Firsting Friday

View Out My Office Window Yesterday Morning

Yesterday was the first Friday without spousal supervision, not to mention a dedicated designated driver. All of this called for behavior modification and a reduced beer intake (sacrifices must be made). I wrote yesterday how much fun my morning commute was through a fairly serious snow storm. It was strange though because by noon time the storm cleared and we had bright sunshine for the rest of the day. It still hasn’t been above freezing though since my wife’s departure – something she is not above relishing down in Panama.

Gang Back Together at Brew City

Lonely Zorba's

When co-workers assembled at Brew City to mark the first First Friday of 2015 we were also celebrating the return of our youngest co-worker who suffered an unbelievable health crisis just before the holidays. She returned to work this week after suffering a major heart attack. She was only drinking water but a missing piece of our First Fridays was definitely restored.

Zorba’s is nowhere near as fun flying solo but the fabulous Zorba’s girls all stopped by to say hello which helped, a lot, although I’m not kidding myself. I’m thought of as the harmless old dude who tips well. I was just about to leave when several members of the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia stepped through the door. It was a nice way to end the night and I texted pictures of them to wife who was in the middle of a family gathering down in Panama.

The Mafia Unexpectedly Showing Up

She was finally able to assemble the requisite family members at the house of one of the PanaGals and from the look of the photos it was a very good time. She kept texting me that our nightly phone call would be delayed until eventually postponed overnight because when that group gets together you can almost always count on a very late night. I told her not to worry – that family time is infinitely more important than hearing me complain about the cold weather. She did say she was having a little bit of trouble with the hot, Panamanian temperatures – she received no sympathy, whatsoever, from this quarter.

Family Gathering in Panama Yesterday

A grammatically gifted friend posted a message on Facebook that called out middle agers for still putting the extra space after periods when typing. Apparently this is a holdover from using typewriters which called for two spaces after every period and computers don’t need the extra space. I hate being called “quaint” so I’m going to try and convert but it’s harder than I thought it would be.

Kudos to the French security forces for taking down the idiots from the Charlie Hebdo massacre. I was touched to learn the French policeman executed on the sidewalk was actually Muslim himself. He gave his life defending an institution that was infamous for insulting his religion. Thousands of French Muslims also joined the marches to protest the massacre as well. There may be hope yet if the so called majority of Muslims who reject radical Islam can gain a voice in the dialogue (and news coverage) instead of seeing their religion defined by hate and evil. No less a personage than the chief of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, said yesterday that followers of radical Islam “have distorted Islam, the Koran and the Muslim nation more than Islam’s enemies ... who insulted the prophet in films... or drew cartoons of the prophet,". It would be nice to see an honest effort by the overwhelming majority to join the rest of us in the 21 century. I mean even I am using one space after periods now.

I’m continuing with my stated pledge to eliminate my housebound tendencies today. I’m heading up to Keene to watch the Patriots’ game with the Keene Friend.  Buddy will accompany me to provide overwatch and site security.