Delusional Rants of a Recovering Workaholic

Writer's Block: You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:32:34 GMT

Are there any classic holiday movies or TV shows that you look forward to watching year after year? What are your all-time favorites? Are there any you simply can't stand?

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For most of my life, "A Christmas Story" has been a beloved Christmas tradition. That movie, however, seems to have slipped a little over the past few years as "Love Actually" has become the movie that I wanna watch.

Posted using TxtLJ

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:23:38 GMT

Test

Home from Xmas Trip to ATL

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:10:11 GMT

JD and I decided to break up the trip to Atlanta (technically, Gwinnett County/Lawrenceville/Duluth) by stopping at the Tellus NW Georgia Science Museum. For being next to the middle of nowhere, that place ROCKED! There was a gorgeous collection of prehistoric creature skeletons (including a T-Rex, Edmontosaurus, and mosasaur), huge minerals/crystals, many planes, trains, and automobiles...and the little kid section was pretty big. Thanks to our having a membership to Sci-Quest here in Huntsville (which is very mediocre and basically an scienced-based, educational, indoor playground), we got in to the museum for free. It was an absolute hit for the whole family and will likely become a regular stop whenever we travel to ATL.

Friday's big adventure was to drive to I-285, hop onto the MARTA rail, take it to Midtown, visit the Federal Reserve Bank, and back. In case you didn't know, it was raining like all hell on Friday. Thankfully, the MARTA station was only half a block from the Federal Reserve so it wasn't far; but even after hanging out at the visitor's center for about an hour, our clothes were still quite damp. Then we had the pleasure of running back through that rain to the station. But since the Fed was free, two of the three kids rode the rail for free, and parking was free, it was a fun, educational activity to fill the day with the boys. While the Federal Reserve was our "destination," Nigel's primary interest was in riding his first subway car. He was been very interested in the driving capabilities in the Sim City 4: Rush Hour set. He loves to build a city of infrastructure and then drive/pilot cars, trains, planes, and boats on the screen. The anticipation of finally riding in a subway train had Noodle absolutely giddy.

Friday and much of Saturday was spent at the relatives' home. Well, more specifically, in their basement. They had the Wii set up there and it was the boys' first exposure to RockBand/Beatles RockBand. After all the playing, Calvin has been singing numerous lines from the songs. Although he had mild interest in "Ticket to Ride" and "Drive My Car" a couple of years ago, the only songs he actually sings to himself are ones from Depeche Mode and Duran Duran along with "Smoke on the Water." Now he's going around singing verses of "Eight Days a Week" and "Yellow Submarine," and thankfully only a few lines of "I Am the Walrus."

The kids did a great job, as usual, while we were hanging out with family and kept all their youthful insurrections to themselves until the visit was at its end.

Writer's Block: Winter wonderland

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:26:55 GMT

Do you long for snow during the winter holidays? Would you prefer to spend your holidays in the tropics or in a winter wonderland?

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I definitely am very happy whenever I get to spend time with snow. The only thing I worry about when it comes to snow coinciding with Christmas is it causing problems for traveling friends and family members.

If today was a NASCAR race...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:33:05 GMT

For me...

It would have been a very green day at Michigan. I spent much of the day in the teens, but moved to the front near the end and finished in the top five. There was some traffic I had to deal with, but there was plenty of room to maneuver.

Unfortunately, for JD...

It was the night race at Bristol. The woman was constantly watching wrecks happen in front and behind her. She kept getting out of synch with the other drivers on the track and could never get together with her team mates. It was a good day in that the car completed all the laps, but she's quite dinged up.

Discovered a new household weapon

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:58:07 GMT

Came home after being a sentry for the Rocket City Marathon and was headed for the shower. To keep warm, I wore a pair of flannel pajamas under my uniform. Upon separating the flannel pj's from the polyester Scout pants, my body and the air was filled with an over-abundance of static electricity. I was scared to try to touch anything out of the knowledge that there was an inevitable zap on the way. Unfortunately, I don't think the flannel-out-of-polyester-pants trick will be of any use with an intruder.

Berry Christmas Card for '09

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:49:29 GMT

Yummy Christmas Tree

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:46:28 GMT

Harper keeps walking over to the Christmas tree, grabbing an ornament, leaning forward, she sticks out her tongue, and licks the ornament. She'll just walk around the Christmas tree doing this.

Cory's Song for the Decade

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:15:49 GMT

This wasn't as difficult a decision as I thought it would be. I'm pretty resolved about this. THE SONG that was love at first listen, I've listened to obsessively, tries to pry its way into most of the playlists I create, and inspired me to search for more music by the artists that perform it and of the genre. When considering the songs I've discovered in the past 10 years (I'll leave the debate on what year-span is a "decade" - 00-09 vs 01-10 - for another post)...THE SONG for me is...

Zero 7 - "Destiny"

I've accumulated the Zero 7 discography and have acquired music by the artists that have performed with the group (Sia, Jose Gonzales). My love for acid jazz and chill was re-ignited after many years of hibernation. Hell, even a guy such as myself that NEVER pays attention to lyrics has taken the time to read over them and actually know the words! Oh, and the video is a beautiful match to the song.

I lie awake
I've gone to ground
I'm watching porn
In my hotel dressing gown
Now I dream of you
But I still believe
There's only enough for one in this
Lonely hotel suite

The journey's long
And it feels so bad
I'm thinking back to the last day we had.
Old moon fades into the new
Soon I know I'll be back with you
I'm nearly with you
I'm nearly with you

When I'm weak I draw strength from you
And when you're lost I know how to change your mood
And when I'm down you breathe life over me
Even though we're miles apart we are each other's destiny

On a clear day
I'll fly home to you
I'm bending time getting back to you
Old moon fades into the new
Soon I know I'll be back with you
I'm nearly with you
I'm nearly with you

When I'm weak I draw strength from you
And when you're lost I know how to change your mood
And when I'm down you breathe life over me
Even though we're miles apart we are each other's destiny

When I'm weak I draw strength from you
And when you're lost I know how to change your mood
And when I'm down you breathe life over me
Even though we're miles apart we are each other's destiny

I'll fly, I'll fly home
I'll fly home and I'll fly home

Writer's Block: Hocus pocus

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:09:24 GMT

Have you ever purchased a lotion, potion, or pill that promised miraculous weight loss, perfect skin, or fantastic sex even though you knew it was (probably) a hoax?

Submitted By a_jake_justice

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Ah, here's a chance for me to share my experiences using and endorsing Body Solutions for weight loss while I was on the air in Dallas.

Most jobs in radio have really low pay...but you get a lot of freebies! Businesses that advertise on the station will often provide samples (free food brought to the station, one advertiser gave the whole morning show laser whitening), certificates, discounts, and such (I miss walking into Fat Mo's and Mo or Shiva giving me a free roast beef sandwich or burger). Then there is the payday of landing a "live spot" for a product. Not only do you get the product for free, you also get paid to do the spots. In Dallas, I was the only person on the morning show that needed to lose weight, so when the folks at Body Solutions was looking to advertise on KLIF, I was the lucky guy.

At the time, Body Solutions was saturating radio with ads and DJ/host endorsements. Only loser stations in a market didn't have a deal with Body Solutions. When the company's marketing head had his first conversation with me, he stated that I was to take the products and wait until I had lost at least 8 pounds before going on the air to talk about it. While he insisted on waiting until I lost 8 pounds, he contacted me every few days to see if I had lost the weight yet.

Here is what the Body Solutions package included:
* The core element - the Body Solutions bedtime potion was to be taken right before going to bed. However, before taking that solution, you were to cut off eating food and drink (other than water) for 2 hours before bed.

* Powder for making some "vanilla" or "chocolate" shakes. This included a pamphlet that provided ways to use Gatorade with the vanilla for a orange sherbert flavor, among other ideas.

* cheap pedometer

* Instructions to drink, at least, 6 glasses of water a day

It took me a little over 2 weeks to lose the 8 pounds and to start doing my on-air ads. After a couple of months, I had plateaued at around a 15-17 pound loss. But as my weightloss slowed, the marketing guy from Body Solutions kept suggesting ways to alter my pitch: where I had previously focused on the pounds lost, I now switched to focusing on inches lost; after a few weeks of that, he told me to talk about how I felt about the weight loss or what others had told me; but he was always persistent about air-checking the ads and trying to get the most out of his ads. This obsessiveness started to rub Darrell.

As I was losing weight, I knew that much of my initial loss of weight was due to the fasting for two hours before bed and my dramatic change from drinking juices/Gatorade to drinking mostly water. The shakes, while not the tastiest shakes, were a nice supplement that did a great job of keeping me away from solid food. The big question and what I started to feel more and more was the crucial part of if I was ethically okay with the endorsement was the effectiveness of the nightly solution. When I hit the plateau, I figured that most of the weight loss had to do with my lifestyle changes. I started to lose confidence in the product and the Body Solutions marketing guy was coming across more and more like a used car salesman.

Finally, the shit started hitting the fan for Body Solutions. The company was having financial problems AND they were under siege from a deluge of lawsuits and consumer complaints. When they dropped their advertising, I was relieved. When we received a call about our endorsement of Body Solutions, Darrell and I discussed the situation on the air. I talked about how I did, in fact lose weight. We discussed what was happening behind the scenes with the marketing guy. Then we wrapped things up by stating that none of us had any desire to do ads for a product like that again. Did I lose weight while I was doing the Body Solutions program (product + lifestyle change)? Yes. Was I certain how much of that could be attributable to the Body Solution product as opposed to the lifestyle changes? As time went on, I was less convinced the product was key. However, doing the Body Solutions program helped me to make a lifestyle change I had long contemplated but procrastinated on. Was the product and program worth the price? I no longer thought so.

BUT, when Body Solutions stopped advertising, I did go to the sales person that dealt with them and took a couple of her spare bottles of the Body Solutions nighttime potion and some vanilla shake powders.

Sharing on Google Reader

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:57:10 GMT

Pish-posh with that whole Google Wave thing...I'm still enjoying Google Reader. Anyone else use Google Reader and would like to share with me? You can see the items I mark to Share at:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/csberryiv

Will you share with me?

Wanted: Transformer Instructions

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:35:37 GMT

After unearthing the Transformer collection, I've been able to figure out how to transform most of the Transformers. My big stumbling block? The Constructicons.

I think we've figured out how to transform them from man/robot to construction vehicle mode, but I haven't the foggiest idea on how to put the six of them together to form Devastator. These were Mike's toys that I never cared to play with when they were new. I've told Nigel and assumed that I could find someplace on the web that would have instructions or some hints on how to do that. Ever since telling Nigel that, a day hasn't gone by that he hasn't asked when I was going to get the instructions and begged that I do it ASAP. After he did it again this afternoon, I had to stop what I was working on to find what I could.

I haven't had luck with my Google-Fu on this search. I now know that they are referred to as "Constructicans" in France, only one of the purple and green toys actually uses purple plastic (the others use green plastic which is painted purple, where needed), and that there are three seeming contradictions to their origin in the animated series.

((Cory then goes to YouTube to listen to music, but gets an idea))

However, I have had luck when I gave up on Google and went to YouTube:

YAY!!! I've used the video to create Devastator. Before leaving for Scouts, I put Devastator on the laundry table for the boys to LOOK at and added the above video to their Favorites on YouTube. JD just told me that Nigel watched the video about 5 times before going to bed tonight.

Voice Post

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:47:41 GMT

Doctor Visit

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:09:17 GMT

I've had a mole growing on the left side of my face near my hairline, just up from where sideburns would be, for about a year now. I've watched it grow and turn tan. I've visited webMD recently and decided to schedule an appointment with my doc to check it out after seeing suggestions to do so for new-growth moles that are asymmetrical, and "dark."

Dr. Mullins assured me that this mole seems fine and told me to let him know if it gets really dark, starts to itch, or the edges get raggedy. While I was there, he asked if there were any other concerns I had. I mentioned my regular blood donations and how half of the donations this year had instances where my blood didn't clot in the usual period and I'd have to hold my arm up for longer. I let him know that I've been increasing my consumption of dark green veggies to increase my levels of vitamin K. He asked if I took aspirin or any other meds before donating and then stated that since I'm obviously not anemic (since they test that before donations) that is probably is a vitamin K deficiency, but for me to let him know if the problem continues even with my improved diet.

We concluded the appt talking about when my last physical was. I told him it had been about 18-24 months since my physical and the only concern that was raised at that time was that my cholesterol was a bit high. He said that he'd leave lab paperwork at the front desk and that I could swing by one morning over the next week or two to have blood drawn for testing. He didn't think I needed to worry about getting my next physical until I'm closer to 40.

Manly Black Friday Recap

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:55:33 GMT

I started to post about the day last night, but collapsed before I could get much typed in.

JD's mom came by to pick her up around 3:30am. Something woke me up, I saw the headlights hit the window, and I heard JD shut the front door to go out. This was immediately followed by Harper yelling to tell me that she was awake. JOY!

I managed to get her back to sleep, but she woke up for good at 6:30am. The morning went fine, all the kids and myself were nearly completely ready when the guys showed up. The kids came outside to "help." Even with the kids around, we managed to replace the boys' bedroom door, put in extra supports between roof trusses, added several square yards of flooring to the attic, and cut and hung replacement drywall on the ceiling. We cleaned up the garage and driveway and were ready to start watching the Iron Bowl around 2:45pm (over an hour into the game - whoo! DVRs!). During the morning chores, I put together Sante Fe soup in the crockpot to cook while we were working. Mom showed up around noon and had a buffet of hors d'oeuvres ready for the horde of us to watch the football game.

The house was very quiet by the time Mom took the kids home and Mike and Dad left after the game. JD and I started to watch I Love You, Man (Meh) and I was asleep shortly after 9:30pm.

Toys in the Attic

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:02:23 GMT

I recalled that during a trip up to my parents' attic after they moved into their current house that I saw a box that contained what remained of the Ewok tree village, GI Joes, and Transformers. I recently revealed to the boys that I had intentions of going into the attic and fetching some of those Transformers for them to play with.

Today, my brother, father, and I ventured up there. The amount of stuff the two of us had stashed away far surpassed what I expected. There were:

Two boxes of Transformers, MASK, and Robotech toys
At least three boxes of GI Joe stuff
Two "book" boxes filled mostly with comic books and a few misc books I kept

We brought the Transformers down for the boys. Mike and I immediately sorted through the toys and segregated the ones that he wanted to keep, those that were fragile, and those that were fine for the boys to play with and potentially break. Nigel was vibrating and trembling with excitement at the site of the HUGE collection of of Transformers on the table in front of him. He eagerly asked about the Transformers and made requests on which he'd like to see transformed.

I'll be going back into the attic shortly after New Years to fetch the two boxes of comics. I'm going to be selling or gifting most of the collection. It is a hodge-podge of: Amazing Spiderman from the late 80's to/thru the Todd McFarlane(?sp) era (somewhere in the lower 300s), ElfQuest, Excalibur, Mai the Psychic Girl, Area 88, Appleseed, and GI Joe. Let me know if anyone reading this is interested in seeing a list of what, exactly, I have. I'll post a list after I do an inventory.

Writer's Block: Is your goose (or tofu) cooked?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:20:24 GMT

Are you planning to host Thanksgiving at your place or will you travel to see family and/or friends? Do you prefer a traditional menu or something entirely different?

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Most of the family is in town, so no long-distance travel will be involved for me.

As for the menu, I really prefer it to be predominantly traditional. However, I must confess that as I go through the Christmas Tour every year, the only thing I want to eat between the Christmas parties is Mexican or Asian just to have something completely different.

AT&T Death Star

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:35:07 GMT

How long do I have to wait for Uncle Sam to break up AT&T again? Wire telephony is the only area in the whole communications "utilities" that isn't a monopoly or near-monopoly. Just because there are two options doesn't mean that there is competition in the marketplace.

Short Week and Manly Black Friday

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:20:17 GMT

* Today is my big work day of this week. Nothing else to focus on but work.

* Tomorrow morning, I will be getting two old fillings replaced. A little bit of my military dentistry history will be removed from my mouth. I probably won't get back to working until after lunch.

* I think Wednesday will easily slip into "Friday" mode with doing prep for T-giving. I'll be working, but the probability for distractions will be very high.

* Thanksgiving will be at my parents' house. Shortlegs will be coming down from Nashville and is going to be staying a few days.

* JD and her mom will be doing the "5am Until Physical Collapse" shopping spree on Friday. I have decreed Friday to be "Manly Black Friday" at the Berry home. It is way past time for the hole in the garage ceiling from where I fell through earlier this year to get patched up. Before/during/after the replacement of the drywall for the ceiling, we're going to add extra bracing and put down more plywood flooring in the attic. While that work is getting done, Calvin and Mac will be working on drilling out and hanging the new bedroom door for the boys' room (Calvin kicked a hole in the door earlier this year while having a tantrum). Mom will keep Harper and/or Nigel preoccupied while the guys are working.

We'll be doing the home improvement stuff in the morning and will have the Iron Bowl serving as our deadline early that afternoon (although I will have the DVR set to record it and we'll likely start watching it 30 minutes later anyway). I'm still debating what sort of food stuffs we could throw in a crockpot overnight or first thing in the morning to feed us during the game so we aren't sending someone out on a fast food run.

Writer's Block: The right fight

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:38:00 GMT

What is your proudest life accomplishment so far and why?

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(Insert obligatory answer that my family/children is my proudest life accomplishment.)

Okay, now that's out of the way, I would have to say that my work in talk radio is my proudest accomplishment. If that is too general... I'll narrow it down to making it to a Top 5 market (Dallas/Ft. Worth), taking a morning slot that was at the bottom of the ratings (36 or 38th?) and taking it into the top 15 in about a year and a half. While flipping formats on a music station can result in swift changes in ratings, things tend to be much slower in talk radio. Listeners get emotionally attached (either love or hatred) for the on-air personalities. Coming into a show with few listeners, winning them over, and getting listeners that typically listen to other stations to switch over to you isn't easy. The level of effort that Darrell and I put into that show was really astronomical.

Should it stay or go?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:04:08 GMT

I have kept my old card-style rolodex of all the numbers I collected while in talk radio. Undoubtedly, at least half of the cards are hopelessly outdated. Just before leaving radio, I copied all of my rolodex into a Word file; so I have all the data. I just have a certain nostalgia for this now outdated method for storing and retrieving contact information to couple with my own personal experience with this particular rolodex.

But I'm trying to shed some of my pack rat mentality and getting rid of silly knick-knacks I attempt to keep because of nostalgia is where the process is now. This rolodex isn't something I will likely ever find useful again. Is it worth my stashing it away again on some shelf for me to look at in several years for 5 minutes? I certainly have lots of other radio memorabilia (much of which takes up far less space), so why hang onto this item?

I need to get famous so I have someone or some institution interested in keeping my mementos I don't want to store myself.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:21:57 GMT

Persistent Headache

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:35:50 GMT

For a full week now, I've had some sort of headache every day. Last Thursday, I had coughing fits that gave me a tremendous tension headache for much of the afternoon and evening. On Friday, the coughing only gave me a very mild ache. I woke up Saturday hungover. Sunday, I had a mild headache when I woke up. This week has seen switches between waking with a sinus-like headache or getting a tension headache from an occasional coughing fit. I really am ready to shake whatever it is that is causing this continuing trend.

Weekend with Shortlegs

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:38:37 GMT

I arrived in Nashville around 6pm on Friday. I drove to Mike's place downtown, unloaded my stuff, and we spent a few minutes trying out the two video games he rented: Calbera's Dangerous Hunts? and Brutal Legend. The hunting game was super lame. Brutal Legend was fun to watch, heavy on the cut-scenes, and very similar to God of War in gameplay. About 7:30pm, we headed to Rosepepper in East Nashville for dinner. Some of Mike's friends met us there; Chris (his best friend for years), Chris's wife ("Batts?" Good Lord, I'm so bad with names.), and Jessica. I had one of the stronger margaritas I've ever had and a great meal. After dinner, we drive a couple of miles to Rumours East for some wine. Mike and I split a bottle of Pinot Grigio. Everyone then headed back to Mike's place for some Brutal Legend and to hang.

The sun was harsh Saturday morning and I instantly regretted my lack of hydration the night before. I think I started to feel human around lunchtime and actually felt pretty well by late afternoon. We strolled to a market a few blocks away in the "new" condo high-rise that now obscures the L&C Tower from being seen to the west. I spent the day vegging at Mike's place. He had to step out to do a couple of errands with others, so I finished up an Elmore Leonard novel I've been struggling to finish, Touch (the first of his novels I've read that the plot just sort of flailed around and didn't propel me to the finish like his others). I also spent some quality time watching SEC football.

Mike returned with Lydia(?) later and we went to Suzy Wong's House of Yum. I had a good bowl of peanut sauce chicken penang. After dinner, it was time for...

Predators Hockey!!!

I had watched one Predators' game previous to this weekend. The first visit involved my getting a jersey with the radio station's frequency (99.7) as the number, I went onto the ice between periods, and JD joined me in the Gaylord luxury box for the game. We ate the catered food.

Saturday night I wore that jersey I was given during my first game. Mike, Chris, and I wore our jerseys and walked from the condo to the ~~Nashville Arena~~ ~~Gaylord Entertainment Center~~ Sommet Center. Our seats were up high behind one of the goals. I think when JD and I saw Prince, our tickets were 4 rows in front of where I was Saturday.

I do have to say that after the Huntsville Havoc game being in essentially the same visual proximity, I prefer the behind the goal position than along the sides. The only real annoyance for the evening when I went to redeem my free hotdog & soda certificate that came with the tickets. Around 5 minutes into the second period, I decided to fetch my food. I hop in line and see several frozen dogs on the heater/turner. They were wiped out of hot dogs between periods. The story was the same at every concession stand the full circumference of the arena. It took about a lap and a half for me to circle back to a stand that had finished cooking their dogs.

Nevertheless, the game was fun and the Preds won 2-0.

Sunday morning was better than the previous morning. When I woke up at 6:30am, I took the time to shut the curtains to the room to do their best at keeping the sun at bay. That act apparently paid off with encouraging me to sleep until a little past 10am. I got cleaned up, nuked some leftover pizza from the night before, and we left around 11:30am for the stroll to the Titans game.

We had great seats about 20 rows up from the field in the SW corner. At least two TD plays came to our corner (a third if only the Titans' challenge had overturned the on-field call). It was a Veterans Day themed game, so there were lots of soldiers in uniform at the stadium getting to watch for free. Several received game balls and others were the folks selected for some of the prizes handed out of fans during the game. As far as the play on the field, it was a good game that kept our interest for nearly the entire time. Things were tied up into the third quarter, at which point the Titans opened up a can of whoop-ass. Given the Titans' record this season (2-6 before the game yesterday), I was very grateful that I got to see them win.

When the game was done, I bought a Titans baseball cap and we hiked back to Mike's place. We hung out there and watched the last half of the race in Phoenix before driving to his office and then Qdoba to satisfy a craving that hasn't been fed in about a year when the Qdoba in Huntsville suddenly closed. God, how I missed the Poblano Pesto Burrito!

I actually merged onto the Parkway in Huntsville at 8:30pm. Since JD had told me that I wasn't to come home until 9pm, I swung by Panera Bread to buy me some apple pastries and JD a few cookies. I rolled the suitcase up to the door right at 9pm.

Getting the week started

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:33:01 GMT

I'll recap on the weekend later when I get the pics off my camera. It was a well-needed refresher for mental wellbeing. Much fun and relaxing was had.

Now, I'm doing some catch-up on work before my dentist appointment this morning to get my new cavity filled.

For the 5th day in a row, I have some sort of headache. Thursday and Friday, when I coughed, the muscles on my head spasmed so much that I ended up with a headache (tremendously painful one on Thursday). Saturday's headache was mostly due to the alcohol from Friday night. Yesterday's creeping headache in the afternoon was probably a bit related to dehydration since my soda to water/juice ratio went completely wonky.

Why a headache this morning? Maybe sinus, today's headache is more in the forehead area than the full-skull headaches of the past several days.