Better sheep: priceless.

@1: Huh? (MasterCard commercial, maybe?)

Patrick, I hope you feel better soon.

Healing thoughts comin' your way, Patrick.

Jury summons for next month: yes.
Nearest courthouse: yes (for a change).
Pay for the time I spend at the courthouse: dunno.

Rest up and feel better soon!

Massive sympathies on the way to you. Rest.

Empathies and soothing liquids.

John @2:

Mastercard commercial* crossed with a Dutch pun† (here et seq).

----
* The colons made me do it ‡
† Actually not a pun in Dutch; to Dutch ears "beterschap" (get well soon) and "beter schaap" (better sheep) sound nothing alike.
‡ Not something I say often.

Patrick, I hope you feel better soon. Last week I took zinc cough drop thingies when I felt just how you feel now, 3x a day for 3 days, and I only felt sick for about 2. But they don't work at all for my ex. So YMMV.

Ow, and oy. Get yourself some spicy chicken soup (if stomach-appropriate) and chill in bed awhile.

I hope this two weeks of service gets you off the hook for the next ten years at least (although I imagine it'll be more like two or three years).

And I hope you feel better soon.

Punkrockhockeymom @9
zinc cough drop thingies

Seconded. I use lozenges with zinc gluconate* for colds. It seems to work for me.**

-----------
* the form used in studies.
** when I've caught a cold and didn't take them, the cold lasted longer. But that's only 2 times. I also take them when traveling, and even with jet-lag (lack of sleep brings more colds), I get far fewer day-after-airplane-colds than I used to.

Kathryn @12:

I have now checked, and mine are zinc gluconate too. They appear to be the Rite Aid version of Cold-eez (although I'm not sure if I've spelled that brand name right).

I've been having serious immune system issues of late, and I will definitely use these while traveling, because my last bout of airplane gack was very unpleasant.

Congrats on completing your civic duty.

Sorry so much else has been tough for you lately. Being in your 50s isn't always all that bad!

I'd offer a chicken soup delivery, but I'm home sick too. Hope Teresa is well enough to care for you.

Feel better, Patrick. Lots of us have been thinking about you.

*orders weather dominator to make warm, sunny day, so Patrick will feel better*

Here's hoping you feel better soon, Patrick, both virally and moralely. When you get better and catch up with the overdue mountain I hope you feel better about having done the hard work of making the justice system work as well as it can. I know a lot of people who would make a grand jury worse, but I don't know anyone who I'd expect to do better.

Best wishes for a prompt recovery, Patrick. If ever I get a Summon, it'll be a short walk from the office to find out if I'll be on duty: one block away is the Federal Courthouse. And the State Courthouse. And the City Courthouse. And the police station. And the hotel where those Texas Democrats hid until Homeland Security drgged them back to the Lone Star state.

Feel better soon.

Get well soon.

Patrick: Backlog or no, don't push yourself so hard that you get sicker; that won't help!

Amy, #11: Hi! Fancy meeting you here!

::virtual chicken soup::

Back to bed sounds like a really good plan. Feel better in every measurable and unmeasurable way.

Patrick: Since I know that part of the reason you are feeling so swamped with work is your involvement with the launching of Tor.com, I just want to let you know . . . I've finally had a chance to spend some time over there, and it is wonderful. Thank you.

I hope you feel better quick.

Some adventurous person should come up with a chicken soup / kim chi combo dish (uh, bowl?) that simultaneously soothes and blasts out the nasal regions.

Jurisprudence the wellspring of democracy is.

Get better soon, Patrick.

Stefan Jones @ 25 ...
A good congee with plenty of ginger and garlic seems to meet that description.

Stefan Jones @ #25, corned beef & kim chi?

Stefan @ #25, xeger @ #27, I vote for tom yum soup.

Lila, 29: you beat me to it. With extra chili oil floating on the top.

Patrick, I hope you feel better soon.

Patrick, I'm sorry so many things are so hard right now. I hope you feel better soon.

Patrick: Think of it this way -- having the illness right after the jury duty makes for only one break in your work-life, even if it's longer than you'd originally planned for. That's got to be better than going back, picking up the reins, and then getting clobbered again!

So take the time to recover properly, before you go back to the grind! Best wishes....

I swear, the CDC needs to monitor blogs and message boards to track the spread of infectious disease symptom clusters.

If this is the same vicious and disrespectful virus which insulted my son and I, the most important piece of advice I can give you is eat. That I, a middle-aged diabetic, had several bad hypoglycemic episodes is par for the viral course, but he is 22 and healthy and ended up swooning with hunger one morning.

You don't want to swoon, it isn't dignified. Get better soon, instead.

JESR, they track Google searches, so I've heard.

If it's the same one I had (which fit all of Jim's checklist for flu) then I got the most comfort from tea with brandy and sugar. I didn't much want to eat.

Ginger tea is my sovereign remedy. You can make it from scratch by boiling sliced ginger & lemon, or using the packets of granular ginger teamix (found in Chinatown markets) and adding a shot of lemon juice.
Sending wishes for health and rest.
-Barbara

P J: The rule in LA County is the first day is free. This pissed me off when I (and a whole lot of other people) were falsely called (computer called every pool possible, not just the pools desired). All of us who were told to go home were told this didn't count as our first day.

For amusement's sake when I was called to jury duty in SLO the first day we were told, by the judge, that he was sorry, but we weren't needed that day; but we should take heart because it was never going to happen to us again.

As I recall SLO paid for that day (or at least counted it as a day we'd reported).

I did a write up of that time (it was a week of voir dire) in my Lj on May 18 2006.

A google string for Kimchee soup.

Best wishes for a swift recovery, in all ways.

xeger @27:
Chicken congee with ginger & garlic = comforting cure-all.

JESR @33, you've seen Google's Flu Tracker, right?

If that's the same bug that Eva brought back from Pittsburgh, it seems to hit everyone a little differently. But not eating (for one of a number of reasons from not being able to keep the food down to nausea when eating) seems to be common. Also, everyone was talking about a 48 hour bug, but for both of us it lasted over a week, and took a day or so to get back to a healthy appetite.

Ah, Patrick, sympathies. No new advice – much good already given – but David Harmon's thought @32 seems one to hold onto.

Reading this is making me hungry, tho' … mmm , definitely dinnertime.

Am I right in assuming Echinacea (purple coneflower) is available in the US as an OTC herbal remedy? If so, it may be a bit late to start taking it, but it's one to lay in for the next viral cold to bite you. (That, and instant chicken soup powder, if left-over chickens are hard to come by.)

Hope you feel better soon.

Argh! Feel better.

Oh dear. I hope you feel better soon.

Stefan Jones @25: Some adventurous person should come up with a chicken soup / kim chi combo dish (uh, bowl?) that simultaneously soothes and blasts out the nasal regions.

One of my cold palliatives is a serving of Buffalo-style chicken wings with the hot sauce. It helps that there is a place where I can get these to go, which is even closer than the corner drugstore.

The use and effectiveness of Echinacea is still controversial (unless one is a company that sells herbal remedies, of course). If you do use it, be sure your doctor knows about it (and all over-the-counter medications you take), as it has been known to interfere with anesthetics.

I'm with Larry @ #10. Spicy good if you can handle it; if not, matzoh ball soup is just fine.

News flash--Scientists: Chicken Soup Cure Confirmed!

8: The colons made me do it

abi is suffering under colonialism.

Terry @ 36
They're asking if my employer pays for the time, which I don't know (it's not mentioned in the contract). The rest I know from experience. (I spent 11 days on duty, once, before being dismissed. I remember it because I had bronchitis at the same time, and was taking cough syrup with codeine.)

The colons made me do it

BETTER BUT MORE OBSCURE PUN:

That excuse didn't work for Raoul Salan either.

The colons made me do it

LESS OBSCURE PUN

In other words, like W, she's following her gut.

Sorry to hear about the cold, Patrick; I hope you feel better soon. My winter cold lasted 12 days: lots of sleep and yes, homemade chicken soup helped a great deal. I also take Zicam, which is a zinc product; it shortens the duration and severity of the symptoms. Oh yes: herb-honey throat lozenges made my throat feel better. But really, I think chicken soup is curative.

Joining the chorus: Get well soon!!

ajay #50: That definitely galled Salan.

P J: Ah... they are looking to see if you are able to claim hardship.

Earl @46: always tell your doctor about anything you're taking by way of OTC remedies -- that's the rule. And it doesn't hurt to tell the pharmacist and ask if it's compatible with your prescriptions either.

Echinacea: I've noticed a considerable decrease in the duration and severity of head colds since I started using it -- and if I start on it as a prophylactic when Feorag gets one, I sometimes dodge the bullet completely. (Which didn't happen beforehand.)

You won't see any clinically managed double-blind crossover trials on its efficacy, though: not enough money to make it interesting to big pharma.

Colds suck. Feel better, dude.

Re Echinacea, actually I read about at least one credible one that has found a statistically significant benefit to taking it.

Another thing that works well for colds is zinc lozenges. Cold Eze is what I use. Cuts duration in half, and greatly reduces the congestion and achiness. Doesn't touch the fever, but since that normally goes away in a day or so, it's not such a big deal to me.

Thank you for the jury duty, Patrick, as others have said.

I seem to be in the middle of my winter cold right now. It feels like I have contracted it over the Internet from all the people who were sick during the inauguration, though that can't possibly be true. It's the sore-throat-and-achy-muscles type, but very low-grade on both counts. Strange. Am having lots of hot drinks and Tylenol/Advil, and remembering to eat.

May you sleep well and feel better soon, Patrick.

#56 - There have been lots of clinically-controlled studies on Echinacea. Here's an overview. The one I remembered showed you were more likely to catch a cold if you were taking it for more than 6 weeks, but that a cold would be shorter if you just started taking it at the first symptom, but the "more likely" part doesn't seem to show up in that review of all the studies. Never did anything for me, but the zinc seems to work, so I go with that. (There are plenty of studies that support either it having or not having an effect, depending on which you want to show, so pick your favorites!) But I'm also a big fan of the placebo effect - as long as it's not breaking anything else in your body, and it works, do it.

(Hm, that link may or may not work - google "409565_5 site:medscape.com" and it should come up in a clickable way.)

Stefan Jones (#25): Some adventurous person should come up with a chicken soup / kim chi combo dish (uh, bowl?) that simultaneously soothes and blasts out the nasal regions.

Or you could do what I do, and just plunk some kimchi into your bowl of soup, which I would normally make with udon noodles. But I'm pretty much happy to eat kim chi in any form, including standing in front of the fridge with the jar in one hand and chopsticks in the other.

Patrick, hope you're feeling better and that you are soothing your cold in your preferred way.

We glad you're back? Yes.
Should you get better now? Yes.
Does your nation thank you? I do.

To my chagrin, I can now also note that spending an hour-or-so with a shopvac removing a puddle of water from around the furnace and the recalcitrant humidifier seems to have some beneficial effect on The Ick. I suspect it has much to do with heat, humidity, mild exercise and irritation.

This is not, however, in any respect a recommendation.

I hope you feel better soon, Patrick, and that all the load gets taken off your back.

I used to react to colds and flus by eating lots of mandarins, as in "spend your time starting to eat the next one whenever you've finished one", until I once got some weird rash-like thing that may or may not have been an allergic reaction to that. Now I'm more moderate with my mandarin intake in the winter, but I still think sometimes they might be useful. Get better soon!

Rest up, we need you at many elsewheres.

Jane