A clue that you may be taking blogging WAY too seriously:

- When you wake up, curious and eager to check the site meter to see the reception of your latest blog post -- a post that is IMPORTANT, a labor of love, one of your best pieces ever -- in short, really, really good -- only to discover that it never happened; you just dreamt it.

Sure wish I could remember details of that post; what it was about and what I wrote.

What I do remember is that it was really, really good.

Damn!!! :(
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Diphenhydramine HCl + Phenylephrine HCl =

... about one step above a coma.

For my first spell in Houston (1964-1984), I could count on coming down with sinus problems and/or allergies about twice a year, usually following the same predictable pattern of a week or two of self-medication followed by finally giving up and going to a doctor to get a shot or something.

When I returned to Houston in 1994, for several years I didn't have this problem. Later, the old patterns returned.

When my job was outsourced in 2004, having a regular doctor was a luxury I simply could not afford. If things got bad enough, I would go to one of the many walk-in clinics we have down here.

A couple of years ago, on one of those occasions, I was prescribed a very expensive oral liquid containing the two ingredients of the title (The "HCl" is for "hydro-chloride"). It would have been about $80.00 for a four oz bottle. I don't recall what the brand name was, but CVS Pharmacies found a generic version for about $40.00. Still expensive, but Damn! - it was effective.

When you were suffering from a runny nose dripping mucus almost like water and dealing with it dripping down your throat, you'd swallow the dose (5 ml; maybe a couple of tablespoons worth) and begin feeling the mucus spigot turning off while the dose was still in your mouth. That's no exaggeration; I suspect it operates much like a nerve agent, perhaps being absorbed by the tongue.

About a year ago, during another bout, I went to CVS to see if I could get a refill, only to learn that neither the original prescribed drug nor its generic equivalent were still available. The girl I talked to looked up the ingredients  and then pointed me towards Delsym Night Time Cough & Cold medicine, for which I would not need a prescription.  Only $9.99 for a four oz bottle.

Every bit as effective as the prescribed version. But, it does pack a wallop. Diphenhydramine hydro-chloride is a key ingredient in many sleep aids.

The top line of this post (about "one step above a coma") is no exaggeration; I'm on it now, and just sitting here in front of the computer, composing this, is a Herculean task.

So, be careful with it. :-)
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"... you tend to write about zombies from time to time."

- That's news to me, unless you count some of my political posts. :-)

Got this astonishing email this morning ...
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Subject: Question about paulinhouston.blogspot.com

Hi there!

I stopped by paulinhouston.blogspot.com earlier today and noticed you tend to write about zombies from time to time. Because of that, I thought it might be worth it to share an article with you published by CB Structures Inc. with detailed information on how to prepare a barn or garage for the zombie apocalypse.

Check it out here:

http://www.cbstructuresinc.com/the-comprehensive-plan-for-surviving-the-zombie-apocalypse-from-your-pole-barn

If you have a second, I'd love to have you check it out and see if it may be of interest to your readers or tie into one of your upcoming stories. Or, if you'd be willing to share it with any of your fans and followers, that would be great, too!

Any questions, please let me know. It's also cool if you want to give me a call at the number below. And thanks for taking a second to check out this article.

Have a great weekend! Oh... and if you watch it, enjoy the premiere of 'The Walking Dead' on tonight!


J******* B****
ProspectMX
425 North Prince Street
Lancaster, PA 17601
PH: 717-***-***

To be CAN SPAM compliant, we need to give you an unsubscribe link... so here it is.
http://www.prospectmx.com/email-unsubscribe
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Now, this is an example of serendipity in blogging. I ask you, if given that line I used as my title, how could you not make a post of it in reply?

As far as I can determine, CB Structures is a legitimate outfit, headquartered in Pennsylvania, specializing in pole barns and various kinds of steel-frame structures.

Apparently someone in their organization with a sense of humor (is that allowed in business? :-) put up that page linked above. It is a fun read and you'll be going, "That even makes sense!".

I censored part of the sender's info because of the following ...

ProspectMX, LLC is an internet marketing services agency, established in late 2007, and I'm guessing that CD Structures Inc is one of their clients.

The email to me is almost certainly an attempt to get some exposure for their client, and I have to question their judgment in sending it to me. Let's face it: As much as I love my blog, my site is not Michelle Malkin's nor InstaPundit's; either of those will get more hits in a few minutes than the few hundred or so this post of mine will get in several months.

Also, the same Google search I used to get that info turned up this as well ...

http://www.ripoffreport.com/computer-marketing-companies/prospect-mx/prospect-mx-scam-artists-with-7e9d4.htm

It makes for interesting reading, but I'm not at all sure how much credence to give it.  It's mostly a "he said - she said" account that could be accurate, could be the gripes of a disgruntled employee, or a mixture of both.

I'm not in a position to recommend anything here except to read and enjoy the zombie apocalypse link above.

If you go beyond that, well, I didn't take you to raise. :-)
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THIS is unconscionable ...

... if this story is accurate.

From The Strata-Sphere ...

Deployed Military Having Serious Trouble Voting Absentee

Yesterday, I sent that link to every blogger I follow, hoping that someone with access to Romney's campaign would check it out and bring it to his attention if verified.

I'll see who I can find to send it to (while realizing that this would only be one tiny drop in a very large bucket).

Update 1520 CDT, Sun, 14 Oct 2012 - So far, the best ones I can think of to send that post to are my U.S Senators (John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutcheson - both Republicans) and my U.S. Representative John Culberson - also Republican -- if I lived a few blocks away, I would be in the district of Sheila Jackson Lee, in which case my appeal would be in vain.

It's not difficult to find contact pages for these people but, as they receive an enormous amount of email, they only accept such from people residing within their districts.

As the two senators each represent the entire population of Texas (over 25 million now), and Culberson only represents Texas Congressional District 7 (we have 32 now -- to be increased to 36 in 2013 ) with a population of a bit over 650,000, that suggests that he might get only about 1/40th the volume of email the others get. That makes him my best hope at the moment.

Anyway, I emailed them. So, we shall see.
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You CANNOT make this stuff up.

I dare you to even try.

The wit and wisdom of Obama deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter ...

Cutter: This Benghazi thing is only a big deal because Romney and Ryan won’t stop talking about it

What could one possibly add to that?
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