Nightly Assembly

Yesterday was about as boring a day at work that I can recall which is not to be critical because an exciting work day is probably not going the way you want it to.  Worcester’s ecological museum, the Ecotarium, apparently got their dates mixed up because they celebrated Earth Day yesterday instead of earlier in the week with the rest of us (they were probably busy hugging trees or something).  We sent an electric bus up there as part of our contribution to the “greening” of Worcester.  It’s nice to see that the environment is still important to some people beyond the endless debate on global warming which has become so political.

My Excellent Boss (L) and Operations Manager in Front of Our Bus at Ecotarium

My excellent boss was in serious need of a First Friday celebration after a couple of heated episodes with the politicos this week.  The operations manager and I have decided to call these sessions his “decompression periods” instead of First Fridays.  The operations manager only worked a half day yesterday so he was at Brew City a little after 3pm.  Since there was absolutely nothing going on at work I joined him shortly thereafter. 

My boss called around 3:30 to sheepishly report he was going to Brew City then instead of the scheduled 4pm.  He asked what time I was going. I told him I was monitoring operations on Route 15 (which conveniently runs right by Brew City).  He was a little mystified and laughed uncontrollably when I revealed my monitoring location.  It was a great time with some serious decompression going on.

I was sound asleep on the couch (the boss was not the only one decompressing) when my wife returned from yoga class and reported we were being joined at our Friday Zorba date by a contingent of the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia.  Atypically she didn’t ask where I had been or why I was asking her to drive to Zorba’s.  She even got a little miffed when I engaged my rapier wit to comment on the tardiness of the mafia.  She finally figured out this morning that I was well lubricated before my Friday ripostes were flying.

The Mafia Gathered at Zorba's
Wife and I at the Far End

The gang finally did show up and were typically entertaining.  They even brought one of their mothers along to share in our enthusiasm.  The MEF will be upset to learn that the spousal ban on Ronnie’s Ice Cream is still in effect and since I was incapable of driving the vehicle she had jurisdiction in that area.  I contented myself with chocolate cake heaped with ice cream.  I considered myself assuaged. 

I finished off a book yesterday recommended by a friend that consisted of three novellas set in a world first imagined early in the 20^th century by another author.  John C. Wright’s, Awake in the Night Land, sets his stories in that world created in a novel by William Hope Hodgson, first published in 1912.  The Night Land is earth millions of years in the future with a dead sun where the remnants of humanity have retreated into a huge pyramid structure to wait out their fate while besieged by nightmare creatures bent on their final destruction.

This work was definitely outside of my usual light fare and was incredibly dense. This wasn’t something that could be burned through rapidly because there was so much descriptive imagery involved.   There were no soaring themes other than survival and a deep examination of the human condition when confronted by the end of times which I guess is a fairly elevated subject in and of itself.  I enjoyed the read immensely.