Sartor resartused

Number of sport coats packed and worn on my six day trip to San Francisco: 2.

Number of overcoats worn (but brought) on my six day trip to San Francisco: 0. (The weather was perfectly clear except the morning I left, when there was intermittent rain.)

Number of shoes packed for my six day trip to San Francisco (for Dr. Write): 2 pair. A pair for fancy loafers and my new Adidas regular wear trainers.

Number of shirts spilled on during my six day trip to San Francisco: 2. Do I know myself or what?

Number of spilled-on shirts worn despite soilage: 1. Meh. It was night.

Number of pairs of socks left over: 2. Hmm.

Number of slacks not worn: 2. Go green!

Number of ties worn: 2. Perfect planning.

"Outfit" that got the best reception: light blue shirt, khaki pants, and 60's whacky black coat with bold fancy red stripe tie I bought on super closeout (5 bucks regularly 50) at Macy's two years ago with the afore-mentioned loafers.

Expense of said outfit: less than 20 bucks if you don't count the shoes. And the shoes were only 30 bucks original price 95. Close out is your friend. Price not on close out or as hand-me-downs (the wicked whacky sixties jacket) over 500, I think.

Clothes that prevented me from getting a nasty San Francisco flu: 0. I have finally recovered from it. I blame the vagrants. They just don't know how to dress.

Fascinating Fact #2: Vaccine

Did you know that vaccine derives from the Latin for cow? This is because the first vaccine was derived from "cowpox" to immunize humans against smallpox. Humans were treated with the cow (vacca) antibodies and they didn't get smallpox*.

Fascinating!

Vaccine, however, has nothing to do with vacation, which I am now on.

(Nota bene: not all fascinating facts will be about bacteria, but bacteria have been occupying my mind lately due to what I thought was the return of a hated sinus infection.)

*(Funny I originally typed "small box" there. Funny, that.)

Fascinating fact #1

Do you know how sulfa drugs (one of the first antibiotics) work? Well apparently certain cavorting wee beasties (also known as bacteria) need a vitamin that is similar in chemical construction to the sulfa drugs in order to survive. When sulfa is applied, the wee beasties think it is Thanksgiving and gorge themselves on the pseudo-food. As it turns out, bad luck for them, the sulfa compounds do not provide anything for the reproductive cycle and the bacteria end up childless and condemned to a lonely life in the bacterial equivalent of the old folks home and the grim reaper (in this case white blood cells), takes care of the rest. Therefore, no offspring: no infection.

Fascinating!