it's a party!

well, not really. but that's what my boss is calling the upside-down world into which she's thrown herself, me, and my coworkers leslie and mayme. specifically, she's calling it a "recruitment party." this involves working from 12-8 (or if you're a schmuck like me, 11.30-8), spending the last three hours eating dinner and talking to people on the phone, trying to get them involved in our asthma study. let me run you through a little bit of what i'll be doing from 5-8 this evening:

"hi, my name is robert and i'm calling from the ACE study at johns hopkins. johns hopkins. yes, hopkins. no, no one has been shot. i'm calling from the ACE study. we were given [insert crazy name here]'s name by johns hopkins community physicians as someone who has asthma and might be interested participating in our study. johns hopkins community physicians. asthma study. right. no, no one has been shot. do you have a few minutes so that i can ask you some questions about [crazy name]'s asthma? what do you mean, "who is [crazy name]?" this isn't ms. [name suppressed due to hipaa regulations]? do you know when she'll be home? she doesn't live there any more? oh, she lost custody of the kids. ok, well, do you know anyone ages 12-20 who has asthma? no, sir, i'm sorry; i realize you're a severe asthmatic and that you've just been released from the hospital; no, i'm sorry. 40 is out of our age bracket. no, no one has been shot. thanks for your time."

for those of you who don't believe that this very exchange will take place, you can ask terry. he's heard me "recruit" on the phone at home. it's just no fun.

emily's coming in from chicago tonight, and, as mentioned in an earlier blog, she's "four plus plus plus" allergic to cats. i haven't de-kittified the apartment yet, which means that she's going to be sneezing and that terry's annoyed. in hindsight i should've stayed in last night and gotten up early and cleaned. but i didn't. today i'm hungover and have an annoyed boyfriend. lordy be.