WWE = NBA and Air Conditioning

You Certainly Are

I wrote earlier in this blog that I can no longer watch the NBA with any pleasure.  I glanced at some of a playoff game last night until it was obvious that the fix was in and the winner pre-determined.  The league has succumbed to the culture of celebrity that I abhor.  One of the most insidious factors in that culture is that self-perpetuating myth of talent.  Celebrities gain a following and then are given preferential treatment and status that is not necessarily warranted by their actual abilities.  The most startlingly clear example of this in today’s society are the Kardashians whom I cannot fathom why they are considered celebrities as they are so lacking in any intrinsic value that I can discern.  So it is with the NBA, which has crossed the line from the most competitive, highly entertaining premiere basketball league on the planet based on talent to a caricature of itself which more and more resembles the WWE professional wrestling league in terms of farcical relevance.  The league is so much more about highlighting its supposed stars than it is about honest competition.  I’m sure the power of sports betting interests are involved in a very subtle, easily denied, manner (always follow the money).  It started with Magic and Bird and really took off with Jordan but in those days the players still played an honest game and their success was based on talent and playing a team oriented style of play – which is when basketball is at its most attractive.  These were stars that elevated their games and earned their accolades.  The problem nowadays is that it seems the league wants its stars to succeed even if they don’t do the work.  Lebron James is the shining example of what is wrong with today’s game.  He gets foul calls and flops when barely touched but is heralded as the face of the NBA.  He folds when the pressure is on him and is exactly what the Kardashians are to society in general – a whining, self-entitled prima donna.  It’s a true shame too because he has the talent to be in the same class as Bird, Magic and Jordan.   

So we’ve had a couple of days with temperatures in the 80s and since my house sits on top of a hill with little in the way of shade our upstairs has been baking a little.  The nights are still cool enough to sleep comfortably – or so I thought.  You would think I would be the one who has trouble handling a little heat and not my Panamanian born wife.  I came home last night and the upstairs air conditioning was on and ramped up to almost frigid status.  I immediately had visions of an out of control electric bill and asked my wife about it.  Apparently she had been giving me pretty pointed hints over the last few days that I failed to heed so she took action on her own.  I would much rather sleep with windows open with the fresh air but then she brought up the whole issue of menopausal hot flashes.  She won the argument.  We actually had to sleep with a quilt last night – had the best night sleep I’ve had in a long time.  Damn it – I hate when they’re right. 

Men In Black – Rain – Word

Last night’s date night took my wife and I to see Men In Black 3.  I was in distinct peril of having to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, something not exactly in my wheel house.  My wife correctly pointed out that we were due to see a movie of her selection instead of my normal blockbuster type choices.  I must be living right or something because the Marigold movie was only playing in a theater on the far side of Worcester and my wife did not want to make the extra effort in going there (Amen!).  Men in Black 3 was better than I expected and very entertaining.  Both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (Smith and Jones – never thought of that) looked a little tired with their roles, obviously just in it for the checks they got to cash.  The real revelation was Josh Brolin who was channeling Tommy Lee Jones as a young man so well it actually approached being scary.  An actor named Michael Stuhlberg was also extremely good in a small part as an alien who could see the future, kind of.  Good movie, well worth a watch.  Let’s talk about rain.  My wife comes from a country where it rains every day for most of the year but she has an absolute fear of getting her hair wet.  For that reason she always carries an umbrella with her if there is even a small chance of rain.  This past weekend while we were in New York City there was a slight chance of rain and she kept her bright green umbrella with her wherever we went, including the wedding and reception.  I joked with her that if she hadn’t had it would have poured.  Last night there were some serious thunderstorms just north of us so she was debating whether to take the umbrella into the theater with us.  I was fairly certain the rain was going to stay north of us so I jokingly told her that it was time to throw caution to the wind and live dangerously.  She was concerned because she just did her hair and trust me when I say – that is an immense decision point.  Well, I don’t have to say anything, you all know what happened.  She left the umbrella in the car and when we walked out of the movie it was pouring – I’m talking biblical, cow pissing on a flat rock kind of rain.  To her credit, she was more concerned with my walk of penance to get the car and pick her up at the door than she was about heaping derision.  She said we should wait in the theater’s bar (I love this theater) and watch the Red Sox game until the rain let up.  I have a seriously cool wife.  The biggest surprise of the night was that the Sox were beating Justin Verlander, the best pitcher in baseball.  The rain finally made its way to Boston causing the game to stop and we made our way home.  We were both content having enjoyed the movie, she also happy about being right about the umbrella and me happy as well that I didn’t have to pay too big a price for being wrong.  On the way back from NYC I finished the latest Terry Brooks novel, Knight of the Word.  It was enjoyable and contained the same characters from his earlier book so it was interesting to see there some of these ended up.  While I was reading in the office over lunch I actually pulled up Google Earth and followed the action in the novel on the map as it made its way through Seattle which was fascinating, especially using street view to see how accurate the author was in describing the locales.  I’m still not totally enamored of the series but it’s now a sunk cost and I’ll keep reading until the end – two more books to go. 

New York City Briefly

The Wife in Front of Manhattan Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge At Night

I wrote yesterday about the fabulous wedding we traveled to New York City to attend.  Today I’d like to offer some observations on the short trip to one of the most exciting places on earth.  I always dread the travel to New York City and I don’t know why.  My daughter lives there and has blazed a fairly easy way of getting there.  We drive to New Haven, Connecticut and catch a Metro North train into Grand Central Station and catch a subway from there to virtually anywhere we need to go.  I re-learned again on Sunday just how easy it is.  We arrived at Grand Central and decided we needed to eat so we went to a café right in the station.  It was typical New York City with everybody crammed into very small tables.  We were literally eating with the people on either side of us and ending up talking to them as well.  The forced intimacy was a good thing – I think they were tourists though – like us. I don’t think native New Yorkers would patronize something as mundane as a Grand Central terminal café.  Sitting there and watching the city walk by was extremely fascinating.  New York is always in a rush – people heading somewhere and what a combination, hipsters to bankers to street people to immigrants from every corner of the earth. All this mass of people hurrying towards some disparate goal – great spectator sport.  That is one thing you give up in New York – personal space and for the short time we were there – it was fine.  We caught the subway to my daughter’s apartment and spent the afternoon there trying to bond with a very standoffish cat and watching yet another Red Sox debacle.  She lives in a loft apartment in Brooklyn that she has done absolute wonders with it in the five years she’s lived there.  The rest of the day was spent at the wedding, already chronicled earlier.  Yesterday morning we got up and took our daughter to brunch at one of her nearby Brooklyn hangouts – the Life Café.  It’s a very hipster place that still made us feel extremely welcome and the food was plentiful and awesome.  Some really bizarre zombie art was hanging on the walls.  According to my daughter the café offers wall space to local artists and this week – it was a zombie centric type.  Another rushed subway trip accompanied by our daughter saw us just in time to catch the train back to New Haven and a couple hour drive to retrieve the Wonder Pooch.  Too short a bite of the Big Apple but time well spent.

I was There Too!

Wife at the Grand Central Terminal Cafe

Daughter's Extremely Cool Apartment

Daughter's Extremely Reluctant Cat - Pee Wee

Inside Life Cafe

NYC Curbside Delight

Newly Married - Really Lucky Guy

My wife and I just returned from a quick trip to New York City to attend the wedding of one of my daughter’s best friends.  I planned on doing one blog about the experience but as I thought about it today I decided to split it into two.  One today about the wedding and another tomorrow about my impressions of the trip and attendant observations concerning NYC.  Today I want to talk about the wedding which was about as much fun as legally possible.  The bride is a member of an exclusive club which the members have self-designated as Curbside.  The exact origin of that title is lost in the mists of time or a jealously guarded secret – I can’t remember which.  My daughter is one of the founding members and we’ve come to think of the other members as surrogate daughters as well.  They are self-confident, strong willed, gorgeous, twenty something young women who dominate whatever room they enter.  They bonded just after college amidst starting out their professional lives in New York City.  Life has taken them in different directions but yesterday they were all gathered for the wedding of their sister and the charisma was almost too much to endure. I was a little hesitant about going because this is a very hip group and I’m about the opposite of that.  I shouldn’t have worried.  The last time this group and myself was together was for the wedding of my daughter nearly three years ago which is commonly referred to at our house as the best weekend, ever.  This wedding took place in a restaurant with dazzling views of the New York City skyline with the new World Trade Center Tower rising, and both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.  There was a mezzanine level that overlooked the location of the ceremony which later starred as the dance floor (Curbside Girls Presence = Dancing).  The ceremony was unconventional but the feeling of joy and love permeated the entire process and that’s really what a wedding should be all about.  The best moment was when the groom first saw the bride when she appeared at the back of the room.  I was fortunate enough to be looking at him when that happened.  I don’t know if I’m capable of adequately describing what I saw but I knew I was in the presence of true love.  I got a little misty eyed because, as mentioned above, I love the bride like a daughter and I knew at that moment that she had made the right choice.  This young man knew what a treasure he was marrying and I was so happy for both of them.  Finding a soul mate can be tricky business but this was obviously a successful search ending the way God meant it to.  We were lucky enough to be seated with the parents of another Curbside gal who were also retired from the military.  We were only acquaintances before the wedding but I’d like to think we are all good friends now.  The shared experience of a military career both for the Soldiers and the Army wives who really had the tougher jobs made the conversation lively, nostalgic and totally enjoyable.  Both of our daughters were maids of honor and made truly heartfelt and moving speeches.  The only downside of the wedding were one of those stream of consciousness speeches by the groom’s brother that seemed to last forever and the fact that the restaurant’s air conditioning was clearly not up the challenge of the humid temps and this lively crowd.  Despite the sauna like conditions the Curbside girls were not be denied their night on the dance floor and my wife (Curbside by soul) were tearing it up for the night.  I was soaked in sweat and just trying to keep up.  I appreciated that they allowed me to wander the edges of their luminous presences.  I got to talk with each of the Curbside girls but in each case for too short a time.  These are special young ladies and I, once again, felt so fortunate to be allowed to wander the edges of their flame.  My daughter’s former roommate confessed to actually reading this blog, losing only a couple of cool points.  She’s now “involved” with the dancing star of the my daughter’s wedding which seems only right.  A wedding should be about love and a commitment to a future together.  I am so happy for the newly married couple – they certainly got off to a superb beginning.  I am simply in awe of the love and commitment of all of the Curbside girls for each other both last night and since it’s been my distinct honor to witness on a couple of two short experiences.  Curbside Rules! – the rest of us are mere humans.

Some of Curbside Gals - Daughter on Far Left

Wife, Daughter And I at Wedding Photo Booth

View from Window - Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Skyline

Curbside Girls Lined up at Wedding Ceremony

 

Seeing Daughter in Window For First Time Since We Arrived

New Friends at Dinner

Too Much Cell Use - Caught in the Act

Dance Floor - Wife and Daughter in the Middle of It - Of Course

Dancing Guy From My Daughter's Wedding

Together - Because I Promised Erica

26.2

26.2 Shortly Before its Demise and the Free Glass

Yesterday saw another visit to 5 Guys for a burger lunch – you just gotta love it!  Did I say I have a great boss?  It was kind of a quiet day because a lot of people seem to have launched out on the 3 day weekend early.  It was unnaturally quiet around the office.  My boss took a couple of us out for a First Friday celebration.  We went to Brew City and had a really good time.  There was a saleslady from Sam Adams circulating the bar giving out free samples of a beer called 26.2.  Now I am not going to forgo an opportunity to broaden my horizons and it had nothing to do with the large tracts of land in evidence so I did try the beer.  It was great!  As we spoke with the land owner she said this beer is only brewed once a year around Patriots Day and then only distributed to the bars on the route of the Boston Marathon.  They had a couple of extra kegs and were marketing it in Worcester.  She said if we bought one from the bar we would get a free Sam Adams beer drinking glass to go along with it.  My entrepreneurial spirit was engaged and I was shortly the proud owner of a Sam Adams drinking glass.  I still don’t understand why you would market a beer that won’t be available until next year but I’m not complaining.  It was good beer.  The wife and I ended up back at the true Zorbas with their giant sized pizza last night as sanity returned.  My wife got that mischievous look in her eye when the waitress asked about desert and we shortly thereafter splitting a chocolate lava cake.  This is a real departure from my wife’s usual almost Spartan control of my calorie intake but I was not complaining.  We took a walk back home and saw some of my wife’s flowers which are in full bloom with all the rain we’ve had.  She’s got the proverbial green thumb and I love that she finally has gardens she can truly call her own to nurture.  We do have a three day weekend but we’re going to spend a large part of it travelling to and from New York City for a wedding.  The best part of that will be seeing our daughter.  First I have to get the lawn cut and Buddy has to deploy to Rhode Island since he was not invited to the wedding.  Next week is looking up because I checked Facebook this morning and an old Army buddy that I haven’ seen since 1994 contacted me and we’re having dinner on Friday. 

Very UnSpartan Lava

Full Bloom

Picnics and Grills

The South Lawn at Picnic Time

Yesterday my boss had a picnic at the company to thank all the employees for their hard work in fielding the new fare boxes.  He had it catered so no one had to work at the grill or the serving line.  Did I tell you what a great boss I have?  The picnic was on what was described to me as “the south lawn”.  I’ve worked here for over four years and I didn’t even know we had a south lawn.  It’s funny how you can drive into and right by a place every day and not notice something.  It turns out this is a very nice, tree shaded area that was perfect for the picnic.  The lady who organized the picnic assumed an immense risk by storing two huge plates of chocolate chip cookies in my office for two days prior.  I’m not saying all of the cookies made it to the picnic but enough did that I escaped accusations.  It was a perfect day weather wise and a great chance to reconnect with a lot of employees I hadn’t seen since my return.  I got home to another picnic related issue.  My wife decided that our gas grill needed to be replaced and bought one during the day.  She indicated that I should abandon my planned sojourn on the couch and get right to putting it together.  Anybody who’s ever put one of these together knows how much fun that can be.  Aided ably by my trusty sidekick, Buddy the Wonder Pooch, I laid out all the parts on the back deck and got to work.  As I laid out the parts I was nervous because I couldn’t find the huge bag of nuts and bolts that come with every product I’ve ever assembled.  I discovered that this product came with the screws, nuts and bolts already prepositioned on the major pieces.  I had to either loosen the screws or remove and then replace the bolts from the pre-positioned locations.  THIS WAS HUGE!!!!  I want to publically state that whoever finally came up with this absolutely awesome idea deserves a Nobel prize for reducing frustration levels.  I always enjoy trying to figure out the directions written in English but definitely not by an English speaker but this took it to a whole different level.  It actually made the assembly easy.  I didn’t have to figure out what hole and which screw they were talking about.  The directions actually made sense – another revelation.  I started a little before 6:30 PM and was finished before it got dark a little after 8PM.  Life is all about surprises, enjoying and wondering at them.  This was a very small, but very welcome surprise – someone actually cared enough to make it easier.  Looking at the stats for this blog this marks my 200^th posting in the less than one year time I’ve been blogging.  That really surprised me but I’ve got to say I really enjoy it – much more so than I ever thought possible.  I don’t know if anyone other than my daughter, my sister, and a couple of my friends actually read it but it’s been fun and I’m going to keep doing it.

The Parts Pre-Assembly and my Faithful Assistant

Success - Cooking with Gas

Good Bye Gregory

It’s the time of year where TV series finales are in full swing and although there are not a lot of TV series that I watch anymore there was one that was especially poignant because it also marked the end of the series.  House, MD has been a staple of our week for the last eight years and I was worried the ending would be poorly handled.  House is such a convoluted character that I was worried the writers would play to their lesser demons and send him off inappropriately.  My worries were completely unfounded.  Writing has always been one of the strengths of this series and that was in full view for the series finale.  The relationship between House and Wilson, obviously a direct homage to Holmes and Watson, was central to the series.  House the drug addicted genius ably supported by his conscience in Wilson.  When it appears House is killed in a fire I leaned over and told my wife, no way, this is not how House goes out.  I won’t ruin it for anybody who hasn’t seen it but the eventual ending was appropriate.  So goodbye to an old friend, Dr Gregory House, who departs for TV limbo land.  Thanks for some very entertaining years and for savagely stripping a lot of life’s hypocrisies out for full view.  You needn’t have worried – you were never boring – your greatest fear.  Yesterday was exhausting as I hosted a friend who was visiting work, which was fun, and then another four hours of union negotiations, which was less fun.  When I got home I started to crash on the couch for a couple of minutes when Buddy decided that meant I wanted to snuggle.  He’s taken to my sitting on the couch as a signal that I need him next to me – I think it’s something my sister taught him.  My wife thought it was so cute that she snapped a couple of pictures on him using me for a pillow.  In his mind this was telling me to get off my ass and throw him a frisbee or three which is where it lead.  I did get to talk to my son last night and for the first time felt he was allowing the distance between us to matter. 

Buddy Trying to High Five You

My Life as a Pillow

Battleship Davenport

Well yesterday didn’t turn out to be too bad.  The union seems to be approaching this with a different mentality but it is still way, way early.  Since last night was date night the wife and I went to see Battleship, which in a word is AWESOME!  It starts out kind of slow and I worry that the director Peter Berg may be love with Tim Riggins because of the long, lingering camera shots of the star, Taylor Kitch.  It was almost uncomfortable at times but I guess that was for the ladies because there was a hell of a lot of action for the guys – must be the new paradigm.  The last 45 minutes of the movie was some of the best action I’ve seen in a while.  The editing was kind of choppy and Neeson was severely underused but overall a great action thriller.  I loved the old board game of Battleship which I played incessantly as a kid and really wondered how they could make a coherent movie out of it, Brooklyn Decker helped a lot.  I also finished the latest Lucas Davenport book, Stolen Prey by John Sandford.  I absolutely love this character and Sandford’s writing style.  My only dilemma is that I enjoy them so much that I tear through the books at breakneck speed and all of sudden it’s over and I’m left wanting more.  It’s been interesting watching this character age and Sandford has worked in some supporting characters such as, that f***ing Virgil Flowers (read the books and you’ll understand that) and Davenport’s adopted daughter Letty, whom I believe he is setting up to take over for Davenport.   In this book Flowers is given a minor plot line that, as usual, blows completely up to Davenport’s delighted exasperation but they’re great when interacting.  Flowers is a great catalyst for chaos.  So, yesterday, against all odds, turned out to be a pretty good day thanks to two old battleships, the USS Missouri (see the movie) and Lucas Davenport.

Negotiating Quagmire

Later today I take part in the start up of negotiations with the union on a new contract.  It is something I dread with a white hot intensity of an imploding sun.  I always thought negotiations were about give and take but that is certainly not the case.  Granted that my experience is limited to just four different contracts that I have taken part in negotiating and it has all been with this same union so my experience may be atypical.  Basically the union refuses to agree to anything and demands major changes.  The “negotiations” involve going over the same things and agreeing that we disagree.  The union eventually reaches the point where they are going to take a strike vote and the politicians get involved forcing them and us to accept terms.  The “negotiations” are seemingly just an opening gambit that the union will always push to the point of impasse.  They know that their best chance is to bet on the politicians getting them more so why agree to anything.  God help us in this election year.  Luckily Massachusetts is a one party state so the politicians aren’t that concerned.  I just hate wasting time and wish we could actually, negotiate.  This will involve many hours of my life that I will never get back.

Blistering Work Schedule

The Driveway Repair

Yesterday was certainly not a day of rest.  After church we knocked out the grocery shopping and then headed to Home Depot where I had a list of things to get and it turns out there were plants that needed to be rescued from bondage there.  It should come as no surprise that during my return from loading the car with my purchases I had to launch a quadrant search for my wife who was at her elusive best.  I found her wheeling around with more flowers and a humungous new flower pot.  She had the good grace to look a little contrite but said she just loved the color of the flowers and well they would need a pot.  Note to self – whenever wife comes with me to Home Depot – bring extra money (lots of extra money).  When we got back to the house I recharged the home’s water filters with 150 pounds of salt and tried to make adjustments on my lawn tractor which was not mowing level.  It turns out that something in there is bent and I’ll have to get Sears in to check it out.  Thank God for service agreements.  I was able to jury rig something so it still works in a fashion.  I also finished my driveway repair job.  Home Depot sells these bags of asphalt that you just pour out and then pack into whatever needs repair. The house has settled over the years and a gap developed between the driveway and the garage.  I was happy with the results but they came at a price.  Since I was trying to do this while still catching some of the Red Sox game I forgot to put on my work gloves when I started doing the compacting.  I could feel some tender spots developing but by then my hands were coated with the grit and oil from the asphalt and I didn’t want to waste time cleaning up and then putting on the gloves – BIG MISTAKE.  By the end I had eight different places on my hands where I tore blisters off.  They were throbbing a little (lot) with the grease, oil, and bits of asphalt imbedded.  I finished the part I wanted to and then tried to wash the hands out.  Mere soap was no match for the grease so I found some spray stuff that my wife uses to glean grease off the stove and that worked great.  It stung a whole lot but it really cut through the grease.  Now all I had to do was keep the extent of my injuries from my wife to avoid the obligatory lecture about what an idiot I had been.  She did ask why I was taking the wedding ring off (huge blood blister there).  After the Sox won another game (did I just say that!) I headed out and mowed the yard and then launched a chemical strike to thwart our annual invasion of black ants.  Finally I put the cars back into the garage and finished the asphalt project, wearing gloves this time.  My wife had safely ensconced her new plants in the new pot while I went up stairs and rediscovered how much fun it was to apply soap to raw skin.  Showers are going to be fun for the next couple days.  We settled down to watch a movie, My Week with Marilyn, recommended by our daughter.  None of my nightly popcorn though because of salt on the raw skin fears.  If my wife saw me wearing gloves to eat popcorn she would know for sure.  We made it about halfway through before we both acknowledged we had slept through most of it so we’ll give it another shot tonight.  I’ve got to learn to stop being such an idiot.  I’ll have to acknowledge my son’s proclivity to get injured all the time probably was inherited from me.  Hey, at least the back is almost back to normal!


The Price

Moving Party

The House we Were Helping Move

Yesterday was a fun yet extremely hectic day.  We set off early (well it was early somewhere) for Rhode Island to help some friends move their parents into their new house and then an evening surprise anniversary party for my brother in law’s brother.  Buddy came along because of the extended time and we dropped him off so he could hang out at my sister’s house.  They have a new fenced in yard which Buddy appreciated almost as much as their new cat.  Apparently there were a couple of races throughout the day which thankfully the cat won.  We then headed over to our friend’s house.  My wife had told our friends about my recent adventures with my back because I got yelled at every time I tried to lift something.  They put me to work hanging shelves in the bathroom.  I was a little nervous after the first attempt failed and I was confronted with a large hole I created in the brand new wall.  Luckily the holes I made in the wall actually matched up with another fastening device and it looked good.  After a pizza lunch on the deck with the moving crew my wife and I were dispatched to buy hanging flowers for the porch.  Okay, it was my wife that was sent, I was merely the driver.  So I got to spend a couple of quality hours wandering through flower stands, win!  The dynamic back at the house was fairly dynamic.  Our friends are a Japanese guy married to a Portuguese lady and the cultures were on full display yesterday.  The guy was in charge of the moving crew, 4 young cousins who were handling all the heavy lifting.  The gal had a coterie of Portuguese girlfriends helping her organize the move in.  The guy had a color coded, extremely regimented move in plan which at times ran into delays caused by the fairly less organized Portuguese contingent.  This led to a couple of scenes where the Japanese guy was yelling at the top of his lungs at his wife’s friends.  I can only speculate as to the aftermath.  We escaped in time to arrive at the party which was organized by the couple’s children, turned out to be a semi-surprise, and spent the evening out on the deck talking with my sister and her fabulous in laws.  It was fun to have the next generation reaching an age when they could join the adult conversations.  They still were susceptible to adult wickedness though as three different ones came and asked me if I had had cake yet so I ended up with three pieces of cake – a true win!  My brother in law is the brother I never had and I don’t get enough time to hang out with my sister and he, so last night was very special.  He, his sister, and his brother are so funny to watch together.  They are perfect foils for each other and the night ended with the three of them sitting around debating who the favorite child was.  I, performing my designated role in the debate, was trying to throw gasoline on the fire.  It's a great testimony to the power of family and I was so grateful that we were allowed to bask in the reflected warmth.  This kind of thing is so important when our own kids are so far away and seldom present.  There were a thousand other things I experienced and felt last night but when my exhausted wife completed her designated drive home – I think an apt summary was made.  A good day.

The Portuguese Labor Following Japanese Direction

The Bathroom with Securely Placed Shelves

The Wife Perusing Flowers

House with my Wife's Additions

The Semi-Suprise Moment at the Party

The Three Siblings, My Brother In Law on the Right - The Favorite Child in the Middle

Brazilians and Alternate Zorbas

The New Zorbas

Yesterday was an interesting day.  My boss took the day off so I was running things which including hosting a visiting group of transit officials from Brazil.  They were coming to see some of the new technology we have fielded over the past year.  I was just along for the ride as the technology company took the lead in explaining how everything worked.  The group flew into the Worcester Airport in a private plane so I'm thinking that Brazilian transit is a whole lot better funded than we are.  The leader of the group was a middle aged lady who was still very attractive.  Apparently business attire in Brazil includes skin type leather pants but I am not complaining.  It was kind of funny to sit back and watch as she charmed every man she came into contact with.  It was obvious that she was extremely sharp and was the smartest person in the group.  We had a very expensive business lunch (thank you technology company) where she sat across from the client we work for.  By the end of the lunch she had him all set to visit Brazil despite the fact that he hates to fly.  It was an interesting experience watching a powerful woman manage a group of men.  By the time she left she had them all eating out of her hand.  She kind of avoided me, I don’t think I struck her as an easy mark, or it could have been my breath – gotta check that out.  I had dinner with a truly powerful woman, my wife.  She decided we had to abandon our normal routine Friday dinner at the local Zorbas by joining a couple of friends at the Zorbas that opened in Worcester.  My wife promised the owner of Zorbas that we would go there someday and yesterday was that day.  I drive by the place every day on my way to work so I told her that I would meet her there instead of driving all the way home and then back again.  She vetoed that plan and instructed me to meet her at home.  She deflected all my arguments by pointing out that I would have to drive home which would limit my beer intake.  I bowed to the powerful logic of her arguments and met her at home.  The dinner was fun because of the company but the Worcester Zorbas was kind of a disappointment because they didn’t have the giant size pizza we normally order.  It was also grilled which I guess means it’s healthier which in turn makes it taste like paper.  This Zorbas lacked the hominess of the local one – seemed more like a chain restaurant.  Today we’re off to Rhode Island to help a friend move their parents into their house, we’ll see how my back holds up.  Buddy is excited because he gets a play date with his cousin Bailey at my sister’s house.

Our Table in Upper Right Corner

Demon Running

Yesterday was a long day as I confronted my personal demons – long meetings. I’ve always hated long meetings and suffered through several yesterday.  In one, first thing in the morning, we had to sit and around and listen to an appointed official who knows absolutely nothing about the business offer suggestions so nonsensical that it strained credulity.  He was finally told to shut up by one of our more frequent and equally clueless critics, which spoke volumes about how far afield this idiot was.  I spent the entire afternoon sitting in the initial bargaining session with the union leaders on a new contract.  The fact that this session was the more enjoyable than the morning one was indicative.  I did finish reading Running with the Demon, by Terry Brooks.  I hadn’t read anything by Brooks in decades.  When I was young I latched on to his Sword of Shanarra series after reading The Lord of the Rings.  It was a pale copy of the classic but I still enjoyed it.  After I finished my last book my Kindle list was empty so I found one of his which turned out to be the middle book of a series.  After deciding I liked the book I went back to Amazon and now own the five books in the series and started reading the first, Running with the Demon.  It took me a while to get into because Brooks always feels he has to lower all expectations and make all his characters miserable before their final battle.  While I was at Amazon I also noticed a short by Nelson Demille, a favorite but achingly slow writer.  It was called The Book Case and featured my favorite character from Demille’s books – John Corey.  He’s a wise ass New York cop and Demille gives him some truly great lines.  Corey belongs in my pantheon of literary heroes.  That’s a list led by Travis McGee (named my son after him) followed by Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, and Lucas Davenport.  I knocked out the Corey short over lunch and thoroughly enjoyed it.  While I was doing that my Kindle notified me that a book that I had pre-bought was being delivered and lo and behold the latest Lucas Davenport book, Stolen Prey, had arrived.  So yesterday sucked because of the meetings but was totally redeemed by the trusty Kindle.  I may recommend this to one of my more gregarious friends, but I’m not sure he knows how to read.

Off the Disabled List

The Perils of Transporting Diet Coke in a Gym Bag

Yesterday I gave my back it’s first chance to work out since I injured it a few days ago.  I went for a run and then later in the evening I tried swimming for the first time since I hurt it.  When I got my running gear out in the office I discovered that at some point in the last few days I had spilled a soda on the white shirt I was using to run.  That meant I had to use a covering shirt that I normally only use when it’s cold.  Yesterday was in the high 70‘s so I also had that going for me. The run was pretty much okay but I could definitely tell I had been away from it for over a week  When I was younger I could miss a couple of weeks and pick it right back up but that factor seems to shrink significantly as you get older.  Now if I miss even a couple of days – there is a price to pay.  I was paying a lot yesterday but the back held up pretty well.  The swimming was a little tougher, especially when I went to make turns.  Apparently the back is very important in making these turns because the back was barking pretty severely when I tried my normal turn.  I tried a bunch of very exotic turning methods.  Luckily I had the pool to myself so no one else witnessed this performance comedy or when I tried to get out of the pool.  It was a less than graceful act.   It felt so good to get back in the saddle.  I shared a very funny moment with one of my friends yesterday.  He is doing a job search and was perusing a potential employer’s web site when he ran across the picture below.  It’s of another friend of ours, who can be cantankerous at times.  He had also gone through a job search recently.  Apparently this photo was being used on the web site to show how professional this company was and what quality individuals they attracted.  My friend and I laughed so hard because if the other friend knew about this we would not hear the end of it.  I just hope he doesn’t read this blog. I have to admit he cleans up well and I’d hire him.  It points out how small a world the internet is creating.

I Didn't Even Know He Owned a Suit