Retiring Time

First of all, thank you to all the friends and family who’ve reached out to express their concern for my Favorite Panamanian after my last post. She’s getting better incrementally each day but it sure would have been nice to have seen a doctor. Mere minutes after I posted, my phone rang and without looking at the caller ID I told my wife, I bet that’s Great Aunt. As a dedicated nurse my sister took particular umbrage at our Emergency Room experience. It’s a nice part of life when you are as liberally blessed with great friends as my Favorite Panamanian and I are that when something bad happens we get to reconnect with some of them, truly medicinal. She couldn’t attend a retirement party (see below) with me yesterday but she feels up to going to a birthday party today, so progress. There is a dark side, however, as she may not perform her usual designated driver duties post party, I may have to actually behave myself. New country.

Last Night's Honoree

With my Former, Very Funny Deputy

I was back with my old gang from the transit agency yesterday as I was invited to the retirement dinner for one of my favorite subordinate managers. She was truly a superstar. It was so cool seeing all the great people I used to work with, albeit for a short time (again, no designated driver). It was also illustrative of the time I’ve been away since nearly a third of the people there have been hired since I left. As we talked about the business it reinforced the impression I was left with. I don’t miss the work in any way, shape, or form but I certainly miss the people. A very good time with a very handsy waitress which was okay as well. I was back home in time for an abbreviated First Friday Family Facetime Call where the two eldest granddaughters reported on their first weeks of school. The FBR was nonchalant about second grade while the BRS was very positive about her first week in kindergarten. BR3 was typically yet still mildly psychotic. God, I love em.

FBR & BRS Discuss School Times

We’re trying to catch up on the movies we wanted to see at the theater which was severely curtailed first by the “PG” limitations of the visiting granddaughters then by this week’s healthcare drama. On Thursday we went to see Retribution. This is Liam Neeson’s latest action thriller. In deference to his age this time out he spends the entire movie sitting in the driver’s seat of his car; granted there’s an inconvenient bomb directly under the seat. That’s where we get the whole thriller aspect from. Neeson has to follow directions from an unknown bomber (although my wife figured out who that was in the first five minutes) as he chauffeurs his two kids around Berlin watching colleagues’ cars get blown up along the way. The film maintains a lot of tension although the ending was a bit too contrived. They made a big deal about not reducing weight on the pressure plate detonation system only to abandon that for the sake of a dramatic climax. Middling but acceptable summer fare.

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers: Free Guy, shot in Worcester!, very funny video game send up; French Connection, hasn’t aged well but still best car chase ever; and Frenzy, Hitchcock’s penultimate film, back in London for murder.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course