[SOC]

It is Saturday morning as I write this. I like writing these posts during this time because it is a good warm up for the writing binge that will follow. It is cold which means the sweat pants and long sleeved shirt. Winter in SC doesn't really hit until January. This is when we start getting freezing rain, snow, and those piercing knife winds that cut right through you. I tell people that SC weather is the worst of both worlds. We get both hot and cold.

When I lived in Florida, it didn't get cold. The only time I needed long pants would be in January riding my bike at midnight. Otherwise, you virtually never got freezing temperatures down there. This is a sweet deal during the winter, but you paid for it dearly in the summer. Florida is hot and sticky.

I must be pretty desperate to be writing about climate and weather. This is another sign that I am getting old. I am already working on what I call "Old Man Crust." If you want to get the flavor of this, look no further than Jeff Bridges playing Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. The Crust is what develops as you get some living under your belt. It isn't grumpiness so much as selective apathy. As you get older, you learn to not give a fuck about certain things anymore. Though I look young for my age, mentally, I have always been about ten years older than my peers. The result is that I look 30 but think 50. This comes from reading a lot of philosophy.

I am also amused at some of the latest comments on the tri-bash posts I did from a year ago. I try to think of some other sport where I could write something that would provoke the same level of vitriol, but nothing comes close. I remember pissing off the ultrarunner crowd slightly when I suggested that running until kidney failure might be a bit extreme. I'm still of the same opinion on the kidney failure thing, but I have grown in my admiration and appreciation for ultrarunners largely because of the example of Anton Krupicka who is the antithesis of a triathlete. I think if you participate in a sport mostly for the purpose of buying a bunch of a gear then something is wrong with you. I admit it. I have an anti-gear bias.

I am struggling with this cold/flu thing I have. I can't tell you the difference between a cold and the flu. The symptoms overlap, and since there is no cure, a proper diagnosis is not needed. I simply have what I prefer to call the "Crud." Basically, you get muscle soreness, fatique, a strong desire to sleep, and mucus. It is quite lovely though I do not recommend it to anyone.

My preferred treatment for the Crud is what I call a "Speedball." Kids, don't try this at home. This is where I drink a huge gulp from a bottle of DayQuil, follow with three Vitamin I tablets (ibuprofen), and as much strong black coffee as I can hold in my gut. The effect of these three things working together is damn near narcotic. There may be some liver damage from this. I don't know. I just know that it makes me feel great despite being sick and has gotten me through many days at work. Plus, this shit is legal though I may cause it to become illegal by writing about it. This will happen when a C-blog reader has a DayQuil overdose.

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