At the risk of sounding like the US federal government, let me suggest everyone consider getting their annual flu shot. I say this because I didn’t heed my mother’s advice to get one like she did two weeks ago and guess what. My dad and I both have the flu while my mom is just fine. It’s usually a good idea to listen to mom.

There’s absolutely nothing pleasant about having the flu. The headaches, body aches, fever, chills, and congested nose aren’t pleasant. The temperature changes are the most annoying aspect of the flu this far. Despite being dressed very warmly, my body will suddenly get the chills and five minutes later, I could be sweating due to some mysterious hot flash.

With the current season of shows coming to an end in a couple of weeks, it’s got me savoring every bit of the new shows right now. Seeing Mike back in the Bering Sea to start off the show seemed a little weird since we knew Mike filmed that job several months ago, along with a bunch of other Bering Sea jobs.

Cleaning out the fish grinder probably didn’t make it into the other episodes because there wasn’t much value to the shot to be honest. It was such a brief job that we didn’t get to know much about the fella Mike was working with and the job itself was so insignificant that it probably belonged on the cutting room floor (hence why it wasn’t in the previous episodes).

As for the titular job of the evening, I enjoyed seeing Mike getting in dirty, potentially dangerous positions. Mike is no stranger to working around wood and power saws. It wasn’t that long ago that we saw him make shakes and shingles for another company.

However when it came to tonight’s job, it was considerably safer… if of course you discount that crooked log that nearly took Mike’s head off when he tried to run it through the de-barker. Ouch. I flinched watching that scene.

Watching Mike operate that rickety old crane was a riot. Discovery clipped it down quite a bit, however. In the extended version of that scene below, you can see Mike really struggle with the operation of that particular piece of machinery.

Watching scenes where Mike needs focus and concentration, coupled with excellent short-term memory makes me honestly wonder how much longer Mike’s going to continue with the show. Dirty Jobs is still a financial success for Discovery so I think it’ll go on for as long as Mike is willing to do the show.

What worked best about this episode, and really every other episode, is Mike was able to connect with the workers and have a good time. I particularly enjoyed the work he did with the drawing knives with the two younger employees (Kim and Shannon, I believe). The guys had a few laughs as they told Mike about what their days are like: drinking coffee in the morning, going to work, leaving to have a beer and then do some fishing.

It’s those lighter, honest moments that still make Dirty Jobs so much fun to watch after a 100+ episodes.

Dirty Jobs’ current season is about to come to a stop for a while very soon. With just a couple of episodes left until the next hiatus, we find Mike Rowe and the gang back in the Bering Sea, aboard a fish processing plant. We’ve seen Mike there before, but there seems to be an abundance of dirty jobs for Mike to tackle aboard those vessels.

Afterwards, Mike heads to the Rapid River Rustic Mill to lend a hand with debarking, peeling and processing wood for a cedar log cabin.

Check out the videos below for a hint of what Mike’s latest apprenticeship is like.

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We’ve all grown accustomed to seeing Mike Rowe promote Ford and Lee Jeans, but get ready for Mike to get involved with Viva Brand Towels now. In fact, his parents will also be involved in the new marketing campaign.

“Featuring Mr. Rowe’s parents in a national campaign is a first,” said Geoffrey Golub, Viva brand manager. “No one knows better how to clean up after Mike than his parents, and in reality they are loyal Viva brand towel users.”

“Mike Rowe is the perfect partner for us to showcase our unique product design – begging the question, if Viva brand can handle Mike Rowe’s messes, just think of what it can do in your home,” said Golub.

“To be honest, I was surprised to get the call. I’m not exactly known for my commitment to cleanliness or my devotion to paper towels,” said Mike Rowe. “But the concept for the spot was really clever and frighteningly authentic. And the chance to get chased around on camera by my actual parents was frankly, irresistible.”

Airing from Feb. 14 to May 31, 2011, the television advertisement will run on both cable and national networks on a variety of shows including “The Today Show,” “Late Show with David Letterman” and “Top Chef.” The integrated marketing effort also includes FSI’s, retail shelf talks and online components including the branded website and social media efforts such as Facebook.

Mike Rowe’s latest job takes him to the salty air of the ocean as he attempts to bring sponges to the surface. As we can see in the preview clips below, shooting tonight’s episode is made more difficult by cumbersome gear and a strong current. I feel sorry for Troy. The poor guy just didn’t see it coming.

After the boys finish their high-seas adventure, Mike answers viewer mail and shows another instance of small details which can confound and frustrate him as he does battle with a metal fence post at an abandoned mine.

Tune in to Dirty Jobs on Discovery tonight at 9pm EST, 8 Central.

I’ve noticed several comments and emails about this week’s Dirty Jobs episode which had Mike Rowe make a unique blend of jelly beans. They were intended to taste like his work boots.

Since several of you are interested in getting these, I recommend you contact Jelly Belly directly. As of right now, they aren’t offering the jelly beans because only a limited quantity of them were made, presumably just for the show’s purpose.

If enough of you contact Jelly Belly to express your interest in them, they might make up a few larger batches for sale.

You can contact Jelly Belly via their toll-free phone number at 1-800-JB-BEANS (1-800-522-3267) on Monday-Friday between the hours of 7 AM – 5 PM, Pacific Time.

If that blog post title didn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. On Tuesday night, Mike and the boys head to the famous Jelly Belly factory to not only learn how jellybeans are made, but Mike actually creates his own flavor. Instead of making something delicious, Mike goes the opposite route with a flavor resembling sweaty, smelly socks and work boots.

Then he travels to Maine to harvest blueberries and joins the “Pie Ladies” in a pie bakeoff.

Thanks to Discovery, we now have video previews of Tuesday’s new episode, entitled “Blueberry Connoisseur.”

Dirty Jobs airs Tuesday nights at 9pm EST on Discovery Channel.

After looking through all of Discovery’s highlights for the month of March, I noticed a “season finale” for Dirty Jobs slated to air March 8th. It looks we have one month of new episodes (5) before Mike Rowe and his merry band of brothers take a break from air.

While we’re not going to have any new episodes after March 8th for a while, I’m sure we’ll continue to see repeats. So we won’t be without our Mike Rowe forever.

In the meantime, we’ve got three more episodes to tune in to this month, all of which are listed on our episode guide for the season. Check it out for a preview.

Having watched my fair share of Food Network over the years, I can tell you what scrapple is. It’s a meat product that includes just about everything from a pig. Everyone seems to love it, but I’ve yet to find it served in one of the local restaurants and haven’t seen it available in the store.

Well tonight, Mike learns all about the process of making and packaging scrapple in Delaware. Then, he assists the best shoe doctor in town at the St. Francis Hotel.

There are a couple of video clips from tonight’s episode on the official site. I would love to embed them here for you, but Discovery still won’t allow that. :/

Dirty Jobs airs on Discovery Tuesday nights at 9pm EST.