785 Smelly Hounds

Anyone that read the blog title and immediately responded with "Bumpus!" is cool in my book. For the rest of the world, it's another sign that it's a week before Christmas! First, rewind…

Yesterday was one of those days of work that starts off not too bad and then gradually things build up and before you know it, you're taking care of a handful of needy clients, a boss who wants tasks done he should have asked you to start weeks ago and an in-box that was already full. By the end of the day, my boss had been gone for about an hour but calling me every few minutes on the never-ending quest to keep me in the office on a non-show day beyond my salaried hours for as long as possible. About 3 hours after I was supposed to have left, I finally turned off my phone and escaped. Granted, it wasn't the worst day I've had, but it wasn't one I'll write about…which, I guess, is what I'm doing…hmm…but it turned out to be a great day anyway, and that's why I'm writing.

Back to the story.

I stop by the drug store to get some photos printed and then head home. I'm completely zapped and stumble into my apartment. When I get past the coat closet, my brother, Chris, hands me a nicely wrapped gift and says, "Merry Christmas". I commented about it being early but he insisted. I kicked off my shoes and tore open the gift to find two Blu-ray movies: "A Christmas Story" and "Happy Feet". Happy Feet is definitely a great movie to make you smile, but the winner for best Christmas gift of 2007 was awarded to "A Christmas Story". It was 8pm and it still wasn't too late for the day to turn around. Sure, I have several other copies of the movie on various incarnations of DVD, but I recently got a Blu-ray player and this was perfect…literally: lossless audio and 1080p resolution. After getting cleaned up from work and making dinner, we stuck the movie in and relived my childhood. I don't remember Christmas without that film, seriously, it was released a year after I was born, so my first Christmas was when this movie first screened! By the time the Ralphie and family was hacking the smile off their Chinese turkey, I had laughed so much and felt so good I'd forgotten about the previous 12 hours and the boss that didn't want me to have a life or go home.

It's amazing how, some days, life just works out. It was a certified crappy day and a random act of kindness during the holiday season turned it all around.

I guess observant readers will notice this post is from early in the AM. Well, it was about 10:30pm last night by the time the movie ended and I surfed a few special features. Normally I'm up until 1am and then up to get ready for work at 8am. Even though it ended on a good note, it was still a long day and I was tired. So, at 10:30, I went to bed. I got up at 5am to use the bathroom and then went back to bed until about 6am and just couldn't stay asleep, I guess those few hours of extra sleep didn't transfer and I was waking early as a result of going to bed at a normal time. I watched the morning news and had a bit of breakfast. Now, I'm sitting at Starbucks around the corner sipping on my overpriced, tall, sugar-free, skim milk, gingerbread latte and blogging. It's strange, rarely do I get up early enough to have time to wonder what the day will have in store. Now, I'm wondering, "Could today be better than yesterday?" It's fascinating to think about. I have another full day at work, but maybe when my boss is being belligerent I'll start speaking to him using only quotes from "A Christmas Story". At least I'll get the joke and get a smile.

Merry Christmas and Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra …

-Rod