Ringing In - and Blogging In - the New Year

It's good to be back ... I was down but not out ... and now, I'm ready to make up for lost time:

The Great Snow of 2009 (or was it a Blizzard, or Snow-pocalypse, or something else?) not only shut down most of the state of Maryland, but also the Blogger. What started as a bit of a chest cold and cough on Friday became a full-fledged commercial for Nyquil - you know, the coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever thing by Monday. Along the way, I tried to push around a little of the snow on Saturday (so our deck would not collapse), which seemed like a good idea at the time until I felt how my body crashed on Sunday. Thanks to Dennis, we managed to get shoveled out. Before I gave in to the illness, we managed to sneak over to the Albrights to watch the Ravens - Bears game ... on a field that amazingly looked like snow had never landed on it.

Beginning Monday AM, Pam and Lilly took advantage of the cleared-out driveway and the extra time off of school to stay far away from me.

Left to my own devices, I can report the following:

1. The doctor determined via my Monday 12/22 visit that I had a bronchial thing, or the beginnings of pneumonia. She called in an RX to the store, and in the meantime, I headed to Waffle House. I never realized that the road to medical recovery begins with a waffle, scrambled eggs with cheese, and hashbrowns.

2. Watched a few good movies - Star Trek, Grand Torino, and the latest Harry Potter movie (which I had seen most of in the theater, but had to leave it early). I hope the Star Trek crew returns for a sequel or two.

3. I have a new appreciation for hot tea. While I was sick, I had no interest in coffee. Hot tea, with some honey stirred in, hit the spot and helped suppress the chills.

Mostly healed (thanks, Z-pack and cough medicine), we headed to Lewes, DE for Christmas with Pam's folks. As usual, a lovely time was had by all - Lilly loves to set up cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer, and Pam flips through her parents' basket of holiday cards with wide eyes and a steady stream of questions / comments. I love my time in Jim's recliner, nursing cup after cup of Flavia coffee and just relaxing.

On Saturday, the McDonalds from New Jersey joined in for Christmas round two- we spent the day and the night tinkering with Natalie's iTouch, Lilly's DS-lite, and Nick's PSP and DJ Hero. And don't think that the grown ups weren't involved in the tech toys as well ... I helped Jim to set up his new flat screen TV, which made our viewing of "The Polar Express" and "Happy Feet" just delightful.

There is still one more week of the Rochlin family vacation to share, but we'll save that for another blog over the weekend - including a trip to Easton for a Ravens party, an outing to the Gaylord National Resort, Avatar, more snow, New Year's Eve, and more.

Until then -

MJR