At some point during the latter part of my visit to Las Vegas, I contracted a terrible cold. The trip home was actually painful; the points during takeoff and landing at which one's ears normally pop sent sharp shafts of pain down my ear canal instead. I wound up having to call in sick my first day back from vacation (felt real good about that, y'know) and the last two days, I've coughed so much my ribs feel bruised.

Your regularly scheduled blog should resume shortly.