After Actioned

My period of in-home isolation will end today with the triumphant return of my Favorite Panamanian from her four-day religious retreat. I’m sure she’ll come armed with at least a dozen new techniques to make me a better Catholic. I’m a little worried about that. Today I must focus on getting the house clean and ensuring the toilet seats are back down (after a four-day period of present arms in the form of silent protest). I think I’m a pretty good shape because I’ve spent little time in the areas to be inspected, meaning a lot of time in the Man Cave where she ostensively holds no sway (that’s my story etc. etc.). I further reduced my impact on the area by disappearing yesterday back up to my hometown.

Lunch at the Guerilla Grill

I felt the need to conduct a thorough after-action review for the recently completed Birthday Pub Crawl. Of course, conducting that anywhere but on site would be a grievous breach of protocol. Yep. I enlisted the help of the Keene Friend, the Cantankerous Friend, and the Kindergarten Friend, so we had a quorum. We first had to have lunch, and we decided it made sense to meet at the Guerrilla Grill. This was a new place on Main Sreet, right on the pub crawl path. Several crawlers had asked me why it had not been included and I had to plead ignorance, never having been in it. So, after action issue addressed and a burger lunch devoured as well. The Guerilla Grill did not impress. We were kept waiting over ten minutes for no other reason than they were poorly organized. We then waited fifteen minutes to have a waitress attend us.  Keene Friend and I were seated/waiting when we noticed Cantankerous had come in another door was already seated at another table. No waiting at that door apparently, as I said, poorly organized. The food was great, but I don’t think we’ll be including it in the pub crawl as having twenty people descend upon it at one time could bring momentum to a screeching halt. It’s more of a café (poorly run) than a pub/bar and I don’t think they could handle it. We then adjourned out deliberations to the nearby Lab ‘n Lager, where the last vestiges of the previous week’s crawl played out into the early morning hours. We were joined by the Kindergarten Friend at this point, he being the undeclared mayor of the downtown social scene.

Later at Penuche's

We quickly agreed that the crawl had been an unmitigated success. The only downside was the planned after party at Margarita’s. Once again Margarita’s failed in spectacular fashion, and we decided it could no longer be planned on for the crawl. Keene Friend related he had taken an angry phone call from one crawler after the Margarita’s debacle. The caller, a well lubricated high school classmate (who wasn’t at that point?), took Keene Friend to task for not having an after crawl location reserved for him. Since we had left the crawl at this point it wasn’t Keene Friend’s responsibility to escort anyone, anywhere. My classmates, the resourceful bunch that they are, settled into the Lab and, as I said above, continued celebrating with some late arriving classmates until well after midnight. So next year, we’ll have to identify a place, other than Margarita’s, where everyone can gather post-crawl, if they so choose, hopefully near the downtown hotels where many crawlers sleep off their exertions. So, problem solved. We continued on to Penuche’s Ale House, to confirm it was still standing and that the floors were still at a regulation level of stickiness. Check and check. We concluded with our obligatory harassment call to the PCR, who is already making excuses for next year, trying to blame his sainted wife for his failure to appear last week.😎

Four movies fell in the A-Z watch, three keepers: Miss Congeniality, Bullock is so good at physical comedy; Monster’s Ball, Halle, oh my, two damaged people find redemption in each other; Moonfall, underrated sci fi disaster flick; Mother, Jugs, and Speed, a gag gift from Keene Friend who knew what a huge crush I had on Welch (who didn’t in the 60s?).

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete –

 my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course