It was one of those days that sort of punched me in the snotbox and only occasionally let me up for air.

I'm talking about today. Tuesday. June 23rd. 2009.

Yes. Tuesday.

It's the hottest day of the year today. I woke up this morning and knew it was going to be sticky and gross. Minnesota. Land of 10,000 lakes and some of the most humid weather ever. Regardless, I work up ready to face the day with earnest, even if it was a day at work filled with meetings.

NOTE: I'm not a fan of meetings.

I did my usual walk from the parking lot to the building where my team meets once a week. Stupid move, but I sort of like to get away from the people on the shuttle bus who complain about work and it's really nice to spend some quality time with my iPod (Robotron 2.0).

By the time I got to the building about a half mile away, I was DRIPPING with sweat. Nice. Way to start the day.

From there, I had trouble staying awake in the meeting. Don't know if I'm still reeling from my crazy weekend of filming, but my eyes were heavy as all get-out. I made it though, got into my 2nd meeting and was just itching to get some work done.

So...when it was over, I walked back...through the heat and humdity.

Here's the thing, folks. I sort of don't mind that it's crazy-hot. I mean, we spend all winter (all 7 months of it) complaining that it's so stinking cold, that when it's hot, we complain about that. So, even though I might go "OH GOOD LORD" when I walk outside, I'm really thinking: At least it's not 7 feet of snow. I can do this.

I got through the rest of the day mostly unscathed. Sure, I thought another meeting of mine was happening an hour before it was actually scheduled. And yeah, I sort of punted when it came time to talk about stuff in the big-important-meeting-at-the-end-of-the-day, but I got through it.

God. I just realized how much my work life sounds like a Dilbert comic strip. Ugh. Need to do something about that.

One of the other reasons I'm not a big fan of Tuesdays is because we have manadatory drills for the fire department that I work at in my spare time. Tonight was no exception. On the way to drill, driving in one of the fire trucks, I was just minding my own business. The window was down, the conversation light and WHAM!!!

Something from outside, flew into the window and smacked me in the face. I hollered out and grabbed at my check and felt something thick and fuzzy. I didn't get a look, but I fired it out the window. It seriously was like someone wound up and punched me right in the gob. It stung like you don't want to know...

That's when it hit me . I GOT STUNG.

Now, I'm 36 years old (for another 4 months, anyway) and I've NEVER been stung by a bee before. And I'm a boy. I've done all kinds of dumb things. I've thrown rocks at beehives, I've stuck sticks into hornet's nests, you name it. Never have I been stung by anything. Until now.

I was like a kid. I told everyone in the department. "I got stung." "Seriously. Right in my face. Stung."

Even a fire chief who also serves in the Navy and was back for a week from Iraq got to hear about it.

"Mr. Troupe! It's been a long time. Good to see you."
"Good to see you, Greg. I got stung by a bee."
"Oh."

But even so, I can't bag on this Tuesday TOO much. Why is that you might ask? Well, two things, but I'm only going to talk about one.

FutureSand got picked by the judges to appear in the 'Best of 2009' show on Thursday night!!! Yes!!! Only 20 minutes before the bee stung me in my face, I got the news from Jason. We're in the top 15 (out of 90-something!) and we'll see how we do against some heavy hitters!!!

So, while Tuesdays generally suck. This one? Not so bad.

y mostly