A rotten week

On the Monday following the Institute, I discovered that:

• I had a rip-roaring cold;
• the job that I had recently covered for an absent co-worker was not covered by said co-worker in my own absence;
• the major project that I'd left behind was not going to be done properly unless I did it myself, a fact that probably prolonged my cold because I ended up doing overtime instead of getting to bed early.
  

Remember the old tee-shirts that used to say, "My parents went to (fill in a country's name) and all I got was this _ _ _ _ _ tee-shirt"? Well, I barely got a gold-foil star. :( What a come-down from a wonderful vacation.