Mineral Alert

Today, after some rewiring to get my phone and Internet services restored, I took a well-deserved nap. Surprisingly I had a pleasant dream, too, one involving chasing down an Asian girl at work.

As dismayed as I was to return to wakefulness before things could get really interesting, I was even more distressed when I felt a trickle from my nostril. Actually, I have two, but only one was "leaking."

After wiping it up with a napkin, it happened again, then several more times over the next few hours. This could only mean one thing, and I rushed to the bathroom to bring out my super-secret and special cold remedy: zinc.

Back when it was the rage a girl I knew took pity on me when I was suffering a cold and got me some zinc, which she delivered with a lecture. I had to admit then, as now, that the metallic elements only rarely found their way onto my dinner plate. Whatever the amounts needed, and I have no desire whatsoever to look these things up, I know I'm lacking.

So, I took my zinc lozenges as she insisted, and I still have the bottle but it's no longer full. I can't be bothered, either, with checking to see how many to take or how often, but whenever I feel a cold coming on I take one or two tables whenever I think of it and remember to do so.

The lozenges work as well as most placebos and, since there isn't another of me that doesn't take them, I have no idea if they have any beneficial effects at all. They don't taste bad, though, and I'm sure my stomach and digestive tract are always startled at receiving something other than coffee, so everyone wins.

It's my first cold of the year. So far, it's not even worth mentioning, but when you have a blog everything's a subject.