Is there a doctor in the house?

The words "I was sick" are kind of like the words "it got lost in the mail."
No one believes you.
Well, except your mom, of course.
But I'm going to try it anyway: The reason I didn't write a column this week is that I was sick.
I really was.
That's one nasty bug that's going around.
As I sit here Day 3 of this flu trying to get my act together enough to go to the office, I was wondering if there is something I could be doing, could have done to get better faster.
Anybody have any surefire remedies? (All they have to do is work half the time to be considered "surefire" by me!)
Thanks.
Also, are a lot of people out there sick?

Sit down (and don't kick my seat)

Click here for a video introduction to this story.

I can't believe that the parents who were kicked off a plane because their out-of-control 3-year-old was throwing a tantrum and wouldn't sit in her seat are actually ANGRY at the airline.
Talk about entitlement. Have you ever sat on a plane next to an out-of-control toddler or had one kick the back of your seat for hours?
Hey, I'm a mom. I know kids. I would never get angry if it was an infant crying. Little babies don't know any better; all they know is that they are miserable.
But, come on, a 3-year-old should be able to be told she has to sit in her seat or the airplane can't take off.
Do you know the story I'm talking about? A Boston couple was headed home from Fort Myers on AirTran Airways Jan. 14.
The plane sat at the gate for 15 minutes while the parents tried to get little Elly to stop climbing under the seat and pounding on them.
Finally, enough was enough.
"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.
The parents wanted to hold their daughter but were told no because FAA rules specify children age 2 and older must have their own seat and be strapped in before takeoff.
Even though the airline made the family get off that particular flight, it reimbursed the cost of their tickets AND offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies.
Know that the parents' response was? They said they are never flying AirTran again.
I say now that we know little Elly won't be on board, AirTran is definitely the way to go.

Decisions, decisions

We learned about a woman who fell into the cold lake water from a pier in Sandusky.
The woman just happened to be from Elyria.
AND, she just happened to be trying to go to the bathroom when she fell in (her companion told police).
We also had her name.
We thought we had two choices: Either use her name and not the fact that she was trying to pee when she went in OR tell the gory details and leave out her name.
We opted for the name and not the details.
Did we make the right decision?
(We did say it was 2:40 a.m. so readers could probably figure out that she most likely was not returning from the grocery store when she fell in.)

An angel with a stop sign

Oakwood Elementary crossing guard Frances Glinsey helps Rod Pereyra, 12, Derrick Stephenson, 12, and his brother Tyler, 12, across the street. Glinsey has been a crossing guard at the school for years and has become a favorite of the students.

I was walking out the back door of the newspaper office this afternoon when I saw an SUV pull into and out of a handicapped parking spot.
A woman climbed out and shut the door.
"He got a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot and he'll never do it again," the woman told me as she pointed to the man in the SUV.
Then she turned her attention back to me. She held up a piece of paper she had in her hand, "Where do I take a write-up?"
"A write-up? What kind of a write-up?"I asked her.
"They told me to bring it here," she said.
Here we go.
"They? They who?" By this time I knew she was the kind of person I could tease and she wouldn't get angry about it.
So we danced around the English language a little longer and I finally figured out who she was and at whose behest she was bringing us a "write-up."
Her name is Frances Glinsey and she has been a crossing guard at Oakwood School for years. She's not just a crossing guard, she's a beloved crossing guard and she was here to deliver a hand-written note signed "Parents and Kids and Oakwood Staff." It said in part:

"All the kids feel loved and safe going to school. We feel the Lord has sent Mrs. G our way and we are not going to give her up. Mrs. G is the nicest, friendliest and has gloves for kids who need them and gives out surprises throughout the year. We love the peace she brings to all of us and the love and care to our kids. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

In the short time I spoke with Mrs. Glinsey, it was easy to see why she would move parents to write such a heartfelt note. She was just a sweet, unassuming woman with a great sense of humor.

Be an editor -- how to follow Buckeyes

Every once in a while I scrunch up my forehead and shake my head -- whenever I think about the show put on by the Buckeyes last night. What WAS that? Sheesh. Troy the Timid couldn't get the ball to a receiver if his life depended on it.
Anyway, what is there left to say or to tell readers in tomorrow's paper? What would you like to read about the game -- or have you had enough?

One more sports question (Yes, I know this isn't a sports blurb but I can't help myself ... I live in an all-male, er, all-sportsfan household) ... Do you think Mark McGwire belongs in the baseball hall of fame? Was his refusal to answer steroid question enough to keep him out? Maybe that wasn't an admission of guilt, maybe he just didn't want to implicate his buds.

Hot on the trail of Brown and the Buckeyes

We're like CNN here today. We have correspondents all over the country. Reporter Joe Medici and photographer Jason Miller are in Wash., D.C., to watch Sherrod Brown turn from a congressman into a senator. Joe and Jason rode along with Sherrod Brown supporters who left on a bus from LCCC this morning. On tap tonight -- the eve of Sherrod's oath-taking -- is an intimate dinner party replete with fine china and linen tablecloths -- for, oh, about 650 people. We'll be there until Sherrod's people kick us out. (We've already been warned that the "Media" won't be welcome the whole evening.) Tomorrow, we'll be there for the swearing-in of Senator Brown. I told Joe to give us all the details, take us all to Washington with him. (That's when he told me about the fine china and the linen tablecloths.) I can't wait to see what he turns up.
While Joe and Jason keep an eye on Sherrod in Washington, Chris Assenheimer is keeping an eye on those unbeaten Buckeyes in Arizona. Chris will be sending back dispatches starting the moment he gets off the plane -- whenever that is. Chris, like everyone else I know who has flown in the last few weeks, has been delayed. He was delayed in Cleveland, then he was delayed on his connector out of Houston. But he promises to send us at least a glimpse of the Buckeye party-in-the-desert tonight.
Please let me know if there is anything this genuine (sheepskinned) Ohio State Buckeye can have her roving reporters -- in either camp -- find out for you. I can't guarantee they'll get an audience with Coach Tressel, but, hey, anything's possible.