I'm not dead yet! Part II

"The rich stay healthy,
The sick stay poor."

-- God Part II, U2



I went back to work today after three days of nearly constant sleeping.

The stomach flu attacks. I haven't had the stomach flu since... well, since I lived in Pittsburgh 14-plus years ago. Welcome home.

I can't complain. The worst lasted only a day; my brother had it for most of last week.

PLEASE UPGRADE ME TO A WHEELCHAIR NOW.

In all seriousness, I felt great today. I vow to not complain about the BP medicine's side effects again, because being in bed for almost three days puts a lot into perspective. I couldn't stay awake long enough to make sense of any soaps. Sheesh.



Pittsburgh was in a semi-lockdown today. There were reports of a sniper on a rooftop downtown, and suddenly the newsroom was in motion. Outside, bridges and tunnels were shut down, blocks were blocked off, cops and helicopters swarmed the triangle. People fled from buildings, and those who could stayed put. Us peripheral newsroom people kept on the periphery, but it was impossible to ignore the excitement generating.

For two hours this buzz sustained us, only to find out it was some employee who had brought a pellet gun to work to chase pigeons off the roof at his steam plant. As one of my favorite editors in South Florida put it, "That went from 1A to a brief pretty fast."

Indeed.



At the news meeting this afternoon, we all got a chuckle. The bat phone rang, and some of the dozen in the room managed to not only identify the noise (no one ever calls on it), but to answer it.

"Hi, this is Lorraine from the [other paper] calling. We'd like to offer you a free subscription from Monday through Saturday..."

They let her go on and gave her some shit, but ultimately they let her off easy. After hanging up, we all agreed that probably no one in the building knew what the hell the bat phone's number was. What luck, Lorraine. (Call me at home.)



I think I have a few updates to attend to:
- The MRI results are in: no sign of an aneurysm, just screwed up sinuses. More tests to come.
- The dog tests came back: Sarah has been diagnosed as fat.
- The Chia pet is alive and well again. Yay!
- Our Florida trip is postponed until May. It appears it would cost me a grand to come down during Easter/Spring Break. Ain't happening.
- Barring any new medical catastrophes, house-hunting will resume this weekend. (Joe keeps joking that he's made reservations for us -- at a new hospital.)
- It's still cold as hell. There were flurries today. Happy spring.