I’ve been sick for the last few days, and I gotta tell you the whole “So, you have the swine flu?” thing never gets old. Do I have the swine flu? Probably not, but I did share a bottle of champagne with a newly wed couple from San Jose, California, last Saturday on the roof of the Hotel Elliot in Astoria. So… Pig pox? Pork Pneumonia? Bacon Ebola? Who knows? My guess is that it’s just your average, run of the mill flu

The funny thing about having the flu during a pandemic panic is that people give you wide berth. Try handing money to someone in the checkout stand after they’ve rung up your thera-flu, chicken soup, and ultra soft Kleenex. Ain’t gonna happen! Receiving furtive, half-wild looks as you sniffle through an editors meeting? Sure thing! Wife not coming within four feet of you despite that whole sickness-and-health clause? Good times! And forget about doing a restaurant review.

So, as I sit here in my house with a panoply of folk remedies, various charms and fetishes, and an intense arsenal of syrups, tablets, powders and gel caps, I try to find ways to make my time in exile worth while. Aside from prank calling the Willy Week with accusations of gay sex between Storm Large and Amanda Fritz (does that qualify as fan fiction?), I’ve fallen in love with the internets again, but mainly with Hulu.

If it weren’t for Hulu, I would not have remembered that Bosco is the first name of Mr. T’s character in the A-Team, or that my favorite angel was Kate Jackson, or that I always wanted to drive a cigarette boat like the ones in Miami Vice. In fact, aside from the occasional pop culture reference, the joy and wonder of late seventies and early eighties action television dramas would have passed me by like so much refuse in the LA River after a sudden deluge. Thank god Hulu has brought it back. And for the most part, these older episodes are commercial free, which makes watching them on-line even more bearable.

I’m still digging, and I can’t wait to see what I find on Hulu next. Oooooohhhh! Charles in Charge!