I have a cold. Just last night I proclaimed in another thread that I hadn’t been sick all that much this season, and then BAM, my body’s mucus factories decide to go into overdrive.
I’ve noticed that before I get a cold, I always see Puffs Plus commercials and think “pah! Why do these companies think I need super expensive tissues? Such petty materialism I shall not allow!”
But now that my nose is on fire and I feel like I’m blowing it with sandpaper? I would kill some motherfuckers just to get a box of Puffs. (I’ve tried them and really like them, so I’m not talking out of my ass.) It doesn’t necessarily have to be Puffs, I suppose, but the tissues damn well better be soft.
Ever since we bought a Roomba I think it’s one of the best household purchases we ever made. I used to think that it was a frivolous waste of money… until I beheld the Awesomeness of Roomba. I don’t have to vacuum anymore, EVER. I swear as soon as it gets nice out I’m going to Office Space the old Hoover. I named it Damien because it’s very tippy and over the years has fallen on me while I’m using the hand tools more times than I can count and pissed me right off. One time I was vacuuming the stairs and it fell over and bounced off of my head, hit my shin, and banged against my ankle. It took ten days for the bruises to go away. It’s like the “Christine” of vacuum cleaners.
In the morning I run Roomba for 1/2 hour or so and it roams around, sucking up an unbelievable amount of dog fur, dirt, dust, stray Cheerios, etc. The floors and carpet look clean beforehand but when I empty the debris tray it always has an amazing amount of stuff in there. It cruises along the walls and the spinning little brush doohickey works wonders.
I keep a stack of cloth diapers around for the few days a year I feel like you. I bought them brand new and store them all year long for one purpose, so I would call them frivolities.
In the Old Days, my first job after school was in an old-style drafting office. We drew schematics and plans in ink on Mylar. Among the tools was an electric eraser, which I thought was a ridiculous luxury until the day that I had to do a lot of erasing…
If you have some lip balm, take a nice hot shower and exfoliate your poor nose. Then, while the skin is still a bit damp, put some lip balm on it. It’ll feel better and heal a lot quicker. If you can wash your nose every time you blow it and apply more lip balm, that’s good.
I’d add a smartphone (iPhone, Android, whatever). The usual argument from people who don’t have one is “Who needs a cell phone to do anything other than to make calls?” Until you have one and see all of the things you can do with it.
Oh yeah.
I’m old enough to remember when TV remotes and microwave ovens were new-fangled things and I couldn’t fathom why anyone needed such a thing in their lives.*
Flash forward to now and you’ll have to pry my smartphone from my cold, dead fingers.
I’ve had the joy of getting the flu for the first time in my almost 54 years - twice in the last three months. So I think that I’m probably covered for 2011-2012 flu strains, but next season I am getting one of those frivolous, new-fangled flu shots.
*Also back in the early 1990s when home computers were not such a common thing, I knew a couple of people who had them. “Why spend $2,000 [PCs cost at least that much back then IIRC, in 1993 dollars] for something that lets you send “email” when you can just call the person up?”
I don’t have a microwave or TV full stop. I didn’t get a mobile phone 'til a few years back, as I used to consider even “making calls” an optional indulgence.
Concur on the smart phone. Until recently, I scornfully proclaimed that I just needed a phone to send and receive calls. Then I got a Droid…
Re: pricy tissues and ouchy noses. A pack of cheap unscented baby wipes is a good and glorious thing. Soft enough for baby’s delicate bum, strong enough to tackle poop or snot, lanolin infused to soothe your poor nose. (Also handy for an on-the-go shoe shine or polishing furniture when the in-laws are 15 minutes away, incidentally. And for removing gum from hair, as I found yesterday when the dog stepped in a glob of it. And for wiping baby’s butt.) I also keep a tube of lip balm in my purse that’s just for my nose.
Yeah, but here’s the deal. The controls on my stereo were built for nimble-fingered toddlers, and there are no push button station selectors, either.
I can reach down for the remote and perform any number of functions by touch without taking my eyes off the road.
Plus, the remote sits on the middle console, about two inches from where my right hand rests naturally when I’m driving (I know, I know…two hands on the wheel). So it’s actually closer to my hand than the in-dash unit is.
Hell, one of the best things I’ve found mine for is when I’m traveling for work, and I have to remote in to our server. There might not always bee wifi where I am, so having the ability to “tether” to my phone is a Godsend.
Though my manager has said their looking into getting me one of those Verizon USB cell-modem things, but knowing how people drag their feet on things like that, it could take a year or two.
(Although I think those things have a sensor that prevents them from going over the edge of stairs, the mental picture from Sailboat’s description was hilarious.)
Voice recognition on my iPhone. I have an older iPhone, the 3GS, so it’s not as elegant as Siri, but I can control my music selection with my voice. Which is very handy while driving my car, as I listen to the music on it through my car stereo. When I’m stopped at a light (yeah, right ;)) all I have to do is hold the home button and speak the name of an artist or playlist and it will start to play that music without my having to look at the screen and sort through the menus.
