Conclaves, Computers, and Coyotes

Since my Keene Friend works a ridiculous schedule, we delayed our normal Friday deployment for the Pumpkinfest.  This allowed attendance at a gathering of the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia.  This group of friends and acquaintances is one of the really nice things about living near Worcester.  Throughout our marriage, wherever we have lived, my wife inevitably connects with a some of her countrymen and forms a tight knit group that shares one attributes of seemingly all Panamanians – they love to party.  I gain access through marriage and there are a number of other gringos who share my fate/pleasure of being married to one of the lively gals from Panama. 

Before we reached the mafia conclave though I had to get through a work day.  I spent all week working with the technology company to learn how to import the upcoming schedule changes into their proprietary software.  It was kind of cool as everybody was connected remotely to my computer even though we were at various places around the U.S.  When the session was finished I made the decision to save the work on a shared drive instead of my own computer.  I don’t know why because that was completely out of my normal procedure.  I think it was part of the lizard brain telling me disaster was ahead.

Five minutes before I was supposed to leave for the day my computer started asking me if I wanted to save the piece of work I had open.  I thought that was weird until the entire computer shut down, ominously and seemingly with finality.  I couldn’t get it to re-open and the IT department came over on an emergency call.  My excellent boss was hosting a celebration of the Frist Friday of the Week so I left the computer in their hopefully capable hands.  The examination of life at Brew City was interrupted by a call from the tech saying my computer would require MEDEVAC for some major surgery.  They might have it back by Monday.  Yikes!  It’s kind of scary because of how dependent everything I do at work is on that particular piece of equipment.

Bad Picture of Brew City for First Friday

The gatherings of the conclave are always interesting.  This gathering was at the Wexford House in Worcester to celebrate the birthday of one of the mafia.  Of course the host had trouble pronouncing “Wexford” so the gathering was delayed as the group was spread over three or four other restaurants across Worcester with names like, Webster, Exeter, etc.  Luckily my wife was sure of the street name and I was able to whittle the choices down until she finally recognized Wexford.  I’ve been by this place literally hundreds of times and never noticed it.

Great Food if You Are Ever in Worcester

It was a family run restaurant with what turned out to be fantastic food and popcorn!  Since I’ve extended the keto vacation to a full 24 hour period I was able to attack my favorite snack for the first time since May.  The group gathered and soon the party was in full swing with the usual complement of really bad jokes.  The best of the night:

“A man was sitting next to a woman who was sneezing almost constantly and then gasping as if in pain.  He finally asked her if she was okay.  She responded that yes, she was okay but she had a condition where every time she sneezed she had an orgasm.  The man asked her if she was taking any medication for it and she replied, “Yes, pepper.”

The Gathering of the Mafia Last Night

The food was completely outstanding the kind you get when you stray from the path of the franchised food.  A family run joint that wasn’t fancy but a lot of fun.  The owner even came over and shared some of his own jokes when he saw how much fun we were having.  The party finally broke up around 10pm and the threatened dancing never materialized so we headed home for fest preparation.

My Wife Met One of These Guys

Earlier in the week my wife finally met one of the neighborhood coyotes.  We hear them all the time in the wood line behind our house where they torment the local turkey population.  She called and told me there was a really large dog running through our back yard.  When she described it and I told her it was a coyote she immediately went to DEFCON Five alert status.  I told her to just keep Buddy in and it would run away because they didn’t want anything to do with humans.  Of course later that day there was a story about a man in Colorado who was attacked by coyotes so the alert level remains high. 

And now – off to the fest!

Playoff Beard Day 18 - Back in Action Tonight