so long as we are pimping alabama freshmen...

rolando mcclain, meet jerrell harris. jerrell, rolando. while prince hall figures out ways not to get himself into anymore trouble, jerrell will be your new best friend. he isn't quite as big as you are. yet. but he's every bit as talented. he's a hard worker. he likes to hit people. and he's beyond tired of reading everyone and their mother write about alabama's weakness at linebacker. that's right. he reads too. consider him worth molding in your likeness. if alabama is to succeed this fall, he needs to follow your footsteps onto the all-sec freshman team.

in other news...

yesterday, i had the roughest day of work that i've had in quite some time. i am usually not one to complain about my job. most days, it's not nearly labor intensive enough that my complaining would come across as anything more than whining. but then again, it's not every day that i am sick either. and yesterday, i was pretty sick. it didn't help matters that i was incredibly sore from the previous night's softball double-header, so i began the day thinking that i'd loosen up as the day went along and things would be just fine. about mid-morning, i started getting that ominous hot/cold/hot/cold feeling that accompanies any good-for-something fever. sure enough, by lunchtime, i felt wretched. i didn't want to move. i didn't want to talk. i just wanted to go home and lay down. but i couldn't. not yet. why? because there was over 3200 pounds of cat litter in my backroom that needed to come out onto the floor. i could've been a little baby and let my stocker do all of it by himself, but that's not really how i roll. so, after i ate a small lunch, we went to the back to lift the equivalent weight of his volkswagon jetta twice (once off the pallet, once onto the floor) in processed clay so that my customers could have the on-sale scooping cat litter they so rightfully deserve. after finishing up that project, i felt like i could've cried. my fever made my head ache and feel as if it were swollen to twice it's normal size. junk oozed down the back of my throat. my neck hurt. my hamstrings were on fire from the up and down and up and down. i was miserable. i finally got away from the store and made it home in time to not die. i took some tylenol and drifted in and out of nap sleep as i felt my fever begin to break for the first time all day. such a wonderful and disgusting feeling all at the same time. the pain from the day was being released, but it was coming out my sweat glands in such a way that i was worried i could ruin the couch with the amount of water that was coming out of me.

i just laid there until the girls got home. by that time, i felt close to human again. i had endured what i hope to be the worst part of this cold or whatever that i am fighting off. i say all the time that i am the worst about being sick. all i want is for someone to take care of me (bring me soup, warm washcloth on the forehead, etc.). yesterday, though, i was proud of myself. i stuck out the day, came home and took care of myself, and wasn't the altogether nuisance that i usually am. maybe that's the way it's gotta be now. two baby girls in the house make it hard for me to get undivided attention even if i needed it.

i don't usually like to complain about my job or my life when i have so much less to complain about than so many others. i'll complain a little about yesterday, though. but i am glad that it ended well. and i am glad that i feel a little better today.