Been too long since I last posted here. I have a couple blog code updates I need to work on here that will hopefully make managing images easier, so then I can post more often. Also went to Disney World this past week, so expect a post or two about that soon too

Well, it finally happened. After dodging it for two and a half years, I caught covid. At first it felt like a normal sinus infection. Monday: Congestion in one nostril, slight sore throat. I didn't think anything of it because I feel like that at least once a year and it's always a sinus issue. After work however, I suddenly started feeling a lot worse, and texted my boss that I'd be taking a sick day on Tuesday. That night came the chills, aches, and an even stuffier nose.

The next morning, I felt like crap. So I took my first covid test. Sure enough, bright pink line. I was pregnant (/s).



Over the following days, I had a fever that felt like it lasted forever, cough, and diarrhea. Fever cleared up Wednesday night, but I still felt a bit off come Friday, so I went to get checked out just to be safe, and I was prescribed Paxlovid. At the time of this writing, I've taken three doses so far and it seems to be helping. My energy level today was almost back to pre-covid levels, and I just felt better in general. Whether this was due to the medication or the natural progression of recovery, I can't say, because I had been slowly feeling better little by little since the fever wore off. However, I do feel like the recovery rate may have been sped up simply because of how much better I feel today.

Now, a little bit about Paxlovid. Each dose is three pills, and you take one dose in the morning and one at night. The two pink pills are nirmatrelvir which is the actual drug that's supposed to do the heavy lifting. The white pill is ritonavir which is there to slow the breakdown of the other medication. You must start taking it within five days of symptom onset.



Paxlovid seems to be helping me, but with one very annoying downside: the taste. You don't taste anything when you take them, but after the drugs start to enter your system, you get a nasty taste in your mouth; something of a mix between chemicals and bad grapefruit. This lasts for hours, and when you take it at night, you will wake up with a nasty taste in your mouth. So far, hard candies, drinking sips of water, and saltines have helped cut down on the bad taste a bit.

I'll post another update on my progress in a few days. Unfortunately, my parents are also showing many of the same symptoms I had, and my mom also tested positive. My father took two covid tests, however, and both came back negative. But since he's having the same symptoms as my mom and I, it's pretty safe to assume he has it too.

For now, peace out.

Well it's been almost two months since I last updated this blog. I guess now is as good a time as any to make an update.

I started an internship doing IT work at Brooklet Elementary School, and it's going very well so far. They're talking about hiring me to do some contract work after my internship ends! Hopefully it will eventually lead to a full-time position, but if not, at least I can make some money for the holidays and it's another thing I can put on a resume.

I'm still working on my archive of America Online member areas, and I found a couple neat areas just the other day. AOL is changing some mail settings today and AOL Instant Messenger is going away on December 14th, so it will be interesting to see what happens with the old AOL service. I hope it sticks around so I can keep discovering more abandonded areas, but there is less of a reason for me to use the AOL software with the instant messaging going away. I liked having my e-mail and IMs all in one place (even though AIM is pretty empty these days). Here's a little preview of what will be in the AOL Archive:



My ThinkPad 600 is finally running Windows 95, after a long process trying to get the drivers installed. The PC card drivers wouldn't "stick" until I reinstalled Windows and set everything up in a certain order. Installing the PC card drivers after everything else caused them do disappear after a reboot, for whatever reason. I also got another dev server, since the one I had been using bit the dust.

So yeah, that's what's been going on here. Lots of new and exciting things. Oh, and don't forget to check out my newest section, nick99nack's CD Universe!

November is finally over. I repeat: November is finally over!

It seemed like the month that would never end. Between school, Thanksgiving (which I didn't even get to spend with my family this year), roofers, contractors, being sick *twice* and still not having a bedroom since the storm, it's finally over. Thank God.

I just have a few finals to take, and then I'm off to Orlando! After that, back to NJ to spend time with family for Christmas and New Years, which I'm very much looking forward to. Elly was supposed to go to Florida with me, but she just got a new job and will unfortunately have to miss it .

December is going to be a busy month. I wanted to do some cleaning up of this site (it's a mess behind the scenes. There's code all over the place), but I may have to wait until the new year. That being said, I'm looking forward to this month. I sure hope it's a good one!

NH