Friday, March 13, 2009

The Walking Dead

Okay, so perhaps I'm not actually dead. I have the walking pneumonia, which is kind of like the walking dead, right? The walking pneumonia is that wonderful balance between too ill to go to work, and to well to call in sick. I look, move, feel, and act fine. However, when I cough I sound like a backfiring 1974 Ford Pinto. I'll just neglect to mention the amount of phlegm that comes up when I sneeze. Definitely don't want to mention that.

The insomnia hasn't gone away, though. Its more annoying than anything else. Can't shut my mind down, and the tops of my legs are still cold even when the rest of my body is dying to throw the covers off.

There's no race this weekend, so I'll enjoy a nice day at church. The week after that is Bristol. /drool Brrrriiiiissssttoooollll.

I think this would be a great time to throw in a plug for my favorite Nationwide series driver, Brendan Gaughan. I saw him drive in the truck series for many years, and have always liked the guy. A lot of class, smart, and definitely funny. He's quietly sitting 4th in the Nationwide points. It'd be awesome to see him challenge for the title this year. Next time I'm in Vegas (probably this summer), I'm going to stop by the South Point casino (his sponsor).

Dad doesn't want to go to the Sonoma race this year. Boooooo. He says its money issues again. My parents are such weenies when it comes to traveling. The race isn't til June for heaven sake. There's plenty of time to save up.

And finally, Glenn Beck's "We Surround Them" special tonight was awesome. Here's some youtube links.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Oh no, not again.

(WARNING: The following post may contain explicit content.)

I guess the pendulum keeps swinging. Just when I thought it was safe to look the other way it smacks the snot out of me. Quite literally, I'm afraid.

Its the flu this time. My world is now filled with body aches, coughing, sinus congestion, sweating, waves of intense nausea, Puffs® tissues piled up around the rubbish bin, plates of half-eaten food, coughing, hacking, dementia, small cups of orange medicine, frequent trips to the toilet, and coughing. Wait, I think I mentioned that before.

I learned something interesting though. Throwing up orange juice is actually not that bad of an experience. After I got past the discomfort of retching, I realized orange juice and stomach acid together make a slightly sweet concoction. Not that I would consider drinking it, of course. Its just a stark contrast to my past experience with vomiting, which has been the result of excessive stomach acid. Needless to say, the burning sensation reached every orifice from my neck up. This time it was much more pleasant. Now that I think back to the experience, I think it was because of the noticeable lack of stomach acid. I don't think there was any down there, really. There was no smell either. And when it was over the awesome euphoria of having retched my guts out. I still don't know why it feels so good. All I knew was my head was laying on my shoulder on the toilet lid, and it felt great.

So, feeling like I was on top of the world, I got up and drank some milk and one bite of a corn dog. Thirty seconds later, the nausea had returned and there I was hovering over the toilet lid again like some cat waiting for fish to appear. It was some time before I was finally able to force myself to vomit.

It was only after the second dry heave I realized why I was so nauseous. Nothing in the stomach. I forced down some water, and it seemed to subside a little. I gagged down some more water, and the nausea slowly went away.

Since then I've been drinking plenty of water and the nausea has not returned. Thank heavens. Unfortunately, its been replaced with the coughs. The body aches have gone away too, so now it feels like I have a standard cold. It rates at about a 9.1 on my annoying-o-meter.

I did go to work today, though. I feel barely well enough to do that. When I got home from work I went right to bed, but I just somehow can't fall asleep. Add insomnia to the list. Change it to 9.3 on my annoying-o-meter. And I could have been in Pocatello playing games with Tyson and Brigham. What a damn waste of my time.

WHAT ABOUT NASCAR, MR. I'VEGOTTHEFLU?
Oh, right. Obligatory NASCAR paragraph. Lets see, Vegas was freaking wild and Kyle Busch won (/yawn). Still, it was a fun race to watch, since there were several racing grooves. Tire wear wasn't an issue, but it sure will be this Sunday in Atlanta. That place is now as abrasive as Darlington or Indianapolis. Speaking of Indy, Goodyear has had a good 8 months or so to engineer a hard tire for that race. Last year it was a joke of a race (McMurray still got 6th wohoo!). If its that way again this year, heads will roll.

Oh right, Atlanta. I'll randomly pick Edwards to win, and as a dark horse, how about David Reutiman? That dude is on a roll. He's 5th in the points.