I will be so glad when Rudder is better - mostly for his sake, of course, but also for mine. I've been sleeping in the guest room for four days now, at his request (though he meant it for my own good). I've slept with earplugs the past couple of nights, partly because even two rooms down I can still hear his coughing, but also because the guest room is much closer to our heat pumps and they always wake me when they come on. (Fortunately, that's not until an hour or so before I have to wake up anyway; we have a programmable thermostat.) Also, the cats have both been sleeping with me - I guess Rudder's coughing bothers them too - and since this bed is a queen instead of a king they keep trying to sleep around the level of my knees, instead of down past my feet, which makes it difficult to turn over.
And then every conversation begins with "I feel like CRAP!", and the part about trying to figure what I can bring him to make him feel better (this is from my own caretaker side, not his request), the lack of company or anyone to snuggle with, and most annoying at all, the part about trying to get dressed almost in the dark so as not to disturb him more than necessary. I've been keeping my erg clothing in the erg room so I can change in there instead of in our bedroom. If he's still sick tonight, maybe I should lay out my work clothing for tomorrow as well. This is all getting very very old, though of course it's still not as bad as being the one who actually feels like crap. Poor Rudder.
So far, so good with the new cubemate. She talks the right amount (enough that I don't feel like I'm interrupting her work when I say something or like I'm talking to a blank wall, not so much that I can't get my work done) and shares the right amount about herself (enough that I think maybe we can be friends or at least work-friends, but not an unprofessional amount or TMI). She's an engineer by education, from a good enough school that it's safe to assume she got at least a somewhat-rounded education (as engineering educations go). And as I said, she's a rower - it's generally safe to assume that I have a lot in common with any female-engineer-rower. I haven't seen any evidence that she's a reader yet, but I can't expect perfection - and anyway, it's only been a few days. At any rate, it's nice to have someone around who can sympathize about split ends and erg pieces.
Concept II Holiday Challenge: 143, 400 meters left, or something like that (I need to check my math).
Today I am thankful for: not having caught what Rudder has!