Can you hear me NOW?

I am teaching a 3-day class in N Wales, PA this week, a.k.a. Boringsville. The students are terrific. Too bad I can't say the same for myself.

I flew in Monday, and had the beginning of a cold (thanks again, daycare- loveya!). What should have taken 3 hours from my house to the hotel in PA was really more like 12 hours. Thunderstorms in the NE meant everything was delayed. I got to the hotel after midnight and had to be at the site by 8am. Yes, it would have been faster to drive. I slept like a newborn-- as in, woke up every 45 minutes and wanted to cry a lot.

(Not much sleep) + (a cold) + (talking for 8 hours straight) = ... Well? Come on, you know this one. That's RIGHT! Laryngitis. By the end of the day I was sotto voce, and by this morning, I was completely mute. Thank goodness I've been studying sign language! Oh wait-- nobody ELSE knows sign language. Losers. The next person who asks if there's a reason we're whispering is gonna get the letter "S" right in the nose.

The only saving grace is that I do have the best colleagues IN the WORLD, and they scrambled to set up a live internet conference so that an instructor in NC could teach remotely on my behalf. I supplemented her lecture with some equations on the board, mostly so I'd have something to do. I drank a quart of green tea with honey and lemon every hour. What goes in must come out. It's been a rough day.

Still no voice tonight, and one more day of class to go. I am hoping that by morning, my voice will have magically returned. How long does laryngitis usually last?

If you don't feel sorry for me yet, here's one more: the only thing on HBO tonight was a Mr Bean movie. I've been known to slog through To Justin From Kelly in moments of lonely desperation while on the road, and I'm not proud. But even I won't sink as low as a Mr Bean movie.