Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Day for the History Books

Today will go down in history, and for more than just the obvious reason (Happy Inauguration Day, by the way. For a related story, see the sidebar below). As with every great story in history, it's the back story that makes you really appreciate it. I'm a champion sleeper. No kidding. If there were a competition, I'd take home the gold at every event. I'm the Michael Phelps of all the sleepers in the world. Sadly there are no drafts or million-dollar contracts for such a talent, so here I sit with no fame or fortune. On the other hand, my talent also lends itself to some unfortunate side effects, one of them being shutting my alarm off in my sleep, then sleeping past when I should. An event which happened twice in six days last week. I woke up at 8:05, and am supposed to be at work at 8:00 AM. I'm one of those people who sets my alarm an hour before I have to get up and hit the snooze every nine minutes before begrudgingly pulling my body up out of bed. Well, after the two major mishaps last week, I decided I needed a new plan. I used my cell phone alarm and put it across my room so I had to get up to turn it off. Throughout the week, I've also been setting my regular alarm closer to the time I actually have to get up. Then I realized that once my regular alarm goes off, I just lay there and think about not wanting to get up, then get up when my cell phone goes off. Last night I decided there was no need for the regular alarm because once I had to get out of bed to turn my cell phone off, I was up. I set my cell phone for 7 AM and went to bed. This morning I woke up at 6:58 WITH NO ALARM!!!!!!!! Even with the back story, I don't know if you can fully appreciate this. This is monumental. I'm not foolish enough to think this will become a lifestyle, but I'm looking forward to seeing this happen once or twice again in my life time.
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Sidebar: Today made me realize how fast time passes. All day long, amidst all the Inauguration activities I couldn't stop thinking about the last Inauguration and every detail of the entire day. For those of you who don't know, four years ago I was working for Congressman Jim Leach and I was in charge of the distribution and allotment of the 150 Inauguration tickets and all the work that went along with that. Because of that, I was able to get a really good seat for the event, and it was something I will tell my grandchildren about. As I was reliving all the little details of that incredible day four years ago, I was continually amazed at how much has changed since then. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but it really was and my world is completely different than it was then. How is that possible? Well, before I go on and begin to sound like a grandparent, I thought you would enjoy a story from my day four years ago. Aren't you glad I'm backto blogging?!

First, the Inauguration was INCREDIBLE! The Congressman's daughter decided not to come, so me and a guy I work with got them - and let me tell you, they were great seats. Just great. I was about 30 rows back from George. Can I just take this moment to say that I love him. I do. I heart George Bush. I was so proud to sit in the cold yesterday and listen to him and call him my President.
Second, words cannot describe happy I am that it's all over. Honestly, I don't know if I've ever been this tired. And then I babysat last night for some constituents who went to the Inaugural ball until 2:30 this morning. I'm like a zombie here at my desk. But it's over. No more Inauguration. YES!!!
Finally, I have to tell you all one of the funniest things that has happened to me. Okay, let me give you a little backround here. We have this constituent who is uberimportant. He donates unimaginable amounts of money to any and all Republican candidates, and we do everything we can in order to always make him happy. Well, he got stuck in the airport on his way our here for the Inauguration and it threw off all of his plans. I spent virtually all day on Wednesday on the phone with him trying to accommodate all the changes. Long story short, they were taking 2 of their kids to the Inaugural ball, but 2 were too young to go. They were staying at the Ritz-Carlton, and had pre-arranged to have the baby-sitting service watch kids. Long story short, the service fell through and Dr. Nepola (that's the guy's name) was desperate for a baby-sitter. After much discussion the only option I had for him was for me to babysit. He very graciosly agreed, and I was set to baby-sit at the Ritz Carlton the night of the Inauguration. **I think this in, and of itself is funny enough - but, no, it gets better** So in talking to him last night, I asked him where I should park when I got to the hotel. This is what he said: "Oh, just drive up to the front of the hotel and have them valet park it." Are you serious??????????!!!!!!!!!!Valet park my 1990 Toyota Corolla at the Ritz Carlton????And that's crazy enough as it is, but it was even worse because it was Inauguration night, so everyone at the Ritz was there for the Inauguration which meant they were all going to Inaugural balls.So just imagine as I pull up amongst a slough of stretch limos, and cadillacs and Lexi (I think that's the plural form of Lexus) in my dingo of a car and ask the valet man - who was dressed better than I was - to valet park the car.I felt like an idiot. An idiot out of water.But I have to say that baby-sitting at the Ritz Carlton is a good time. If you ever get a chance to do it, I suggest it

1 comment:

Brooke said...

Hilarious, simply hilarious!

You have made some big changes in the past 4 years! So glad that you are here with us in FF though, aren't you??!

It's good to have you back in the blog saddle.