when all you want to do is...

... curl up and die! i am so sick of being sick - from thursday night to sunday evening i was aching, coughing, spluttering, the head was pounding, i had chills and flushes and spent most of the time in bed - yep, i just wanted a quick death to stop feeling so terrible...

this bug has been going around for ages and just keeps on keeping on... and no, it's not just me - it's affecting other colleagues too... perhaps we're suffering from sick building / sick office syndrome - 'my' office is an open-plan affair  - it's small, i mean really, really small considering there are 5 people sharing it, using computers all day, (along with other testing processors turned on more often than not) and all emitting their electromagnetic radiation (and hey, i'm 'lucky' if i sit a foot away from the back of a minimum of 2 processors!)...

the office also comes complete with air-conditioning (that fluctuates between way too hot or chilly, chilly cold - but alas necessary for 'air movement' when there are 3 young men with their 'boy hygiene' in the office - not casting aspersions here, everyone tells me this, male and female alike!), locked down windows (no fear of anyone falling out an open window here!), fluorescent lights, probably mould spores  and food crumbs in the carpet, etc. etc... we all get sick - perhaps rather than using our own sick leave anything 'flu-ey' should be covered by workers compensation - after all, we probably wouldn't be sick if we worked in a healthier environment...

according to an article Open-plan offices are making workers sick, say Australian scientists some believe we should re-think the open-plan idea and perhaps go back to the old-fashioned small office or partitioned space - wow, noise absorption and the semblance of privacy allowing concentration on your own work (some distractions are more than welcome, but sometimes you need to focus and constant noise and activity can really affect your thought processes!) - now that appeals to me!!! (funny how the majority of top-level managers in most workplaces still have a private office - no wonder they didn't 'join the exodus' to the open plan model, they would have lost their access to natural light, fresh air and personal headspace!)