I've had a lot of good results with using the Cold-Eez zinc lozenges and zinc gum with easing sore throats. Don't know that they go away that much faster, but they sure are less bothersome. The only downsize with the zinc is that they make everything taste funny for an hour or two after.

You know, if there was a way to knock out your sense of smell reliably temporarily, it would be a great weight-loss procedure, because food loses a whole lot of attraction when you can't smell it.

Dear Auntie: The fact that you only show up on my facebook to complain about my politics makes you a giant bitch. And not the fun kind. Love, Me. PS: I know why my mother never liked you now! Filter me if you don't like it.

Don't people sniff something to temporarily reduce their sense of smell when dealing with, say, rotting corpses? I think I saw this on a cop show.

I believe that's Vicks Vaporub(of course, I know, right? Probably another reason my family finds me off-putting.)

In Silence of the Lambs they spread menthol under the nose and left it there during the autopsy.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking about.

It's just because they can't smoke cigars everywhere anymore....

Mmm, cigars. I used to go to the tobacco shop with my old boss so I could stand in the humidor and inhale.

I honestly could not want chocolate more than I do right now.

Dark chocolate is the best. But I may not be helping.