Mission Accomplished

It’s been a busy kind of week so far. After Memorial Day we received word that the plumber we hired to install my Favorite Panamanian’s recent purchases to re-model the downstairs bathroom would be doing so today. I am totally impressed with this guy. There was none of the waiting I recently went through with our last home improvement project. He said he would be here at 8 and showed up at 7:56. He got right to work removing the existing sink and toilet. While both of these items are still functional, they did not meet my Favorite Panamanian’s sense of style standards. Since I only have 49% of the vote, my opinion was noted for informational purposes. She’d used a couple of my thunder runs back to my hometown to purchase a vanity sink and new toilet in tax free New Hampshire.

The "New" Bathroom

We acquired the plumber through her nearly unholy relationship with the Neighborhood Mafioso. That worthy had recently completed her own project, and that contractor looked at our plans and recommended this plumber. As stated above, it was a total win as this guy is good, the invoice he gave me was a couple hundred dollars less than his initial estimate (I didn’t know that was even possible). After expertly installing the new items, he moved upstairs and repaired the tub faucet in what we call the granddaughters’ bathroom. That damned thing has dripped for years and through two former plumbers’ visits. So that mission is done and I must admit, again, she was right. It looks so much better. She’s got a paper hanger lined up to install some wall paper in a couple weeks to finish off that room. We’ve got another Thunder Run tomorrow with my high school classmates’ monthly luncheon. I am considerably psyched for that event and the requisite after lunch socializing.

Speaking of missions, we spent date night yesterday watching the latest and supposedly last Mission Impossible movie, Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning. If this truly is the last film in this series, it goes out with a bang. While that is predictable given the series DNA, somehow they’ve taken the stunts and sheer “impossibility” of some of Tom Cruise’s exploits to even higher levels. The run time is really, really long as they crammed as much as they possibly could into the nearly three hours. They spend a lot of time reconnecting to the prior movies, including an extremely cool reach back to one of the minor characters from the very first movie. They could have and probably should have trimmed some of the underwater work which dragged on way too long, stretching incredulity beyond even what a dedicated MI fan can accept. You have to go into these movies prepared to suspend disbelief but there were times I was just shaking my head as we left reality behind decisively. The final half of the movie, with the world on the brink of nuclear immolation (of course), makes anything leading up to it easy to forgive. A great, glossy, overblown, overlong, but completely entertaining epic, I loved it.

Six movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: Paul – hilarious ode to sci fi fandom with a foul mouthed alien; Payback (both versions) – love these movies with Gibson at his peak as a betrayed thief, Lucy Liu steals every scene she’s in; Paycheck – silly but very entertaining sci fi puzzler; The Peacemaker – better than I remembered military adventure with Clooney and Kidman; and Peppermint – Jennifer Garner is so good at action as she cuts her way through a ruthless drug gang who killed her family.

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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