Half A Shout Out

Hey Stuart, its Mel the metallurgical entrepreneur here saying a belated thank you for the shout out! I was a little perplexed when I read your post but seeing as I couldn't see any way of your knowing of my existence, apart from the lovely Stephen who I'm sure has better things to do than tell strangers about my predicament (like, say, marking essays?!), I naturally assumed you were referring to another unlucky Mel and that perhaps a change of name would bring about a reversal in my fortunes, as the antibiotics I was on certainly weren't doing the trick! So now I feel rude for not saying thanks earlier (thats mostly your fault Stephen for assuming I'd be bright enough to know he was talking to me!). So anyway, thanks for the get well wishes.
You're right its never good being ill, especially when you're a student and thus don't even have the satisfaction of missing out on an honest days work. However, it has brought me to some places I never would have visted had I been healthy, namely your site and an inordinant amount of internet shopping! The aforementioned Stepehen sent me a link to your site a couple of months ago when I told him about my best friend who moved to Philly to be with her husband, however, I was too busy/lazy to follow it. But now I'm hooked and you've provided me with another method of procrastination to add to my list, so thanks! No really, I've very much enjoyed reading yours and Krissa's sites and I'm sure they'll continue to keep me up late into the night when I should be crafting essays on the white-hot furnace of my laptop!