Squishing the 24hr bug

I'm sorry for not posting yesterday faithful readers, I had to call out of work on Wednesday suffering from flu like symptoms. Vomiting, achy joints and a bit of a fever. Now, before you start thinking this post is going to be me bitching about being sick and how much it sucks and looking for your pity, please put your fears aside. I'm fine, it wasn't fun but I got over it quickly (thanks to lots of soup, Gatoraide and Toby). In truth there are three people you should pity because of my illness (ok well two are individuals and one's more of a group) but defiantly not me.

The first is Farrow. Yup, I actually feel bad for him. He had to be in at 6am on Wednesday and the job of covering for me fell to him. Now I tried to be a bit accommodating, calling him at 11:30 saying how I didn't feel well and barring a miraculous recovery I probably wouldn't make it to work. (I think the conversation went something like, "Hey boss... what would you do if I called out tonight" "I'd probably kill you.") And when I called closer to work time he said he went home and grabbed a few hours sleep in the afternoon and that I should rest up and get better so I could come in tonight. And being the good man that he is he worked for me all night got a bit of sleep and was back here for his meeting at noon to talk about the future of the Front Desk. (See he really is a good boss, some people who know him find that hard to believe but I'm really lucky to work for him.) (Don't worry after this I'll stop kissing his ass and go back to making fun of his as usual.)

The group of people I felt bad for were the rest of the overnight staff. They had to work with Rob all night. The first thing Dr Murtagh said to me when I got in tonight was, "Don't you ever leave me to work with just him again!" (she said it in jest of course, she was Rob's favorite Intern last year and I think he makes her laugh more than just about anyone.) The rest of the staff assured me that while Rob did an adequate job, I'm much more fun and social. (And yes in his defense I'd be tired and maybe a bit crabby having to work all night after an ass early morning and only a few hours sleep...) (God... I keep defending him... what's wrong with me?)

The other person I felt really bad for was Toby. I think I mentioned last post how he was staying with me, and he didn't' get nearly enough attention, walks and I think I may have forgotten to feed him once (I was sick... cut me some slack, he didn't starve). I think he was getting a little pissed at me after a while, every time I rolled over or got up for anything, he'd jump up his ears and tail would go straight up like "Oh boy, we're finally going out right?!?" I tried to make up for it with a really long walk, a big meal of his favorite canned food and I've spent as much time with him tonight as possible... But he'll still probably be really excited to go back home tomorrow evening.

Anyway, due to being out of commission there's not much else to report. Madam X (God, could I have come up with a lamer code name?) and I are probably going to reveal ourselves to the world Friday night. We're going out with a group of coworkers to celebrate a birthday and at that point I doubt there'll be much reason to be secretive. I mean the whole reason of our discretion was our desire to avoid the Friendship rumor mill until there was actually something to talk about. I mean in my time here I've already been said to have been sleeping with two girls here (one while we were both dating other people, the other linked me to someone who's engaged and neither one of which had a shred of truth to them) and there have been countless other rumors (some true, most false) circulated about people.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend, another Friday at Polly Ester's, the Downtown Countdown on Saturday (I love New Years Eve, I get so excited for it every year) and Sunday will be spent footballin' with the boys (and hopefully cheering the Skins' into the playoffs) (God, I hope we don't blow this... I'm starting to get scared someone wrote a column on ESPN.com saying we were the team from the NFC to be feared the most... I mean in Gibbs I trust, but this hype is killing me...) With any luck come Monday night I'll have all sorts of fun stories to share with you all (hopefully I'll be able to remember them all).

Take care and a Happy New Year to you and yours,

-B



WILTN: Jimmy Eat World - "Clarity" and "Futures" (both Christmas gifts, the first not as good as I'd hoped and the latter better)

Christmas came a night early in Washington

Welcome to this sorta kinda festive holiday edition of The Blog. Y'see I have a lot of fun things to talk about, but I'm in a shitty mood. (Ok so really I'm just tired and a lil cranky... my sleep schedule is messed up as usual and Big Dave had another seizure today so Rob called and asked if I could come in early, so tonight's going to be a 12 hr shift... ok enough bitching...) Hopefully writing this will put me in a better mood so bare with me.

First of all I should start by saying that my love life is taking a much needed turn for the better (it's been a while...). I've been out with and think I may be sorta kinda at least starting to date someone. For now we'll just call her Madame X (at least until I figure out A. what we're doing and B. weather she approves of being talked about in public forums such as this). For now I'll just say we're having a lot of fun and despite the fact that virtually no one who I think reads knows her, she does infact exist.

Anyway on to less scandalous stuff... It's been a little odd in the house the last few days, not in a there's conflict with my roommates kind of way, more just in a it's quiet kind of way. Dead quiet. By the time I got back from work on Friday morning everyone was gone, Chris had left on like the 14th or so, Robert on the 20th and Steve and Mikey both left and asinine hours of the morning on Friday (and yes that's coming from someone who works all night). So Friday the house was eerily quiet. And it's really odd how even when no one's home on a normal day, there seems to be a bit more life in the house when they're at least in the city. But when they're out of town it sounds as quiet as some cheesy B horror movie. But Toby's with me for this week (this is another thing that makes me happy) (except for the fact that he's got some skin issues going on and it's kinda nasty in some spots) so I should have some warning (of course that warning would probably just be him jumping over me to go get himself petted) if someone else is in the house. I guess Mikey's coming back today and Steve should be back Wednesday so it won't be quiet for long, I guess I should enjoy not hearing "Wake the fuck up, bitch!" anytime my alarm goes off and they're upstairs playing Xbox (grumble grumble that still pisses me off grumble grumble...).

Anyway Christmas was good, (surprisingly) no fights with dad (I think this is the first Christmas in like 4-5 years) and Santa was pretty good to me. I got a digital camera (yes this probably means I'll start posting some pictures in here) from my "I'm trying to buy your love" Grandmother (ok so she actually wasn't nearly as bad this year as she has been in years past...) and then the usual CDs/DVDs and shirts from the rest of the family. (and yes my dad and I both had our guilty pleasures indulged, I got Season 1 of The OC and he got Season 1 of Desperate Housewives (I swear we're not gay)). The meal was up to my mom's usual fantastic standard (unfortunately no Chinese course... I'm beginning to think dad and I have already lost the battle to bring that back).

We had about 8 people over and it was cool to spend some time with my cousin Jill, as always, I wish we had more time without the adults around to trade gossip and war stories, but I guess family obligations must be met... Came back to DC to sleep in my own bed and to spend some time with Madam X last night. And to round out the boring part of my weekend in review, my family got together with some other relatives today at Union station and had a really nice lunch.

I kinda don't want to say anything because I don't want to jinx it... but I'm so stoked the Skins' are a win or a Cowboys loss away from the playoffs... Our dismantling of the Giants was awesome, hell even Patrick Ramsey played well (even though I was livid when he used up two quick timeouts early in the 3rd quarter but that bomb to Santana Moss was a thing of beauty) (especially for my fantasy teams). I felt a little bad that dad and I banished mom into the kitchen to watch the game... but I mean common how can you blame us? She is a Giants fan.

But man if we make the playoffs (and that's a huge IF) I think I'm going to do backflips... I mean we've beaten three of the top NFC teams (it should be four but they blew that freaking 2pt conversion call in the Bucs game.... and yes I'm still bitter). And we played toe to toe with two potentially three AFC playoff teams... I mean I'm not saying we're going to the SuperBowl... But it's fun to dream. (I really shouldn't get my hopes up... I'm only going to be disappointed, I should just do what I've done three of the last four years and join Bossman in routing for the Patriots in the playoffs.)

Anyhoo, I hope all's well with you, that your Christmas was merry and your travels safe. But now it's time to put all that aside and psyched for New Years Eve, NFL playoffs and come to terms with "The Evans move 2K6 - The Garden State Edition."


-B

WILTN: Morning Wood - "The Nth Degree" (Yes the song is as ludicrous as the band name, but it's so much fun, you should go out and listen to it.)