems, despite showing symptoms of the same head cold I had. I have new-found respect for the costitution of women. I take back all the remarks I have made over the years when she needed nine, ten, twelve hours of sleep to my five or six. Maybe she was just 'fueling up.'

So this afternoon I've starting to feel more like myself again. I can say that, aside from the head cold, San Francisco was awesome! We had a great time hanging out with Catherine's folks and basking in the sunny but cool northern California weather. We were disappointed to find DC still muggy and warm upon our return and we are anxiously awaiting a cooler Fall.

A few other items: Sorry Mat and Emily, that we missed your shower. We're looking forward to the wedding and other festivities to come.

And Sarah has a couple of new blogs. One is for ranting, and the other is more for poetry. Awesome! Okay Jeff . . . no more excuses . . . we need more people representing the 214!

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