Getting Sick

When I was a kid, getting sick meant staying home from school, watching "The Price is Right" on TV and, occasionally on those rarest of the rare days, getting to spend a couple hours at home alone and unsupervised. Sure, things like Pepto-Bismol, throwing up and other things were involved, but the benefits of being sick certainly outweighed the disadvantages.

Getting sick today means taking garlic and oregano pills (we're still on that herbal remedy thing) and shoehorning myself out the door at 4:45 am so I don't miss the bus to work. My logic, and my wife's logic, state that if I'm going to be ill -- not deathly ill, mind you, but just sorta so-so sick -- I may as well be sick at work, where I get paid for it. The advantages of this approach still outweigh the disadvantages: I get to smell like your more expensive pizza all day long, I get paid and I actually get more peace and quiet than I would at home, since there are a lot fewer children at work who figure they need to entertain Daddy or take advantage that he's home and be entertained by him.

I do miss "The Price is Right," however. Bummer.

I just have to say this: "Stand up?" Really? Stand up? And these folks are reacting as if they're going to be called on to deliver an impropmptu speech on the political impact of Nixon's "Checkers" speech, not appear on a game show. But maybe their reactions are a good thing. These days, people freak out as if they're being attacked by pterodactyls. Like this: