jimsjournal
| A bit under the weather -- 01/17/02 |
"A bit under the weather" -- interesting phrase... It was what came to mind to describe how I've been feeling this week -- aches and pains, a sore throat, coughing and sneezing -- in other words, some form of the common cold. Then I got to thinking about the phrase itself -- yeah, I do that sometimes, stop and think about the phrases and expressions we use, English is such a fascinating language. As best as I can determine the phrase probably came from the days of sailing ships, when someone who was ill (either from disease or seasickness?) might take shelter below, beneath the weather deck, where the tossing of the ship would not be as violent. Of course nobody knows for sure if that is the origin of the phrase, but that seems to be the most common explanation that I've been able to find.
I'm really quite annoyed at having this cold -- besides the obvious, that my body aches and my throat hurts, etc. -- it is keeping me from working out. I had started the year quite nicely, going for a run outside or combining a short run on the treadmill with some light weight lifting, but then I taught that class last week and it absorbed all of my time and energy. On Saturday I got back into running but then we had a couple inches of snow on Sunday, so I got in some exercise with a snow shovel but the bike path I usually run on would have been a bit slushy and I ended up not going out for a run. I think perhaps I was already feeling the cold coming on and it drained me of energy. I went into the office on Monday morning, went to the dentist for a teeth-cleaning -- the hygienist made me very happy when she told me I was doing a great job with my teeth (isn't it silly how a comment like that can pump us up? And, of course, my teeth may be clean but I have all kinds of dental problems) -- and I had hoped to get in an afternoon run but I got busy with work at home, learning about a new development toolbench that is replacing VisualAge for Java, and the afternoon disappeared... and I thought I would workout in the evening but then I felt so tired... and when I woke up Tuesday morning I had a sore throat. So I've spent this week sick -- going in to work for meetings but otherwise mostly working from home -- except today I just declared it to be a sick day and went back to bed after Nancy and Sean left. And right now I don't know if I'm going to go to work on Friday or not.
Jennifer got home last night. She had gone up to Vermont early Monday morning to spend a couple of days snow boarding. She says she had a wonderful time but she hurts all over -- but that she finally got the hang of it and was even boarding down some of the advanced slopes on Wednesday afternoon.
Sean now has his learner's permit -- in Rhode Island you have to complete a classroom safe driving course before you can take the written test. He did that during the fall and so he has be eligible for this for the past couple of months. Kids are strange -- he had been so gung-ho about this when he was fourteen and fifteen and then he turned sixteen and had to wait until he could get into the class and then once he had the magic piece of paper that said he was now eligible to get a learner's permit, it didn't seem to excite him. Now he's excited again and he really really really had to get it... Yes, beware.... Well, actually, he is not a bad driver at all. Jennifer had many hours of practice driving my car around empty beach parking lots in the off-season when she was fourteen and fifteen and, although Sean had not logged as many parking lot miles as Jennifer, he did manage to get enough practice that the mechanics of driving a standard transmission car are no obstacle. When you get your learner's permit they now schedule a road test date -- his comes at the end of July. Yes, they want to make sure that new drivers have lots of time to practice and practice (and also are not able to drive by themselves for several months). Jennifer was among the last to get her license under the old rules so she got a full license; when Sean does get his license it will be a junior license until he turns eighteen.
Jennifer will turn twenty in May. The other day she was talking with one of her friends and said "Can you imagine; in just a few months we're going to be geezers!"
Ah, youth!
Okay, I'm wiped out... I'm going to call this an entry and go to bed.
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