"Motrin IB for pain."

"We've got free tickets to the Astros game tonight. 3rd row behind the bullpen," my boss says to me yesterday afternoon. FANTASTIC!

I love baseball. And the only thing better than baseball, is free baseball. This makes two trips in a row I've managed to obtain free admission to Minute Maid Park. I can't wait. This is gonna be great. A good ball game, ballpark food and a bunch of guys that I enjoy being around.

So, we get out of the office after another 12 hour day (third in a row) and head down the street to the ballpark. The seats are not bad at all. Just to the left field side of center, we are right behind the bullpen. Our section doesn't fill up, so we spread out over a couple of rows and a few seats, making things more comfortable for everyone. It's a good thing. 5 hours (or 14 innings) later, the Astros finally score to break a 3-3 tie and win the ballgame.

Now, I loved every second of the game. I want to make that perfectly clear. It was fantastic. However, after about the 8th inning, I feel a headache coming on. "No big deal," I think to myself, "Someone is gonna score, we'll get outta here, head back to the hotel and I'll take some Tylenol PM and sack out."

As you can probably tell from the fact that the game went 14 innings, things didn't go quite the way I had envisioned them.

12:30, we finally get back to the hotel. Gotta be up in 5 1/2 hours. I take a Tylenol PM now, I'm never gonna wake up. I forego the Tylenol and hope the headache will just go away.

6:00. The alarm goes off. I feel like I've been hit over the head with a frying pan. This is gonna be a long day. I'm tired and I've got a headache so bad, I think I'm going to vomit when I turn on the lights. I decide not to. In the dark, I somehow manage to put my clothes on and get into some sembelance of order. Tylenol PM is REALLY not the way to go now... Gotta do something else to get rid of the headache. I vaguely remember a small pantry thing next to the front desk. I decide that's going to be my best course of action.

I open the door and the light in the hallway makes my head explode. Sensory overload. My head is on fire. I make my way to the front desk. They've got Tylenol or Motrin IB. Somewhere in the back of my head, I remember "Motrin IB for pain" from an old TV commercial. That guy better be right or I'll hunt him down and share my headache with him.

"2 packets of Motrin and 2 cans of Red Bull," I say to the lady behind the counter. The sound of my own voice makes me wince. It's like someone put a megaphone to my head and started shouting into it.

The nice woman delivers my order. It's WAY overpriced. I don't care. I'd do damn near anything to make the throbing in my head go away.

I grab a newspaper and sit in the darkest corner of the lobby I can find. Gotta wait for the boss so we can go into work. I open my first Red Bull and use it to chase down my 4 Motrin.

I flip through the sports page. Duke lacrosse... Reggie Bush... I can't even read the articles. The Motrin has to kick in soon.

Finally, the boss comes down. He tosses me his keys and says, "Pull the car around front." No problem. I pull the car out of the garage to the front of the hotel. Finally my headache is starting to subside. By the time we get into work, my breakfast of champions (Red Bull and Motrin... Mmmmmm... Tasty.) has done it's magic.

Now, if I can just stay awake for the rest of the day.