Got a flu shot tonight. The first of my life.

Flu shots are another of those items that I’ve always categorized as “for old people.” I’ve always figured I’m tough enough to survive the flu.

But I got the flu last winter, and my reasoning changed to, “Yeah, I could survive the flu, but I, uh… would have a problem working it into my busy schedule.”

On the plus side, from all I’ve read over the decades, the flu vaccine seems to only be correctly targeted about once every three years.

More news below, for those of you who never get enough of listening to middle-aged men describing their ills…

I gave up my CPAP machine a couple weeks ago.

For those of you who hadn’t joined us a year or two back, when I acquired my very own sleep prosthetic, a CPAP machine is one of those devices that pumps air into a face mask so that a sleeper doesn’t snore, and doesn’t wake himself up several times a night doing it.

I was told from the beginning that I was a borderline case, but the people at the sleep center assured me that the CPAP would fix my acid reflux, help me lose weight, lower my cholesterol, and decrease depression.

Of those four goals, the regimen actually achieved… let me see. Not quite one.

And I had the sickest year I’ve spent in my adult life.

For this I paid several thousand bucks, plus the incidental costs of replacement masks and tubes, filters, distilled water and vinegar for cleaning.

When this last mask broke (and it wasn’t very old) I asked myself whether I was willing to pour another C-note down that hole. The answer wasn’t hard.

Oddly enough, I feel much better since I’ve gone back to snoring. I feel like I have more energy. I feel less like I’m fighting a bad cold all the time.

A medical miracle!