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My Wife and the Next Door Mafioso - Partners in Shopping Crimes

Yesterday’s blue moon did see something everyone I’ve worked with for the last ten years never thought to witness – my excellent boss and the political boss hobnobbing together at Brew City. They’ve been diametrically opposed to each other from almost the first moment they met. I was usually the guy caught betwixt them trying to keep some sort of peace. My excellent boss, as he is wont to do, became the bigger man and volunteered to host a going away social for the political boss as his days wind down. Of course we were going to gather at Brew City anyways to mark the First Friday of the Week but this provided an opportunity to bury a few hatchets.

Brew City Crew Last Night

Luckily none of the hatchets ended up in any of the totally exposed craniums.

I spent the entire day leading up to First Friday balancing a very focused wife creating invitations across my office while doing battle with them IT company once again. They’ve bumped me up a couple layers of authority and this guy wanted to take me to task for saying demeaning things about their product in a series of emails between us. I retorted that I wished he was as concerned about his non-functional product as he was about my salty language.

This meant I was more than ready for a serious amount of the elixir of the gods – otherwise known as Friday afternoon beer. I ran back to the house to pick up the wife who has started to warm up to the whole concept of First Friday – especially since there were more females from my work this time in which to conspire and cast aspersions against me. I think my intimidation factor takes a serious hit any time my wife is permitted to expound on the subject. Since I had my designated driver with me I more than partook of my usual amount of said elixir. I’m guessing the week weighed a lot heavier than I thought.

Political Boss and Excellent Boss in the Background

In a major shakeup of our Friday scenario my wife decided there would be no pizza and we would instead patronize the restaurant she had selected for the upcoming baby shower. I was left with 49% of the vote again since she had the car keys by this point (as if that was the only factor!). It ended up being a great idea. Val’s is a family restaurant in nearby Holden and reminded me a lot of Zorba’s; if Zorba’s underwent a serious upgrade in décor that is. The vibe was the same though as locals crowded the place and while they didn’t have pizza the rest of the fare more than made up for it. Val herself stopped by the table to converse with my wife about the shower.

Val's

Five minutes after leaving Val’s we were back home and I reinstituted another ancient Friday night tradition dating back to the 1980s with a more than slightly inebriated call to my sister in Rhode Island. Her sanity was preserved as I ended up talking with her answering machine. I’m trying to convince myself she wasn’t screening her calls, damn that caller ID! Festivities continue today with a thunder run up to Keene so my favorite Panamanian can do some more tax free baby shower shopping while I endeavor to kill some more brain cells.

My Fumbled Attempt at a Moon Shot Last Night

The moon made a dramatic sight last night. I got up for some middle aged maintenance in the middle of the night and found the entire neighborhood engulfed in semi-daylight. I can't remember seeing as bright a moon as last night's. Of course as soon as I fumbled my camera into operation the damned thing went behind a cloud and I was in mo mood to wait for it to emerge.