I am fortunate in that I don't get head colds very often. When I sense one coming--maybe I have sniffles or my throat irritates me slightly--I self-medicate with echinachea (not how you spell that, I'm sure) tea and orange juice. It has staved off one cold after another.

Two nights ago, I went to sleep feeling great and woke up with an absurdly sore throat and the sniffles. I started drinking the tea and orange juice as usual, but I knew it was already too late. What do you do when a cold begins while you're asleep?

Today I work. I don't want to go to work. My nose is running bad--when it really wants to, it runs so badly that I could honestly just sit for hours blowing my nose. But of course, I must. So I'll be doping up on cold medicine and miserable all evening, as a follow-up to all day yesterday (which thankfully I had off from work).

Ugh. I hope it's another three years before I have another cold like this again!