That’s me who’s sick, not the computer. I’m pretty sure it’s viral: Sore throat, slight cough, aches and malaise but no fever. Blech. This is one of those times when it’s not good to be single. If someone else were here I could ask him to please go get me a box of Popsicles.

I wanted to write something staggeringly clever and original but after a day of research/interviews for my day job, I’m feeling somewhat battered. Also acutely aware that I leave in, um, 13 days and have to turn in a lot more work unless I want to be writing from the Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel. (Hint: I don’t.)

I’m going to bed early. The rest of you can read.

The price of everything at I Pick Up Pennies

Recently my daughter noticed she was having trouble swallowing. This perplexed her until she realized what day it was: Jan. 21, the anniversary of the day she wound up in the ICU back in 1998.

What put her there was Guillain-Barre syndrome, an auto-immune disease that attacks the peripheral nervous system and, in Abby’s case, paralyzed her right up to her eyeballs and nearly killed her.

I didn’t have a lot of reading time this week because I stayed in Chicago for a few days after attending SaveUp 2010. Thus my recommended reading list is short and sweet.

A cheaper Christmas? at I Pick Up Pennies

Get a bigger check from Social Security at Kiplinger’s (hint: timing is everything)

25 a-peeling uses for fruit and veggie scraps at The Daily Green

Bulk buying and cooking for singles at My Friend Kelly

Income distribution and inequality in the United States at The Digerati Life

Backing up your information for nothing at Almost Frugal

The random number generator chose Deedee as the lucky recipient of the soap-and-germ package. Yes, she gets her very own stuffed cootie to go with all that laundry detergent and softener.

It occurred to me, belatedly, that the little guy’s picture might be available on the Internet somewhere. It was:

Here’s today’s word, and it’s a funny one: gofobo. (Try saying it five times, fast.) This movie-mad site offers access to free screenings, contests and events.

I’d been planning to write about free movies but my daughter beat me to it. Well, at least she got me off my dime. Which, of course, means saving you some dimes. Lots of them. I’ve paid as much as $10.25 for a matinee ticket in Seattle.

As Abby notes in the blog post linked above, gofobo is chronically last-minute; you might have 24 hours or less to respond.

“Still, what’s the worst that happens? You get an offer on a movie you can’t go to,” she writes. “I’d say that’s one of the smaller tragedies in life.”

About that $10.25 ticket: It was a business expense. Otherwise I would have used a freebie. Here are some other ways to get them.