"One Flu Over The Cuckoo's Nest..."

Well, flu, stomach 'bug', whatever, it laid me out literally for a solid day...I bet I wasn't vertical for more than 30 minutes total those first 24 hours. Nothing in the realm of Cuckoo-dom (my head), just all in the tummy (outside of significant achiness all over) with a nice little fever to help boost a quick weight-loss program.

During the worst of it, I remember two things:
1) how good it felt to stretch every 5 minutes and roll into a new position, and...
2) how friendly and helpful the pink-striped elephants were to me...
And like all good 4-legged souls, Mercy knew I was way out of whack and kept a close watch on me the entire time, resting with me when she wasn't drooling over squirrels out the back windows.

In my line of work, calling in sick is a major deal, given we are simply short-staffed at the best of times. Thanks to Tara Lane for filling in from the Charlotte staff and making her first weekday early morning weather appearance in the Triad! With the fever having broken early yesterday, I'm climbing back in the saddle.

-------------- NOW THE FUN STUFF! ---------------------

This is a REALLY cute link...and you thought Santa's reindeer's talent was just flying through the sky! (..besides playing reindeer games, of course...) Click HERE to watch a fun holiday number...

I hope this works...it's an audio link from a benefit concert, a group of professional musicians from New Orleans play a stirring rendition of "O Holy Night"... click HERE for just the audio file. If it fails to open, click HERE and then scroll down the left column to the circular seal for the "Tipitina's Foundation"...to the right it will say 'free download' of the song...the song and musicians were recently part of a TV episode...click HERE if you want to see the musicians and the environment in which they played the song, although it's a bit interrupted with the story line of a former cocaine addict thrown in...

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Well, here I sit now at 5:37am...as my work compatriot on the Charlotte side, Jeff Crum, likes to say, the Hal 9000 has rolled over dead this morning in Raleigh...and I mean on its back with legs up in the air...so I have yet to go live for any weather...serious issues, this time, serious issues...

Ah, technology - can't live with it, can't live without it...excuse me while I go hurry up and wait...

Carpe diem, y'all!