office – McBlog

Being sick sucks :(

For the past three days or so I’ve been fighting off a cold or flu – congested chest, occasional runny nose, aches off & on, temperature fluctuations and a muzzy head. So far it’s not as bad as the last nasty one I had earlier this year but, like that one, I’m pretty sure I got it from my office. Seems the place I work has a high incidence of illness and when one person comes in with something, it’s not long until all of us have had a go with it. Perhaps it’s one of the joys of an “open plan” office (along with noises, interruptions and distractions).

Worst bit about all this is that I’m in no state to do my usual morning exercise routines. As a result my burn rate is lower so I’m trying to cut back on the amount of food I’m having. Hopefully I don’t bloat up before I can get back onto the bike.

Meanwhile, it’s rest, warmth and lots of water. Looks like it’s going to be a quiet weekend.

Of Health and Happiness

Well, it’s been a heck of a week. I had a bit of a cold at the start and then wound up with a “demonic eye” – blood red, puffy and sore. No itch or gunky stuff but “wake you up from a good sleep” sore. I went to the doc and he confirmed it was a very nasty case of conjunctivitis and wrote out a script for drops. It looked great in the mirror – almost glowing red – shame it was so sore.

It then took about 3 days before I was comfortable looking at computer screens. That was the worst part of it.

The scary part of all this was that when I arrived at the clinic, the receptionist said “Hi Grant, go straight on through to the waiting area” – yikes – they know me by sight. Have I been there so often? Turns out that yes, in the past 8 months I’ve gone to the doctor more than I’ve been in the past few years. While some trips have been to take Nykolai, I have been sick way more this year than any other so far.

Wonder if there’s something about the building I’m working in at the moment…

They’re getting nastier…

I’ve been wiped out for the past few days with a very nasty virus, the dreaded Man Flu. As ordered by the doctor (and common sense), recovery consists of lots of rest, plenty of fluids (not beer, though :( ) and no going back to work until I’m up to it. Given it has taken two days before I could even enjoy looking at a computer, let alone think my way through issues more complex than a Phantom comic, I think I’ll follow my doctor’s advice and take tomorrow off as well.

This is the third time this year I’ve had something like flu/cold/gripe/enfirmo/whatever. Usually I hardly ever get them then, if I do, I’m feeling run down for a day, have a fever that night and am fine after that. Back at the start of the year I had a bad run and now this – in between I’ve had a “normal” flu session that was gone in a day.

Is this because humanity is breeding stronger viruses thanks to dosing people up all the time with antibiotics instead of allowing our immune systems to sort themselves out? Is it ‘cos I’ve gone over the “magic line” of 40 years now? Or is it because it’s going around my office and lots of people are out sick at the moment?

*sigh*

Whatever the cause, my apologies to those who are waiting for me to produce something, be it emails, commentary or work products. I should be able to think clearly soon and will start getting stuck into the backlog…