Sickness.

Today is my second sick day of the week, and third sick day of my career. Not only did I start off the week with a sick day, I then went to work and gave my sickness to at least one other employee. Now she is home sick, too, and we are both continuing to do work because it is simply not possible for the world to keep spinning without us continually sending e-mails and hosting conference calls. COMMUNICATION is basically all I do at work, with a dash of research and computer knowledge thrown in.

Today I work up at 6:30 a.m. for a conference call and then went back to bed at 7:15. I woke up at 11:30, just in time to see Chicago lose the Olympic bid. Then back to work, roll of toilet paper on one side, flowers from my sister Liz on the other, listening to Tim practice in the other room. It feels like graduate school, where Fridays were spent at home catching up with work, sitting at the back table while Tim practiced down the hall.

Our heat also just got turned in, so it feels like winter in here. It's my friend Kaye's last day at her job, and she'll be starting her new job on Monday. Appropriately, the Oriental Institute has called on the gods of Overcast and Blustery to show their discontent with her departure. We're going to go and see a play at her new place of employment tomorrow night, and then I might be going to a small production on Sunday night as well.

Friends and family---I hope you can stay away from me, lest I give you my plague of annoying nose blowing and coughing.