Pana-Melancholia

Farewell Dinner Last Night

The adventure is drawing to a close as yesterday was the last full day for the gorgeous Pana-Gals in the United States.  They spent the day on last minute errands but amazingly, no shopping.  Their experiences packing the suitcases finally put a curb on their insatiable need to purchase. 

I’m really going to miss them.  When I first heard that I would have four additional Panamanian women staying with us for almost a month, I’ve got be honest with you, I was a little leery.  It turned out to be a great adventure because these ladies were so unremittingly nice.  They appreciated everything my wife and I did for them as we tried to make this as special as possible for them.  They made that easy because they are the kind of ladies you want to do nice things for.  I loved being able to show my country off, as well, to an appreciative audience.

I will miss the constant chatter and laughing that marked their presence in the house.  I know Buddy will especially miss the ladies who never missed a chance to pat him on the head or sneak him a treat. 

A lot of people cringed when I told them we had this many guests staying for as long as they were.  I honestly wish they could have stayed longer.

I took the whole gang out for dinner last night at the local 99 restaurant.  It was the usual fantastic time with this assembly of female energy but there was also a tinge of sadness for the first time as we all realized the great adventure was reaching the finish line. In a totally unexpectedly gesture they presented me with a thank-you card and a gift certificate to the local movie theater (I guess they did learn something about me).  Yep, going to miss them a whole lot (but the wife even more) 

Yesterday was incredibly busy at work (that figures) as I launched on the big project that is keeping me form joining my wife for our annual trip together to Panama.  My team and I got off to a good start but the path ahead looks daunting in the face of doing our regular jobs alongside this task.  At least it will help the time alone speed by faster.

Speaking of employment news a good friend got some great news in his job search yesterday.  I’m proud of the way he’s borne up against the uncertainty of his job search; reminds me why I’ve always thought of him as the best of the best.

Finally, yesterday I finished up the latest Black Company tome, The Books of the South.  I was halfway through this one when Memory of Light played the eminent domain card on my reading priorities.  This continues to be a very enjoyable series that does a fantastic job of getting the military aspects, especially the interplay between career soldiers, right.  Despite the fact this story is set in a fantasy world, the “soldiers” feel real. 

The Black Company, devastated in the wars of the north, journeys south towards their mythical homeland even though no one knows anything about that homeland.  They run into wars causing them to constantly rebuild the unit around an increasingly diminishing core.  In an interesting twist they are following the route the Black Company took north several hundred years prior and they end up recruiting descendants of the original company. 

They are also joined by the villain of the first series of books who has lost her powers and fallen in love with Croaker.  She adds an interesting element that takes some of the male edge off the proceedings.  They also end up fighting a lot of the villains from the first book who were thought to be dead.  Apparently they’re very hard to kill, witnessed by Limper who’s reduced to just his head but still manages to create a significant amount of chaos.  I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get around to the Black Company but I’m certainly enjoying the ride.