Our record eighteen months without a sick day has come to an end! I've been fighting it off for a week but I woke up this morning sounding, and perhaps also looking, like Ian McKellen.

Jackson is cuddled up next to me watching Pokemon for the next seven hours, he hopes. This 24-hour cartoon network crap is bullshit. When I was a kid home sick I watched adult-themed game shows in the morning, listened to top 40 radio while the soap operas were on in the afternoon, and prayed I wouldn't fall asleep and miss Gilligan's Island at 3:30.

The proof: a weekday TV schedule from The Denver Post circa 1978, previously blogged with the same dull insight here.

Anyway, I'm good. I've got a fuzzy robe and a laptop. And a list!

Books piled on and around my desk waiting to be read, almost all of which were gifts or trades except the ones I bought for "research" (write-off!), and also our local library is terrible, and who has the patience to log all of this on Goodreads?

1. A Short History of Nearly Everything (currently reading -- love it, plus it's the perfect supplement to all the first-grade solar system facts Jackson's been coming home with)

2. Dogs (antique photos, a birthday present from my friend Pam)

3. The Brief History of the Dead (sent by a nice woman last year)

4. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (sometimes it's nice to know publicists)

5. Birds of America (haven't been able to get too excited about this)

6. The Golden Compass (tried to read this to Jackson but the vocabulary was a stumbling block -- we'll try again next year)

7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (thanks again, Laurie!)

8. Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems (Christmas present from my mother-in-law off my wishlist -- that's an interesting link, by the way)

9. Yoga Anatomy (always looking for new ways to figure this shit out)

10. Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born (research!)

11. Mommy Wars (write-off!)

12. The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art (research, and also that link is HILARIOUS)

13. Eats Shoots and Leaves (present from JenB)

14. Freakonomics (also from JenB! I will read them soon, I promise! I crave nonfiction)

15. Father Knows Less (another publicist freebie, started reading it during Jackson's soccer practices last fall but abandoned it in favor of actually paying attention to my son)

16. The Wealthy Barber (for online book group -- badly written financial freedom in '08! Go us!)