Sudafed, wine therapy and fighting head colds

The first cold of the season
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The first cold of the season dropped me like a old growth redwood tree.

After attending a black tie event Friday night - in tuxedo, of course - I awoke Saturday with a crushing headache, sore throat and packed sinuses.

I didn't have that much fun the night before. In fact, my champagne and wine intake was waaay below average for such an event, controlled perhaps by the tux and/or the fact that there were enough photographers around to make the whole thing look like it was the People's Choice Awards.

But back to the cold.

A quick dose of Sudafed took care of most of the stuffiness, though it also lifted the top off my head and filled it with cotton, so most of the writing I did Saturday had a certain, well, odd quirky quality to it.

Still, when coupled that evening with a few glasses of cheap, er, thrifty, Sauvignon Blanc from Trader Joe's, most of the symptoms disappeared.

The worst part about the cold was having to skip attending the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Phil Angelides debate, to which I had a ringside ticket. I was too much out of it to attend, plus I would have likely infected half of the university administration.

Hmmm....

Last year in Mexico I got a terrible sinus infection New Year's Eve that stuck with me for a few days until I found just the right combination of Sudafed, aspirin and margaritas to make me feel, well, great, frankly.

Salt water immersion on a boogie board probably helped a lot, too.

Today the cold seems better, but the thought of Tequila therapy and soaking in some warm salt water seems like just the ticket.

Maybe I can put salt in the hot tub and break out my reserve bottle of Don Julio to knock the last of this cold out of me.

Andale! Andale!