It's Monday...

Greetings from the house of the sick. The boy's been ill for a week, and now the wife has it. What is "it"? Seems like the flu, but it could also be a nasty cold developing into sinusitis. The boy is on antibiotics after the give-him-Tylenol-and-keep-him-hydrated strategy didn't work. At least he gets something. I tell you, if childbirth itself wasn't bad enough, try getting this nasty flu-like thing while pregnant and not being able to take anything even for the symptoms. Oh, except for Tylenol, which doesn't really help all that much. Nasty.

I, fortunately, have been able to avoid being slimed as of yet. My handwashing regimen borders on ludicrous, but hey, they say that the best way to stop the spread of viruses and bacteria is to wash your hands, and I'm giving that a great test this weekend. Oh, and that instant hand sanitizer stuff. I think I'm driving the stock price up single-handedly.

You know what the worst part is? Having to work and leave the two sick ones at home. I took a day off today to help be the caretaker, but I had to work on Saturday and Sunday, and I have to go back tomorrow. Fortunately, we have some understanding and helpful parents who don't mind switching off with me into caretaker role.

It's also a bit of a bummer because this would have been a pretty cool weekend to have the family unit intact. The boy's best friend had his birthday party on Saturday morning, complete with the "Cars" theme and a little toddler roller-coaster type thing. Two things that should have been slam dunks. We went (leaving mommy at home), thinking the boy was feeling a bit better, but it turns out he was still pretty lethargic and didn't really enjoy it. Then on Saturday night, I was leading the Saturday night service, complete with Larry Norman tribute and loud music, and the wife couldn't make it. Then last night, we went out to one of the local indoor amusement centres with the young adults, and the wife couldn't come because she was sick. So many cool and fun things, but none of them could be enjoyed. Alas.

You know, I thought the Canucks game yesterday was a complete embarrassment, although I've come to expect nothing less than a meltdown of biblical proportions from my team at some point during the season. However, at least we didn't lose 10-2 to the Capitals like the Bruins did tonight. I was watching the game on TV during one of the boy's many naps today--it was like watching a bunch of Pee-Wees playing the NHL guys. Ovechkin was unreal (3 goals, 2 assists), and it's nice to have some 50-goal scorers in the NHL again. Fastest player to 50 in 10 years.

What else? To add insult to injury (or in this case, sickness), my computer has decided that it's not a great idea to function right now. I've dug out my old laptop which is what I'm using right now, but it sucks to not have my actual computer with my email contacts, for example. Brutal. No room in the brain to worry about that today, though, so it will wait.

The malfunctioning computer, along with an ancient laptop that still runs Windows 2000, caused me to look at new computers today for the first time since we got married (which is when we bought our current model). Man, these things are cheap. Future Shop had a deal where you could get a laptop for $700, and it's way faster than my desktop. Crazy. The great thing is that we're actually in the position right now to be able to think about saving up for a laptop. Before, that would've been pretty much the last thing on the list, but with our new housing situation, having a renter, and me getting a raise (heck, having a job for the first time since the boy was born), it feels pretty good--although strange--to actually think about stuff like that again.

The big decision around here when the time finally does come to get a new machine is whether to join the millions who are switching over to Mac. There, I said it. There's actually a relatively high number of people in my family who use Macs, but I've always been a PC guy. Switching over now would be kind of like converting to Islam, although without the eternal consequences (the Mac/PC debate is serious, but not that serious). It's just a totally foreign territory to me. Sure, I could learn something new, but that sounds like hard work. The problem is that Macs are so darn cool that I'd really enjoy showing it off, even if I don't know how to use it properly.

Okay, the boy is coughing again, so it might be time for more daddy intervention. This is a nasty little bit of coughing, actually. I'll update again soon.

See you then.