Things I Learned During My Cold

I just had a short, but unexpected and nasty cold. For some reason, even though I don't have a job and school is done so I don't have anything to do anyway, this gave me the opportunity to try some new things.

-- I like reading. I know I like reading, so why don't I do it more? I finished Lies my Teacher Told Me, which has a rather misleading title, because the focus is on history textbooks, not the teachers themselves. I also started A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, who is one of the funniest writers around right now. A Short History is a history of science type of book that focuses as much on the scientists themselves as the things they discovered. He has an easy writing style that lends itself to explaining even the most convoluted of ideas - like string theory in physics - to those of us who never made it through a chemistry of physics class. And from the stuff he describes that I already do understand, it seems pretty accurate too. Some things I didn't know that I've taken from the book so far: The same guy who thought it'd be a good idea to add lead to gasoline also invented CFCs, those things we banned after we found out they ate a hole in the ozone layer (Bryson says the guy had "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny"); even in 19-friggin'-88 (I was alive then!) more than half of American paleontologists didn't believe the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid strike; humans today have 685 times more lead in our bodies than people a century ago.

-- The sleep aid in nighttime pain relievers, the cough suppressant in overnight cold syrups and the antihistamine in others is all the same drug. Benadryl. I kind of felt sorry for Benadryl, because once the world invented an antihistamine that didn't make you unconscious, Benadryl faded out of use fast. It seems to have taken its greatest flaw, it's hypnotic effect, and made it its greatest asset. Well done to it, I guess. I remember fighting the need to take antihistamines as a kid, even if I could barely breathe or see due to hayfever, because even a half of the children's dose would knock me out in the middle of a sunny, summer day. I normally hate taking medication and avoid it until absolutely necessary, but by night three I really needed some sleep and sure enough I was out cold until the early morning when I woke up soaked in sweat, but feeling much much better. Amazing what a little rest will do ya.

-- A potato has 45% of your daily vitamin C. I had no idea! So during the cold I ate at least one potato a day, covered in raw garlic (also a lot of vitamin C and sure cleared my sinuses!) and washed down with some echinacea tea. God I'm a hippie sometimes.

-- I need more fishing line. We finally had a sunny day, the one where I woke up feeling cured, so after I watched the Americans beat Australia in a World Cup warm-up match, I drove up to Mt. Hood to fish at Timothy Lake. Surprisingly, considering how crowded it was not far away, there weren't a ton of people. Still, I took my small pole, since the big salmon rod seemed a little excessive for a stocked lake, and went for a bit of a hike to a secluded spot a ways from where I'd parked. It wasn't until after I'd settled down, had a bite to eat, baited my hook and cast that I realized that I only had about 30 feet of line on the reel. It reached the end mid-cast and as it jerked to an abrupt halt I watched the bait fly off into the lake. I wasn't about to hike all the way back just to exchange rods, so I made do for an hour before I reluctantly acquiesced to the reality that I just wasn't going to catch anything in twelve inches of water. On the way back no less than two fish did some spectacular flying triple jumps to bid my adieu and every child with I walked past had a fresh catch on his/her hook. Yeah, rub it in.