8 FEB 09: Weekend Warm-Up

Advisory: You might want to sit a little farther from the computer screen today. Your blogger is fighting at least a cold, and maybe something more. Well, check that -- if I really was "fighting" the cold, I wouldn't have driven out to pick up a fried chicken dinner Saturday night.

I've thought a cold was coming for a few days. Usually I feel it in my throat first - and I blamed it this time on eating too much salt from a bag of popcorn. If the artificial butter refuses to come off the side of the bag and stick to the corn, it simply must not go to waste....

But things began to worsen for me during the day Friday. An occasional cough began to grow more frequent. Almost anything I ate led to sneezes. And the dreaded "post-nasal drip" developed at home. I mean, it was expected earlier in the week - when you're working on racquetball outdoors, with temperatures in the thirties.

A Friday afternoon jog outside was modest, at 1.25 miles non-stop. But it was my first outdoor run in ten days, so I didn't expect much. And I only needed to spit out grunge a few times - on the Riverwalk lawn, to avoid possibly polluting the Chattahoochee River.

After a nice dinner and Bible study, it was time for a favorite activity at this time of year - the Friday Night Nap. I'm old enough to remember when those initials stood for the Financial News Network....

The FNN this week lasted two hours 20 minutes. I presumed that was to make up for some ice-cold nights earlier in the week, when sleeping wasn't that easy. I've refused to turn my heater up from a low level all winter, in an attempt to save natural gas money. I didn't think about spending that money for cold medicine instead.

But when I climbed out of bed (sheet, blanket, bedspread knit by Grandma and a comforter), I shivered - shaking for a solid minute. I felt even colder than the Atlanta Hawks' 1-for-11 shooting start Saturday night, in its loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

I turned off the lights and the computer, and went back to bed for the night. In fact, I wound up resting more than 10-and-a-half hours - then snoozed some more Saturday morning and afternoon. Those of you who don't keep a seventh-day Sabbath really should try it. I worship some, read my Bible some, and recover from the week without any trips to a rehabilitation clinic.

A hot midday shower Saturday was perfect for invigorating my weary body, but I still felt stuffy as I went to church. I made the rounds of greeting people with care - but I kept in mind the woman who returned this week from serious lower back pain, and a woman on crutches one year after hurting her knee. What I had was very small. Trouble is, it was more likely to spread.

I awoke from the Saturday afternoon nap a few minutes after sunset. I was ready for a Saturday evening run outside - but I got up shivering again. A minute with the thermometer showed my temperature at 100.8 degrees F. A jog would have left me sweating, all right - and perhaps left me in a puddle besides.

So I took down one of my two reserve cans of chicken noodle soup - although I haven't opened it yet. I relaxed at home, instead of running. And by late evening, my temperature was back down to the 99-degree range. This apparently proves I don't need to plug in my waterbed, to heat it.

Yes, I know - some of you may be putting together clues from this post, and concluding I brought the cold on myself. But isn't exercise good for you? Haven't you read the blogger complaints about people turning their heat up too much, then demanding government energy assistance? And isn't fried chicken the only food that large numbers of homeless people seem able to eat?

E-MAIL UPDATE: We mentioned Friday that the Macon Telegraph now will be printed in Columbus. A reader brings up another newspaper which was printed at the Ledger-Enquirer for a time, after Hurricane Katrina....

My wife and I go to Biloxi several times a year. The Biloxi paper which is also owned by McClatchy is a pleasure to read. It is well organized, has excellent print and picture quality. It seems to be fair and balanced and not left leaning as the LEDGER-ENQUIRER.

I just do not understand how two papers owned by the same company could be so obviously different. Maybe we could get McClatchy to transfer some of the Biloxi management and staff to Columbus to run the 12th Street rag, or at least let Biloxi management team run the L-E from Biloxi.

I would renew my subscription!

Lon Gammage

Isn't this stunning? Apparently there's a media outlet that actually does NOT order everyone to think the same way. McClatchy's top management must have missed those invitations to join the Trilateral Commission supposedly filled with liberal journalists.

Maybe it's a good thing my health is weak, because the weekend news didn't offer much to joke about. But let's do a little, before I go back to bed....

+ The Citizen of East Alabama reported Russell County Commissioner Ronnie Reed wants a section of Broad Street renamed Barack Obama Parkway. Is this really a good idea - making people think the Streetscape mess is due to a President who hasn't been in office three weeks?

+ Phenix City Police reported someone robbed Gil's Auto Sales as it opened for the day. This is what happens when your car lot doesn't have any rebates for customers to keep.

+ The Ledger-Enquirer reported Columbus is gaining a franchise in the "Great South League," a summer baseball league for college players. The league had teams in Macon, LaGrange and Thomasville last summer - not to mention the "East Alabama Big Train" of Oxford. The Big Train?! How much did Amtrak pay for this -- especially when its route stops in Anniston?

+ Instant Message to New Franklin Road Self-Storage in LaGrange: That's the most thought-provoking sign I've seen in a long time. When French people swear, do they say "Pardon my English"?

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