Le sigh. I was in the freakin' plane, with the propeller turning. Then my instructor got a call that freezing rain had started falling ten miles south and seemed to be moving north. (It came up fast, too. Nothing on the radar before we got in the plane, all over the place when we checked afterward.) So, anyway, there's the third flying lesson this month canceled. My instructor said he usually has 50-75 hours of instruction in by this time of the month, and this December he's managed 15.

So I came home, sanded my stairs and my neighbors', and walked the cat in the snow. Not a bad afternoon at all, but not what I'd planned.

And now it's sleeting. I hope the parents let us out of the house for our long-awaited celebratory drinkfest.

NC wintry weather xpost! And... You sanded your neighbors?

Dear Charter Cable
Thank you for being so generous to credit the $1.99 charge to pay my bill over the phone, seeing how the auto bill pay service you provide has neglected to actually pay my bill. And I hope you realize, when you ask me to take a brief survey at the end, I will not give favorable responses.

You sanded your neighbors?

How else would I make them all smooth and shiny?

[sneaks back to add vital apostrophe]

If it *is* pneumonia, it's not severe, and most likely not treatable with antibiotics (because of the lack of green snot or other proof of bacterial infection). So all I would do is treat the symptoms and keep an eye on it. Which I'm doing anyway.

Fwiw, Tep, pneumonia coughing is usually non-productive, which means you won't often see the snot. Graphic, but it was true for me. I had no idea how sick I was when they admitted me to the hospital. I saw nothing green, but it was bacterial pneumonia that needed crazy antibiotics. Get thee to urgent care! I worry.

Well, we went and had dinner with friends of my parents, and back to the house for cake, and we're all so tired and the weather is so crappy that we're postponing the drinkfest. We might watch a DVD. Besides, I've got my colleague's funeral tomorrow at one, and being hungover would not be ideal.

Get thee to urgent care! I worry.

I'm just afraid they'll treat me like I'm an idiot who came to urgent care just because I have a cold. Because I do have a lot of head congestion and that cough. When I talk, I sound all nasally, like a person with a cold does.

I'm afraid they won't take me seriously.

And I think Tim thinks I'm blowing this out of proportion. Maybe I am. So that really sucks. I'm totally doubting myself now. I've just never had my lungs hurt with a cold before, so it's a little scary.

Go to urgent care anyway, tell them you know it might just be a cold but it hurts and you want to be sure it isn't something serious. Bonus: get Tim to drive you there.

What Zen said. I only went in because ND made me, and it was a damned good thing he did. Worst case? They'll say it's nothing to worry about. But if you say your lungs hurt and you just want to rule out pneumonia, they will take you seriously. But they need to do a chest X-ray to know for sure.