Does Nyquil go bad?

Ye socks who have been lost in this dryer for any length of time know of the affection we have for Nyquil in this little corner of heaven.

(See the numerous posts on the subject of this wonderdrug: http://sockdryer.blogspot.com/search?q=Nyquil)

Anyway, yours truly last dabbled with this uncontrolled substance back in January.

Just once. That's all it took to conquer whatever was trying to take me down back then.

Then, I put the almost-full bottle in the fridge and pretty much ignored it . . . until last night, when another nameless bug attempted to seize control of my sinuses.

As usual, one shot of Nyquil quickly had me sleeping away any potential illness.

But, this morning finds me still wandering around in a fog, and I'm wondering if this is a result of a newfound low tolerance level for OTC medication or five months worth of fridge fermentation . . .

Either way, hope it wears off soon . . .

Overslept

Ok, I may have taken the Nyquil thing a little too far. I'll admit it. At least, that's what I'm going to blame my tardiness to work today! I completely forgot to set my alarm clock before I went to bed last nite, and overslept about half an hour before my "internal clock" roused me from my slumber.

You know, once you've lost 30 minutes out of your day, the rest of the day just "ain't quite right" for some reason! I felt like I was running behind all day long!

So, no more Nyquil! I'll just have to tough it out for the rest of this lingering flu bug. Better be over quick, though. My will power has been severely compromised . . .

Bowl Mania

Well, I'm finally coming out of the fog of my Nyquil-induced coma from yesterday . . . but, just barely, and only because I ran out and am too chicken to run up to Walgreens for some more.

Anyway, this painful new lucidity allowed me to do some bowl surfing. The best part was being able to flip between the Cotton Bowl and the Outback Bowl to see my two favorite teams playing at the same time! How cool is that?

Unfortunately, 'Bama beat Texas Tech out in Dallas. (Eating my pre-game trashtalk, Mr. Whittington.) The Tide's defense really shut-down the Red Raiders. They controlled the tempo of the entire game, only rarely allowing our gunslinging QB a chance at lighting-up the scoreboard in the second half like he did in that great win over Texas A&M earlier this season. Still, Leach and his boys did rally late in the game, and it all came down to the ugliest field goal I've ever seen in my life. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. (Right, Bob?!)

On the plus side, the Gators did manage to beat Iowa despite several efforts to blow their lead late in the game. We did benefit from a lot of questionable officiating, especially in the last few minutes. But, a win is a win. Way to go Urban . . . now get out there and recruit some more players!

Ok, I'm going to take the last dose of Nyquil and call it a night . . .

Addicted to Nyquil

Ok, the first step in conquering an addiction is to admit you have a problem, right?

Well, I freely admit it. I LOVE NYQUIL!

The whole day was a blur, at least the conscious portions of it. And, who really wants to remember those miserable moments, anyway?!

This flu is really kicking me in the pants. The only thing getting me thru it all is that precious green elixir . . . Knock back another shotglass of it and knock me out for another 6 hours!!

I have some vague notion that Tampa Bay squeaked into the NFL play-offs. But, that's about it for the outside world, if it even exists.

Hack. Wheeze.

Fun with numbers

Well, it just happened.

With my bloated sinuses affecting my reasoning capabilities, I somehow found this so fascinating that it needed to be shared with the blogosphere.

Just a few moments ago, my digital clock/calendar read:

02:03:04 - 05/06/07

Is that neat, or what? Or, do I need to take another dose of Nyquil?

Probably the latter . . .

Hack! Wheeze! Cough! Sputter!

Yep, I'm definitely coming down with something.

Dry, scratchy throat. Watery eyes. Can't speak an entire sentence before my voice gets swallowed up by a hacking cough.

I'm hoping I can stay awake to watch the UT-OSU game tonight, but that bottle of Nyquil I spotted in the medicine cabinet is looking awfully enticing . . .

Some early Christmas surprises

For ye out-of-state socks, this may all seem "ho-hum" to you, but whatever:

HOW BOUT THEM BUCS?!

I wasn't sure if it was a Nyquil-induced hallucination until they replayed it again, and again, and again.

That's right, in the long and storied history of our beloved ball team from the bay, we have NEVER seen a kick-off returned for a touchdown. NEVER.

Until today, that is. (Early Christmas surprise #1.)

And, by going on to beat the Falcons, the guys in pewter also clinched a play-off spot. (Early Christmas surprise #2.)

But, the greatest thing about this afternoon of being shut-in at the house, I discovered an unopened bag of Hall's cough drops in the "gift closet." (Early Christmas surprise #3.)

I hope all these early surprises don't mean Santa plans on disappointing on Christmas Day. He's never let us down before, but how many more surprises could he have up his sleeve?!

Perhaps some snow in Apopka wouldn't be entirely out of the question this year?!

And, maybe Denise the Lunchlady will win Survivor tonight?!

Ok, ok, I'll stop.

Orlando did it again!

Ok, how many of ye socks really thought my prediction of a second sweep would come true?!

Well, it happened last night as the guys in blue in white beat the Atlanta Hawks, 98-84, in the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs.

This will send the Magic back to the Eastern Conference Finals!

Magic Fever has erupted in The City Beautiful (and surrounding areas), and not even a bottle of Nyquil can conquer that!

VICTORY!

Well, ye socks, yours truly has been battling a nasty cold all week, and was afraid that would prevent him from staying awake long enough to witness the kick-0ff of the Gators' 3rd national championship.

I mean, the game didn't even start until 8:15 PM in this little corner of heaven, and I had been doing some serious Nyquil shots all day.

But, like the Gators, I persevered.

It was not the high-scoring affair many of us expected it to be, with the high-powered offenses on both sides.

Still, the Gators never trailed the Laters . . . er, Sooners.

Once again, the deciding factor proved to be Tim Tebow. He passed for 231 yards, including one of those little jump passes into the endzone that have become one of his many killer trademarks. He also rushed for 109 yards, making critical third down conversion after critical third down conversion.

The current Heisman Trophy winner was also impressive, and got within 6 yards of leading his team to two more touchdowns. Fortunately, the Gator D held. Imagine if they hadn't, Oklahoma would have had 28 points.

On the flip side, the Gators had to settle for a Jonathan Phillips field goal because a fan's whistle faked-out Tebow on third down. If he had punched the ball in for a TD instead, the Gator total would've been 28, too.

Can you imagine if the result had been a 28-28 tie at the end of regulation?!?

No such nailbiter was to be had, though. Nor, did the fans of Fun 'n Gun get to see the scoreboard lit up as had been promised.

Still, "It's great to be a Florida Gator!" And, we have another set of numbers to add to the mantra:

1996 - 52-20
2006 - 41-14
2008 - 24-14

ORANGE AND BLUE!

The Infernal Revenue Service

No, I didn't mis-spell that word. I meant Infernal.

Now, that last word "service" is clearly an abuse of the definition.

I had the tremendous displeasure of dealing with a Mrs. Jones at the IRS "service" center up in Memphis by phone this afternoon.

Don't you just love how they never give you a first name, and all their surnames are so practically anonymous?! I guess that helps them maintain the aura of a faceless, heartless, brainless bureaucracy.

Anyway, the problems with Mrs. Jones et al stem from my father's Alzheimer's Disease, which I'm sure is why he failed to file a return for 1999, 2000, and 2001.

But, try as I might, I couldn't get any understanding or cooperation from the lovely Mrs. Jones. She only seemed interested in throwing more hoops at me to jump thru than solving the problem. And, she didn't care what three other federal bureaucracies have to say about my father's condition (Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and Social Security Administration).

In her words, "The IRS doesn't communicate with other federal agencies." As if this should be a source of pride.

Perhaps this unwillingness to communicate amongst bureaucrats is why we have planes flying into buildings and cannot clean-up after hurricanes . . .

My ongoing flu-like symptoms are not helping my mood today at all. Actually went home early from work, something I almost never do.

Oh, well, time for another shot of Nyquil.

But, before I forget, Happy 60th to Cousin Marki!