Deer Cardinal,
Everyone I know is sick! The people I usually spend a lot of time with—my boyfriend, my roommate, my lab partner—have all come down with a cold. How do I keep in touch with them without falling ill myself? I have a huge presentation coming up in a week, and I really can’t afford to get sick.
—Irene
Illness-free Irene,
Staying healthy around this time of year can be challenging, but with a few precautions, you should be able avoid this icky illness that’s going around.
To begin with, start boosting your immune system by drinking supplements. I’m not talking commercial crap. Instead, three times a day, chug down a homemade lukewarm shake of blended orange, lemon, clam juice and Brussels sprouts. This blend works like a charm, plus the packaged supplements taste awful!
If your roommate is sick, you’ve gotta be careful around the house. Take no chances when it comes to touching anything your roommate may have touched. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and keep your arms and hands covered at all times. If you don’t have gloves, oven mitts will do just fine. To protect your eyes, cover them with the safety goggles you use in your lab.
With regard to the boyfriend, I recommend scaling down to eighth-grade-style relationship where you communicate exclusively via instant message. If you absolutely must see him in person, don’t leave home without hand sanitizer, disinfectant and, just to be extra cautious, a can of Off! Deep Woods. Bathe in Purell immediately after you part ways.
As for your workplace? The only fair thing to do is leave the lab work to the partner this week and catch up on what you missed later.
That’s all I’ve got. Stay well!
Deer Cardinal,
I’m figuring out my schedule, and there are two courses I really want to take, but I only have room for one of them. Can you help me make my final decision?
—Carl
Conflicted Carl,
I’m happy to help you out, but only you can decide which courses are right for you. What I’ll do is give you a few things to consider. Here they are.
1—Final exam schedule: If you’re really torn, and both classes will be equally meaningful to you, make your decision based on something superficial, like which class finishes sooner. But then again, wouldn’t you feel super dumb if the class ended up being horrible and you picked it because of the final date…
2—Location: How accessible is the classroom? Will you have to huff up Bascom Hill every day just to get to it? Maybe the class is in the Humanities Building and you’ll never be able to find it in the first place. But at the same time, if you really love the material, shouldn’t you be willing to walk for it? You tell me.
3—Group projects: If you can access the syllabus, try to find out whether there’s a group project. On one hand, you might gain valuable insight on the subject matter by working in a group. On the other hand, do you really want to be going back and forth over a Google Doc with three people you hate twice a week for the course of the semester? It’s up to you.
Well, Carl, get pumped up for the exciting schedule that awaits—unless you pick the wrong class, in which case, ugh, the cold spring will be dread city.
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