BROWN HQ (Feb. 27, 2007) -- I ran across something
interesting from a blog called Political
Wire a couple
days ago. Research shows that at extremely early stages of Democratic
presidential campaigns, Democrats are particularly bad at picking who
will eventually end up winning the nomination. The only times in the
last eight cycles that the person polling in first place nationally a
year before the primaries went on to win the nomination were for
Walter Mondale in 1984 (which was kind of a given), Bill Clinton's
re-election in 1996 (a given) and Al Gore in 2000 (also a given). We
Dems had Ted Kennedy beating Carter in 1980 at this point, Mario Cuomo
winning in '92, Gary Hart in '88, Muskie in '72, and Joe Lieberman in
'04. We all know how those turned out (latent sex scandal, malaise,
regular sex scandal, open mic weeping, lack of Joementum,
respectively). 
BROWN HQ (Feb. 26, 2007) -- I have little to offer a
conversation about the Academy Awards, but I did watch and now
acknowledge that -- as tedious as the TV program might be -- the Oscars
are a full-fledged cultural institution. Last night, Hollywood took
care of business ... providing a full pardon to Jennifer Hudson for
being voted off "American Idol," rewarding Al Gore after he was robbed
of the 2000 presidential election, finally giving Martin Scorsese his
Oscar and selling buckets and buckets of moisturizing products during
the commercial breaks. 
(This is my Sunday,
Feb. 25, 2007 Hibbing Daily Tribune column.)2007 is young. I’m still writing 2006 on some of my checks. Even so, the 2008 political season has already arrived.
It’s no secret that elections begin and are often decided long before Election Day, but this is absolutely insane. For one thing, 2008 is a historical rarity – a year when both major political parties have wide open races for the presidential nomination. Usually there’s either an incumbent or a quasi-incumbent Vice President. And, since we’ve crafted a system where the only real way to win elections is to raise a lot of money, getting out early is essential to a candidate’s fundraising credibility.
So now we have two dozen big name candidates for
president
and even the U.S. Senate race here in
George Washington: He had many sets of false teeth made from anything from wood, to whale bone, to household objects. That’s not something that plays well on HDTV, noble statesman or not.
Thomas Jefferson: Had slaves and had babies with slaves. Add with him all the other presidents who had slaves. Also, was reported to have a falsetto voice that would have been mocked on SNL.
Abraham Lincoln: He had lost a Senate race and had
only
served in
Theodore Roosevelt: His rough and ready persona makes for great history, but his over the top gestures and boastful speeches would have put him in the same category as Howard “The Scream” Dean in this modern age.
Franklin Roosevelt: When he was president, he didn’t have to explain that the disability that kept in a wheelchair wouldn’t keep him from doing his job. He didn’t have nightly news anchors saying things like, “Will America accept a disabled president?” He likely would have struggled in today’s political climate and might never have been president.
Harry Truman: One of the underestimated figures in American history, Truman became president because of a convention selection process that made him Vice President, a process that no longer exists. Later, he was expected to lose the 1948 election so badly that not a single well-known political pundit in the country predicted he could win. He worked in a day when the speeches actually mattered, though, and Truman won because of a coast-to-coast railroad campaign that blindsided his opponent. Today’s voter: “What’s a whistle-stop?”
Dwight Eisenhower: He rode the fence too long before deciding to jump in the ’52 contest. In today’s political world, the nomination would have been locked up by the time he announced his campaign.
John Kennedy: He was the last president elected
under the
old “boss” system. He would have struggled in the
Richard Nixon: He never would have been president
because he
lost in 1960 and couldn’t even win a governor’s race in
Jimmy Carter: An unknown
Even Bill Clinton was able to come from behind to win the
Democratic nomination in 1992. Today, candidates with his then-level of
funding
and experience are considered “second tier” and would be ignored.
Reagan and
Bush 41 might have still made it, but their campaigns started much
later and
cost much less, so we may never know. In truth, George W. Bush is the
first
president in a modern era of non-stop campaigning.
So if all these historical figures would be unable to lead in modern times, what kinds of leaders are we getting now? We get reasonably good looking leaders who find new ways to appease 51 percent of the people. We get people who try to be spontaneous and bold only when focus groups tell them to.
One easy thing to do amid the early 2008
skirmishing would
be to check out of the debate. But that would also be the wrong thing
to do.
Get involved, if only to educate yourself on the candidates. Consider
what you
want from your leaders and encourage candidates who represent your
ideals. The
trouble with this never ending cycle is that it causes people to stop
paying
attention. That’s exactly what powerful people want you to do.
BROWN HQ (Feb.23, 2007) -- I'll be on KAXE Saturday
morning with a radio essay about the call for statewide and local
workplace smoking bans. "Between You and Me" with Heidi Holtan is doing
a call-in show about the topic and I'm chiming in. It's a hot button
issue up north and should make for an interesting show. The same piece
ran as my Sunday column a couple weeks ago in the Hibbing Daily Tribune. My Sunday
column is about the early political season and some of the historical
implications of having a late 2008 election start early in 2007. Stay
tuned! Have a great Friday and rest of the weekend!
BROWN HQ (Feb. 21, 2007) -- One of my many side projects
is starting to loom big on the horizon. Dylan Days doesn't start until
May 23, but we're putting final touches on our schedule and will start
the full scale media push in less than a month. As I said last month,
our feature concert is Maria Muldaur on Saturday night, May 26. Our
literary night speaker is Barton Sutter, author of "Cold Comfort" and
three time Minnesota Book Award winner. He's also poet laureate of
Duluth. BROWN HQ (Feb. 19, 2007) -- In honor of President's Day,
I'll make the following observations about the fast-growing 2008
presidential candidate scrum. This next race will be a banner year for
presidential candidate logos and website design. First it was Tom Vilsack and his "V for
Vendetta" motif. While not matching Vilsack's "articulate tax preparer"
persona, it certainly gets liberal blood pumping. Then John Edwards gave us the "One
Corps" theme, with a website that makes it sound like we're signing up
for the foreign legion. Kudos to him for selling bumper stickers that
simply say "e," hearkening George W. Bush's popular "W" stickers. It
takes guts to say that a single letter from your name is all people
need to know who you are. Hillary
Clinton is apparently just campaigning on her first name, which is
perhaps more realistic. Edwards couldn't do that since there are more
Johns in politics than there are in a downtown brothel. (I can't even
figure out the math on politicians named John who are in the same
brothel). Hillary's website is a bit more "old school," though, with
the red, white and blue. She's going to need to step it up if she wants
to keep her perceived lead in the polls. Republican front runner John McCain's web site and logo
looks like that of a corporation that James Bond would have to fight.
Only I think McCain would probably catch Bond before beating him
senseless and feeding him to sharks (and he'd wait to make sure the
killer fish swallowed every last bite). Barack Obama's logo hearkens
hope, the heartland and the letter "O" all in one contained image --
not an easy task. Other big name candidates like Rudy Giuliani and Mitt
Romney have fairly standard websites, but they are still waiting to
unveil their non-exploratory logos. Truly, 2008 will be a bold step
forward for graphic design in politics. Too bad logos don't provide
health care coverage or produce clean, renewable energy. 
BROWN HQ (Feb. 17, 2007) -- Al Franken kicked off his
Senate campaign in
Nashwauk Friday afternoon as he spoke and met with voters at the
AFSCME Council 65 union hall. I was one of about 200 people who crammed
into the small conference room to see what the author, radio host and
longtime comedian had to say. I got the strong sense before Franken
arrived that everyone in the room was suspending judgment to see and
hear how Franken held up as a candidate. lift winter doldrumsThe book industry
revolves
around “summer reads,” books that people wouldn’t have time to read
during the
busy school year but would gladly lap up under the summer sun. I don’t
get
this. Summer – the real summer when it probably won’t snow – only lasts
three
months in northern
I have found the lengthy cold nights of January and February to be just right for reading. At the beginning of the year I finished “Truman,” the David McCullough biography of our 33rd President. I was most impressed with the former president’s personal habits. Truman grew up in a place – Jackson County in northwestern Missouri – with enormous weather variables. As a young man, he claimed to have read every book in the Independence Public Library. He was also the last president to keep a thorough journal and write countless personal letters to almost everyone in his inner circle. Harry Truman spent a lot of winter nights with books and letters.
Inspired by Harry,
I spent
January finally reading “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”
by
Stephen Covey. I know this is an older book now. Inspirational office
posters
that quote from this book are already yellowing on the wall above some
guy who
is playing minesweeper on his computer. But I hadn’t read it yet, even
though I
use the Franklin/Covey planner.
I am a planner junkie. My planner is on me like a shadow and that's how I like it. If I've talked business, politics or major personal news with you in the past six years your name is in my book and indexed by the date we spoke. I also keep story and essay ideas stored by date. I have gone six years using the planner without any training or reading the book, until just last month.
The planner system I've developed is kind of like a Frankenstein creature made from stuff found in Covey's garage bin. If it could speak, it would probably say, "Kill me." One day recently, for instance, was so busy that I not only filled out the 26 "Prioritized Task List" spaces in my planner with a ranked to-do list, but also used the eight additional spaces under "Daily Tracker" and even six more spots in the "Daily Notes" area. Forty tasks!
Worse yet, despite what I read in the “Seven Habits,” I included no spirituality, no personal victories, no exercise on the list. I even wrote down "Watch 'Lost’" as a task. A TV show is my only personal enrichment task for the day. Covey would so freak out on me.
But I did
learn something in the book and finally realize why so many
middle aged corporate types use the word “synergize.” I thought they
got that
from Dilbert.
I have built up a healthy stack of reading material now and we’re entering the best time of year to catch up on it. I notice that in my to-read stack of five books, only one is fiction – “Nature Girl,” the latest from my favorite writer Carl Hiassen’s. I read somewhere that men trend toward nonfiction while women trend toward fiction. One quote implied that men can’t handle the truth found in fiction. That’s an interesting theory. I suppose I’d agree if I read the books many men in my family seek, car guides and instructional manuals on how to reload ammunition. But Harry Truman’s story has only taught me that I have yet to adopt the kind of personal discipline that got him through some of the most difficult trials a human can face. Covey’s book only reminded me that watching “Deal or No Deal” will not make me smarter.
No, I found real
truths in my
winter nonfiction list. I have a lot of thinking, and reading, to do
before the
warm summer months welcome me back outside.
BROWN HQ (Feb. 16, 2007) -- As usual, an essay of mine
will appear on KAXE's "Between You and Me" with Heidi Holtan Saturday
morning. The show airs between 10 a.m. and noon and my piece will
probably be near the beginning. This week's show topic is winter book
recommendations. I'm talking about trends in winter reading habits.
Don't worry, it's much more exciting than that sentence makes it sound.
(I hope). You can listen online at www.kaxe.org or on 91.7 FM in
northern Minnesota. The same piece will serve as my Sunday column in
the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I'll post it this weekend. BROWN HQ (Feb. 15, 2007) -- Yesterday, comedian and
author Al Franken entered the race for the 2008 DFL nomination for U.S.
Senate. He will face an uphill battle, first for the nomination and
then for the full scale battle against incumbent Republican Sen. Norm
Coleman. State DFLers know and like Franken, but also remain skeptical
that he'll be able to switch gears from social commentary to being an
effective politician. They also know that his style might not play well
with the middle-of-the-roaders that liked Amy Klobuchar so much. He'll
need to prove he can be effective against opponents who drag up his old
risque comedy bits from SNL and his more provocative statements in his
books and radio broadcasts. If he can do those things, he would be a
strong candidate. If he can't, he's road meat and DFLers must find
someone else. (And please, God, not Mike Ciresi).
BROWN HQ (Feb. 14, 2007) -- Last night someone called
asking me for
my blood. It was one of those hired calling centers working on behalf
of the local blood center. It was about 9 p.m. and I was right in the
middle of some heavy work on my book project. This nice gal calls up
and asks if I would consider donating blood. "Over the phone?" I asked.
"Yes, well, actually we'll make an appointment for you right now," she
said. It was an unexpected question. I actually floundered for several
seconds making noises like "aaaaahhh" and "hmmmm." I said I needed to
think about it. This was a cold call asking for bodily fluids. I'm used
to telemarketers asking for money or political support, but not blood.
"Can you send me something first, so I can think about it?" I asked.
Remember, I was in the middle of something when she asked for my blood.
She didn't have the power to mail anything. I made more indescript
noises and took a pass. She tried to work on me, but I just wasn't in
the mood to do it that way. Today it's blood over the phone, what will
be tomorrow's fluid de jour?BROWN HQ (Feb. 13, 2007) -- Valentine's Day is, for
many, a day of obligation and for others a cruel reminder that they are
not in a relationship. There are those who love this holiday, but they
are busy right now gathering rose petals and getting tattoos that say
"I will love you, Kevin, forever and ever." (or perhaps something less
wordy and more affordable). For me, it's not a real holiday. I don't
get a day off of work and the government will deliver the mail. BROWN HQ (Feb. 13, 2007) -- St. Louis County -- the
geographically largest and most Iron Rangish county in the state --
considers a county wide smoking ban at its board meeting today. The
Minnesota state senate considered a statewide ban in committee
yesterday, with a vote expected soon. I wrote a column
in favor of a statewide workplace smoking ban on Sunday. It appears
that, with the exception of a few local leaders, most of our state
officials from the Range are going to vote against or otherwise water
down the language of the smoking ban. This isn't surprising. The ban
will still pass in some form, though, and in 10 years we'll all wonder
why we waited so long. A majority of the American population now lives
under a public smoking ban. I say again, it's not a personal choice
issue; it's a public health issue. Stay tuned.
BROWN HQ (Feb. 12, 2007) -- Believe me. I don't want
this to become an "energy issues" blog. That's going to get old fast.
But I was interested to hear on KAXE this morning that, by the end of
the year, Minnesota Power will have 100 megawatts of wind generated
power from 54 turbines in North Dakota on its grid. MP currently sells
about 42 megawatts of wind power. Spokesman Eric Olson was on with
Scott Hall on the KAXE morning show today. Olson pointed out that this
is not "baseline" power because wind power can't be counted on 24/7
(sometimes there is no wind). However, it is a useful and obviously
very clean way to generate power at peak times. Most people understand
that you can't rely on wind exclusively, but I do think many in the
power industry understate the ability of wind power to perform well on
the market. I think it'd be a much better use of resources on the Iron
Range to pursue wind power generation on the tips of our tallest mine
dumps than to take enormous risks on 1,000 megawatt coal plants,
gasified or not. I understand the need for baseline power, but with the
constant and unchanging trend away from carbon based power it would be
foolish to overbuild a expensive facility that uses coal. To borrow
from "Field of Dreams": If you build it; it will close. As wind
turbines and transmission lines become more efficient, the old
arguments against wind power fall away.(This is my Sunday,
Feb. 11 column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. It will air later this month as an essay
on KAXE)So when the issue
of
statewide smoking ban comes up this legislative session, as it has, one
might
expect me to again cite freedom of choice in opposing the ban. But this
issue
is not about freedom of choice; it’s about public health. As such, I
support a
public smoking ban in all
In as much as
possible,
people should be free to make personal choices. You may choose between
a greasy
burger and a salad, maxing out your credit card or pinching pennies. As
such,
people must also be subject to the consequences. That’s why we
shouldn’t ban
the sale of tobacco products. However, unlike using alcohol, using
tobacco
affects other people.
Government buildings have already banned smoking because of the liability of secondhand smoke. It’s been decades since office buildings have seen the clouds of smoke they once knew. Since the various agencies in charge of regulating workplace safety already impose standards that most people accept, this would simply be a modern addition to those basic rules. Workplace discrimination is unacceptable. Unsafe workplaces are unacceptable. Secondhand smoke, when preventable, is unacceptable too.
The state smoking
ban idea is
a public health issue, not an attempt to control what people do. You
may smoke
in your houses, your cars, outside, or in places where others have the
reasonable choice to avoid the smoke.
Local lawmakers have been cool, if not outright opposed to a restaurant smoking ban for many years. They have their reasons, usually related to freedom of choice. This year, for the first time, many of them are now acknowledging that a restaurant smoking ban is likely. This is a positive step.
Passing a total workplace smoking ban is not an easy thing to do.
Many
businesses, especially bars, will say that a statewide smoking ban is
going to
harm their businesses. The evidence just doesn’t back that up, however.
What
has been found in states that have already passed bans is that, after a
short
period of adjustment, establishments return to identical or even
improved
levels of patronage in a smoke-free environment. What is often
overlooked is
that new customers will often replace smoking customers.
You can’t change
the human
desire to go out and have a good time with friends or enjoy a meal in a
restaurant.
You can change the need to smoke while doing so. We live in a changing
world
and a workplace smoking ban is overdue.
I’m not going to
tug at your
heartstrings about the effects of secondhand smoke. Almost no one
disagrees that
second hand smoke is bad for public health and causes preventable
diseases.
It’s time for public laws to reflect this public fact.
Right now efforts
are being
made to pass a smoking ban in St. Louis County.
That’s a good start. The state legislature is also expected to visit
the issue
this year. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he would sign some form of a
statewide
smoking ban in public places. A workplace smoking ban would best be
handled at
the state level. It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s the right thing
to do.
HOST INTRO: We’re talking about the first kiss in honor of Valentine’s Day. KAXE contributor Aaron Brown shares his perspective.
AB: For a modest Midwesterner, kissing
is the ultimate breach
of personal space. Don’t get me wrong. It’s fun and far more hygienic
than
you’d think. But the first time one person gets it in their head to
lock lips
with another person, there’s a lot of pressure on getting it right.
That’s why people gather around on days like Valentine’s Day, anniversaries and slumber parties to recount the ordeal of their first kiss. For some, the experience is magical. For others, frightening. Some look back with laughter, others with longing. Those of us who watch TV might have seen a Victoria’s Secret ad in which the lingerie models tell stories about THEIR first kisses. Their stories were so sweet and innocent that you’d think you were hearing a group of church ladies … only church ladies usually wear tops. I think the universal quality of the first kiss story is what the Madison Avenue folks were after with the underwear ad. I suspect that most of these gals’ first kisses were with a modeling agent shortly after his helicopter landed in their remote Ukrainian village. That assertion, however, remains theoretical.
For the record, I married the first person I kissed successfully. I like to think that means I’m just that good. But for today’s purposes, I am left thinking about another experience. My first attempted kiss, which was not successful.
The world of literature could not survive without unrequited love. If everybody got the girl or guy or sometimes both, there would be no good poems, novels or songs to go around. During my high school years, I endured my share of unrequited love and in one failed conquest I drove 500 miles to tell a girl that I wanted to be more than friends. It was a long three days that could be summarized by the final 30 seconds. I leaned in for the kiss of true love, what was to be my first kiss, only I had no idea what I was doing. Do you aim for the lips? Is this all on me, or is she supposed to do something. Is she even remotely into this? With a flourish, she did the dreaded quick head turn – straight out of a shampoo commercial – as I barreled in … for the hug. You can’t rewind a hug. It was over. Wide right. Shanked it.
I got over it and went on to marry someone who kissed back, but I also still remember the occasion. And I still wonder for every first kiss how many failed kisses lie in the graveyard of unrequited love? Could they have ever been as wonderful as they were supposed to be?
HOST OUTRO: Aaron Brown is
an instructor at Hibbing Community College,
a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune and a contributor to KAXE.
BROWN HQ (Feb. 9, 2007) -- I'm on the air tomorrow
(Saturday) morning with an essay that will air on KAXE's "Between You
and Me" on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota and streaming online at www.kaxe.org. The show's topic this
week is "First Kiss" in honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day. I wrote
a piece talking about the great expectations of a first kiss and the
problems when your first attempted kiss
fails. And by "your" I actually mean "my." For a glimpse at young
Brown's botched love life, tune in. The show starts at 10 a.m. and
Heidi Holtan tells me I'm batting leadoff. I'll be in Bigfork judging a
speech meet when the essay airs. Then Saturday night I'm on stage doing
"comedy" at the HCC Community Showcase. See below for ticket info.
Sorry for all the plugging. Also, give blood and help kids do better in
school. There, now I feel better. BROWN HQ (Feb. 8, 2007) -- I mentioned this in passing
yesterday, but this Saturday, Feb. 10, I will be doing a stand up act
in the HCC Theatre Community Showcase. I'll be one of about 20 acts
ranging from music to poetry to juggling. I haven't done comedy on a
stage since my senior year of high school, but the director Mike Ricci
-- a friend of mine -- asked me and for some reason I agreed. I still
feel funny telling people I'm doing a comedy bit. It's like when the
chubby guy from accounting tells you he's an Ultimate Fighter. Many of
my columns and essays are humorous but I've never been able to convince
myself that I'm a comedian. I've got about seven minutes of material
written. It's "column" funny, but only time and an audience packed with
people waiting to see their children sing will tell.BROWN HQ (Feb. 7, 2007) -- I am a planner junkie. My
planner is on me like a shadow and that's how I like it. If I've talked
business, politics or major personal news with you in the past six
years your name is in my book and indexed by the date we spoke. I also
keep story and essay ideas stored by date. I use the Franklin-Covey
planner system, which is "fueled" by Stephen Covey's "The Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People." I have gone six years using the planner
without any training or reading the book, until just this month. The
system of personal organization, time management and goal-setting I've
developed is kind of like a bastard Frankenstein creature made from
stuff found in Covey's garage bin. If it could speak, it would probably
say, "Kill me." Today, for instance, is a very busy day for me. I've
not only filled out the 26 "Prioritized Task List" spaces in my planner
with a ranked to-do list, but also used the eight additional spaces
under "Daily Tracker" and even six more spots in the "Daily Notes"
area. Forty tasks! And I have no spirituality, no personal victories,
no exercise on the list. I even wrote down "Watch 'Lost' season
premiere" as a task. A TV show is my only personal enrichment task for
the day. Covey would so freak out on me. I know this because I finally
read his book for a leadership training program I'm in at work. I
definitely recognize the seven habits, and am living most or some of
all seven, but I am off track on some of the key habits. I'm so damn
entrenched in my Frankensystem now, that it's going to be hard to
change.BROWN HQ (Feb. 6, 2007) -- Since I've been commenting on
all the other presidential politics gossip, I'll comment on this
idea, too. What if -- after winning a Best Documentary Oscar for
"An Inconvenient Truth" as is expected -- Al Gore said in his
acceptance speech, "You know what, global climate change is too
important ... I'm running for President." WHAM! Instant media storm.
Hillary, Obama and my guy Edwards are put on camera going, "hummina,
hummina, hummina." (How do you spell hummina, hummina, hummina? This
represents my best guess). (This is my Hibbing
Daily Tribune column for Sunday, Feb.
4, 2007. A version also appears, or appeared, Saturday morning, Feb. 3,
on 91.7 KAXE for the "Between You and Me" program with Heidi Holtan.)
Hi, my name is Aaron and I’m a workaholic. I have been carrying my day planner to family functions for seven years. And, though few of us like to admit it, workaholics like me have a different perspective on the common cold than most people. For one thing, I don’t allow myself to be sick all that often. I’ll fight through stuffy or runny noses, coughs or aches because I’ve got things to do. Even when my voice sounds that of a 75-year-old tobacco lobbyist, I will be at the keyboard, in the classroom and on the phone.
Only when I get the hallucinogenic head colds – ganja colds I call them – do I stay home. In truth, those days, as medicated and miserable as they might be, are some of the only true vacation days I really take. They are the only days I eat soup on the couch, watch old movies on dusty VHS tapes from the basement, turn off the computer and snap shut my planner until the next day. Sure, I have other days off, but I always have things to do. Nothing suppresses that urge more than disease though, and in a strange way I enjoy my annual knock-me-down-flat cold.
You have to respect viruses. They are the Hell’s Angels of microscopic organisms. They’ll roll in and, when they do, you best just let them finish what they started. Only when they run their course can your body expel them. Just like a biker gang, they’ll own the place until they run out of glass to break and people to stab with the shards.
I do some of the traditional cold remedies – chicken soup and cran-raspberry juice – but I prefer to medicate myself and fall asleep in front of visually appealing but plot-light movies. The more abstract the movie the better. There’s something about watching “2001: A Space Odyssey” when you are hopped up on cold pills that improves the experience. Same thing with the TV show “CHiPs.” Ever see the episode where Ponch pulls over erstwhile children’s TV icon HR Puffnstuff? A swig of Nyquil is the only way that makes sense.
There’s an old “Saturday Night Live” commercial for a fake product called Hibernol. In the ad, you take Hibernol and sleep for months, while colds enter and leave your body at will, until springtime comes. If I weren’t so busy I might take Hibernol, so in that way it’s probably a good thing I’m a workaholic. Then again, when a cold seems to make the ceiling spin clockwise any medication just makes it spin counterclockwise. It won’t stop until you’ve napped.
On television we see wall to wall ads for products claiming they can stave off colds or help you go to work. It’s all garbage. When it comes to the common cold, science hasn’t found and won’t soon reach a total cure. When a knock-down cold comes your way, accept your fate. It’s a blessing in disguise. Stay home for a day and then go back to work. A cold is nature’s Taser gun. Don’t fight the Taser. Don’t try to work when your head is throbbing and office supplies on your desk seem like they’re waving at you. If you do, everything you accomplish will end up looking like John Nash’s workshop in “A Perfect Mind” anyway. Just sit back and heal. Those virus bikers will run out of drugs, money and gas soon. When they do, our immune system will pull up in the paddy wagon.
Get well soon.
BROWN HQ (Feb. 2, 2007) -- I'm not normally much for pop
culture events, but the Super Bowl is one of a few exceptions. Super
Bowl Sunday is a holiday, for all practical purposes, and the Browns
are active participants. A few friends are coming out to watch the
game, we're picking up some take out pizza and good times will be had
by all.