Playing Hookey

I've contracted a cold.

Actually, the cold is working on spec, but I imagine I'm going to be stuck with the final product. When the day begins with the feeling you should lie down and pass out, and you're still in bed, you know it's going to be kind of crummy.

Fortunately I didn't have anything I needed to be in work for. I have got things tomorrow, but have hopes I'll be in better shape by then. In the meantime it's a chance to sit up on the sofa and watch parts of the M*A*S*H season two DVD set I hadn't had the chance to get to yet.

Dehydration was certainly part of the problem; a lot of iced tea and isotonic drink later and things feel dramatically better. Perhaps tomorrow will be fine after all.

It does cancel my appointment to donate blood Friday, though. Every time I think ahead and schedule a time to donate, I catch something. Clearly I have to stop scheduling these and instead donate ``on impulse.'' And I'm afraid the people running the blood drives will think I'm chickening out.

Trivia: The city of Troy, New York, was originally known as the village of Vanderheyden, after the family of Derick (or Dirick) Van Der Hyden who were the first significant landholders there. Source: Troy: A Collar City History , Don Rittner.

Currently reading: Shakespeare's Kings: The great plays and the history of England in the Middle Ages, 1337-1485, John Julius Norwich.