da da da
status check - spacey
background ambiance - scanner (of course)

it's my one allowed (by myself) spacey work day. i arrived at work awake, alert and ready to take the journalistic world by storm. i'd gone to bed at a reasonable hour the night before (for once), woke early (for once), walked down to church street and then went running. i was back home, finished with all of my daily or semi-daily tasks before i've been waking up as of late. good start!

after that, crash. just out of it - not sure why. taking me twice as long to do what shouldn't take long at all, sources are frustrating me ... ugh. and i hate feeling like i'm not with it. i can't help it if the people on the other end of the phone line aren't cooperating. i should be able to help it if i'm not cooperating.

but there's a definite silver lining to the day. my phone rang during the late morning and i answered, surprised to receive a call from ,my parents during the day. i heard my father on the other end, sounding positively giddy with excitement. after torturing him by not asking what was going on (i was kind, it was only a few minutes), i finally asked and received word that my attempt at helping him with his tournament had scored a success. this morning he found a six-foot tall box waiting for him at home (i interrupted: "my mail-order groom finally arrived! SWEET!"). the letter he had sent (after i found the contact info) for a raffle prize was answered - with a hockey stick autographed by john leclair. !!!!!! he was elated and i was thrilled. i don't even like hockey (unless i'm actually at the game, in which case i go nuts), but a john leclair stick? SO COOL!

he wanted to thank me, since, he said, he wouldn't have gotten the stick had i not helped him out. i'd forgotten that i had in the first place, so hearing his elation on the other end of the phone was an unexpected, but certainly welcomed, surprise.

(side note: if anyone wants to go in on this raffle, which he holds at his annual golf tournament, contact me and i can get you entered. lots of prizes, generally including tickets to baseball games - i was invited to fenway to join a winner last year, where we saw the sox kick arse - and other cool things. there are always a lot of prizes and it's a great cause - the ronald mcdonald house. send me email or comment and i'll get information your way. winners do not have to be present at the time of the drawing.)