So I thought I remembered hearing in early January that this flu season had been fairly mild so far. There was a particularly nasty strain of common cold that was going around (most of us here Casa Ogden got it in one form or another last month), but the media authorities were expressing relief that the good old influenza was limited.

So the fact that we are *now* apparently in the midst of one of the worst flu seasons in recent memory kind of snuck up on me. The same way the flu itself did late Friday afternoon.

This is what the national map looks like:



This thing knocked me flat. I've been in bed for about three days straight and am just starting to feel human again. I don't think I've had a flu since my Sophomore year in college, when a really nasty strain combined with little sleep and the brutal Chicago winter (ahh, Chicago) resulted in walking pneumonia. Yum.

Maybe blogging makes me feel a bit more productive -- or a bit less guilty -- while I lie here with multiple neglected projects piling up.

Stay healthy out there!

-jw