There hasn't been much posting on this Electron for the last week, because the Electron Driver, i.e. me, has been down with a nasty respiratory virus. This is quite prevalent in the Northeast of the USA and I'm sure you know many people who have it or perhaps you have it yourself. I either picked it up on my travels or at work. It took away my voice so I couldn't chatter, and, worse, it took away my concentration, so I can't do any art or any math. I can pointlessly websurf, or I can sleep, the latter being the best option. I am applying the usual remedies, such as lots of hot tea, over-the-counter pills, vitamin C, and, not least, a nice shot of Scotch before retiring for the night. I haven't been this sick in a long time, and I will watch closely in case it gets a secondary infection.

Fortunately I have good friends who are willing to help me and bring me more supplies of water and soymilk and cold pills. If this isn't the flu, it sure is a good imitation of it. So the Electron has lost a lot of energy and is dragging along. I will miss at least one day of work, maybe more if it doesn't improve. And I probably won't be back at my usual luminosity for quite a while. The baseball great Cal Ripken, Jr. was known to play games when suffering from the flu, since he was the "Iron Man" who set the record for consecutive games played. And I'm sure that many physicists and other scientists would keep working even when sick, because they are driven to do it by the pressures of career and personal desire. But I will just retire for a bit in my quiet room and wait it out until I'm back on track.

Posted at 7:44 pm | link