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There was a British band back in the '90's called the Candyskins of which my buds and I were, and still are, fans of. Brit pop-rockish with excellent hooks and engaging lyrics to paint colorful mental pictures, the band was easy to listen to and their songs could get stuck in your head for days.

They could have been bigger, but plagued with record company woes they never really got the support to put them over the top. They're most successful song Feed It made it onto the soundtrack for the Adam Sandler movie The Waterboy.

We actually had the pleasure of seeing them under St. Andrews Hall at the Shelter in Detroit in the late '90's. It was a great show, with a small crowd, and we were lucky to chat with some of the band members before the show -- which led to Ryan getting on stage and playing guitar on a song of their's we'd been covering in our band for years. Good times...

I would highly recommend trying to get a hold of a copy of any of their albums. They still have a myspace page where a few songs and videos are posted.

So... Because I had the Candyskins bug the other day, I was surfing and came across Mark Cope's Nine Stone Cowboy. Mark was the guy who let Ryan play his guitar at the Shelter gig. So I thought, "Hey, I loved the Candyskins, I know I'll like this..."

Well, I previewed a couple of songs on iTunes, downloaded the album, and pretty much shelved it after one listen. Have you ever listened to a band that over-uses a certain audio "effect" throughout a whole album to the point of it getting annoying?

It's disappointing. Maybe it'll grow on me. And maybe the Candyskins will magically reunite.

Why the hell I have the Bee Gees' "How Deep is Your Love" stuck in my head is driving me insane.

It's a good thing I don't own a gun.

Not a good start to the day.

OK. So I go to the doctor with no symptoms but a sore throat. After waiting an hour with 13 other fellow coughing, sneezing, hacking, and slobbering humans, the doctor walks in spends approximately 23 seconds looking in my ears and at my throat to declare one ear is infected and the other one's completely blocked and "here's your prescription".

Following this curt diagnosis, a nurse comes in and spends 45 minutes flushing my ear out which knocks my equilibrium for a loop so I then can barely stay upright in the chair.

A two hour doctor appointment and the following day I finally get the sneezes. Now HERE's the cold. Go figure.

There are colds of which hit you like a ton of bricks, stuffing your head and then dropping down to your lungs, to leave you hacking for a week or so after a couple of days of pain.

There are colds of which barely phase you like a mild case of sniffles with a few sneezes here or there. Your nose might get a little raw from blowing and wiping, but once you're past the itchy part you can deal with it.

Then there are the weird colds you're never prepared for.

For the last couple of weeks I'd blamed my "dry" throat on a "dry" house. It wasn't until yesterday morning I finally proclaimed my "dryness" in reality a cold composed of symptoms I don't remember having in recent years. It pretty much just feels like a majorly dry throat which won't go away.

Lots of water. Lots of cough drops. Lots of hand washing and sanitizer. Lot's of being careful around a new baby.

And I'm not the only one. Half our family has been down and out over the last month.

Gotta love the cold and flu season.