Filial Job Changes and Copperized First Friday

I’ve got a lot of moving parts in my life right now.  My wife has been gearing up for our annual neighborhood Christmas party all week so I’ve had to be on my best behavior – not an easy task at any time.  Buddy and I know we have to pick our spots and to not be caught looking underemployed.  Buddy is much better at this than I am.

First Friday Farewell to the IT Guy (on right)

First Friday was completely paid for by my excellent boss as we bid farewell to our I.T. genius who’s heading for greener pastures.  He was brought on a couple years ago to help our middle aged minds grasp the new technology we were deploying to our bus fleet.  He was very successful at that but he did run afoul of the political boss so he was little down.  My excellent boss and I plied him with products of the brewer’s art and told him what a complete success he was.  If he could get us to understand and operate the technology (and the sheer breadth of that accomplishment is beyond description) then he shouldn’t be down about what a political hack thought of him.

Zorba's Last Night with the Compromised Pizza

Shortly after I returned home we were joined by the Maine Musquetera and her husband to complete the link up with their daughter who spent the night at our house while returning from college.  We were almost immediately on our way to Zorba’s where my favorite waitress took exceptionally good care of us.  I was forced to concede a full 1/3 of the pizza to vegetable topping instead of the standard pepperoni.  This was more difficult than it sounds as there was significant green seepage onto the pepperoni side in the frontier regions.  I bore up under this weighty burden to thoroughly enjoy the company.

My Wife's Christmas Mantra is Now Posted on Our Kitchen Wall

One thing is certain when two of the musqueteras get together – there will be shopping involved.  Last night I and the Maine Musquetera’s husband were ruthlessly abandoned at Zorba’s while the ladies absconded with the car to do some – you guessed it – shopping.  We assuaged our hurt feelings (combined with joy at not being dragged along) at the Zorba’s bar.  My alma mater was playing in the college football playoffs which was showing on several of the televisions (they won!!!).  We spent the time comparing notes of surviving marriage to a Latina. The ladies eventually returned to find us in a completely empty Zorba’s having for the nonce appeased their shopping blood lust.

My Son Last Night Channeling his Inner 007 - Picture by ABFA

As to more of the moving parts yesterday also marked the last day of work for my son in the company he’s worked for since graduation from college.  He’s moving on to a better job and company after the turn of the year.  He and the ABFA were out celebrating this major milestone last night – I could not be prouder of him. He and the ABFA will be coming down for the party tonight to continue celebrating.

My Daughter Yesterday Taking a Picture of Her Office as She Leaves for the Last Time

Yesterday also saw my daughter’s last full day in New York City.  She and Pee Wee the Fearful fly out to Los Angeles today to reunite with the Wing Man.  She left her Madison Avenue office for the last time yesterday and will start work in Los Angeles on Monday doing the same job but in much nicer weather.  I’m so happy they’re following their dream – again we’re taking serious parental pride here.  I am worried about the proximity of my daughter to Hollywood though – she’s almost as big a movie geek as I am.  I’m also going to have pay closer attention to whatever cataclysm California is facing each week, be it drought, flood, fire, mudslide or earthquake.

There are Now 17 Different Christmas Trees in the House

I Counted

Yesterday also saw another Travis McGee tale fall under my relentless consumption of John D. MacDonald’s beloved series with The Empty Copper Sea.  An old friend shows up on the Busted Flush and asks Travis to restore his lost reputation.  He was victimized by a Florida developer who may have faked his own death. McGee and Meyer head to a fictional Floridian west coast town and are soon wreaking havoc.  Trav is doing some soul searching and in the course of his investigation stumbles upon a lady who may be “the one” he can finally settle down with.  In other novels the next scene usually has McGee visiting the morgue to identify the lady’s body (MacDonald was not very nice to his hero).  Here however the lady survives and our hero just may sail off into the sunset with his lady love (there’s only a few left in the series).

As always I leave you with some of MacDonald’s incomparable words.  Here McGee is spouting off about rude, self-important service people: 

“If I were King of the World I would roam my kingdom in rags, incognito, dropping fortunes onto the people who are nice with no special reason to be nice, and having my troops lop off the heads of the mean, small embittered little bastards who try to inflate their self-esteem by stomping on yours.  I would start the lopping among post office employees, bank tellers, bus drivers, and pharmacists.  I would go on to checkout clerks, bell boys, prowl car cops, telephone operators, and U.S. Embassy clerks.  By God there would be so many heads rolling here and there, the world would look like a berserk bowling alley.  Meyer says this shows a tad of hostility.”