Entry #18

May 4, 2004 - Bob

Las Vegas, NV

Faith is, to me, at the core of what I do. I don't mean this in a religious sense, but in a generalized sense of belief and trust in what I like to call the process. 

The latest example:

This morning I felt very tired as I had worked on the set of “Ms. Congeniality 2” as a stand-in until about 4:30 am. My Bella has work at another job today so I don't get to see her beautiful face or have the pleasure of working with her (she's awesome). After spending about 20 minutes sifting through scraps of paper with any number of phone, fax and e-mail contacts (none of which I was looking for, but, certainly, valuable in their own right...at another time), I thought, "I don't know if I can do this today." We still are short on so many things we need and sometimes it only takes one door slammed in your face to say, “I’m done”. In other words I was suffering basicus overwhelmusitis.

Just then, I got a call from Holly Ryan, a representative from Dominos Pizza. They were one of the many names on never-ending contact list. I had left them a message just yesterday requesting some pizza for our Las Vegas event (okay, it wasn’t “30 minutes or less”, but still…). 

Not only are they giving us pizzas for our Las Vegas event, but also $500 in Domino’s gift certificates for the road, support in Anaheim and Detroit (pizzas to be discussed later) and the number of a television producer/contact of hers with a very influential talk show. 

Her enthusiasm and support lifted my spirits at just the moment I needed it. And so, like many other times in my life when similar things have happened, I feel humbled, thankful and very respectful of faith and the process. 

New York Yankees 10, Oakland 8

WP: D. Osborne (2-0)   LP: C. Bradford (1-1)

May 7, 2004 - Dad

Walnut Creek, CA

Talk about your unexpected silver lining.

Paulette and I have a dog, Emma, and she has two neighbor friends, Henry and Axel. Henry and Axel's owners are in the process of moving so for the past two days we have been dog sitting. 

I came home yesterday at two p.m. needing to be at the golf course for the start of a three day tournament at 4 pm. When I opened the door to our family room where we keep the dogs when we are not at home, I could hardly believe my eyes. Every where I looked there were piles of dark brown, lumpy, slimy goop. These are not large dogs, about 25 pounds each. It looked as though two or three of them had exploded except there they were looking at me and wagging their tails.

It took me about an hour and a half to clean up the mess (they had gotten into some chocolate) and it didn't occur to me until I was retelling the story to Bob that because I no longer have hardly any since of smell I was spared from what must have been the worst part of dealing with that mess, the odor. 

Looking back I began losing my sense of smell years before I was diagnosed with Parkinson's. As it turns out the loss the sense of smell can be a symptom. You can imagine the many unpleasant odors I no longer appreciate. 

By the way, I sank a 20 foot putt on the final hole to capture second place for my team. Ah, the sweet smell of victory.  

Oakland 11, Minnesota 9

WP: C. Bradford (2-1)   LP: T. Mulholland (0-1)