Date Night Delayed for Beard Fail

I love the weekly date nights the wife and I have engaged in for the last few years.  I was a little anxious that last night’s date was scheduled for the pivotal Bruins-Canadiens game but I was prepared to take one for the team and execute.

I returned home to find my better-half fully engulfed in her annual flower planting frenzy.  We have no less than twelve hanging plants on our front porch that she personally designs each year as well as a couple hundred (may be exaggerating a tad there) other flower pots. She’d spent the day buying the flowers and did not want to break stride before she finished her work.

Wife Caught - Mid-Frenzy

Since I was feeling extremely magnanimous I acquiesced to a delay of date night so she could complete her work.  I don’t think she saw me sneak around the side of the house for a quick celebratory dance.  I launched another attack on the mulch mountain with the semi-faithful assistance of the Wonder Pooch.  I won’t go into any great detail of his unprovoked “fake” attack on the neighbor who had the temerity to walk her dog in front of our house.  If you own Buddy you’re use to embarrassed excuse making.

I know people are probably sick of me extolling the virtues of the keto diet I’ve been on for nearly a year now but here it goes.  My annual ritual of shoveling and distributing the five yards of mulch around the house was heretofore a ticket to a pretty sore back and attendant muscle aches and exhaustion.  This year – no such issue and I’ve been doing it for two nights in a row.  It seems divesting one’s self of an extra 45-50 pounds is actually beneficial; who knew!

Probably Not a Good Idea to Let This Guy Alone in Front of Net

Of course, all my histrionics with the wife’s delay of date night were wasted as the beard failed miserably to carry the Bruins to a win last night.  For the vast majority of the game they were the better team on the ice but they seem to lack the ability to finish plays and put the puck in the net.  The Canadiens do not share that affliction and made the most of each of their scoring attempts.

I was in a depressive state after watching that debacle and turned to the Red Sox for support.  Tazawa rewarded me by continuing his latest habit of blowing 8^th inning leads and forcing the game into extra innings.  I hung around until the 12^th inning where the Sox finally pushed across a run for a stirring win which did a little to assuage the pain of the Montreal situation.  Thursday will tell all.

But This Helped

Jack is Definitively Back!

Anybody who knows anything about me knew I was going to write about the return of my favorite terrorist bane, Jack Bauer, last night.  More on that momentous occasion later as we head into the pivotal playoff game between the Bruins and the Canadiens tonight.  This series has typically descended into the emotional donnybrook everybody hoped for.  The Canadiens are playing their parts as the petulant whiny boys while the Bruins try to cast themselves as the aggrieved party.

The cool thing is both teams are playing great hockey even given the punk level from the Canadiens.  My brother in law posted an interesting piece about former player/goon Chris Nilan who played for both teams and said all the noise about favoritism shown by referees for Montreal was fictitious.  I liked that he said people should stop blaming the refs and just play the game.  ( see at:  http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/chris-nilan-idea-refs-will-favor-habs-crap)

I think the Canadiens are basking in all the media they’re receiving during the series.  They’re a huge deal north of the border but that’s being a big fish in a small (population wise) pond.  Now they’re in the middle of a major US media market and are playing the villain role to the hilt – fun.  The beard must emerge victorious tonight!

Bruins Beard - Week 3

I returned home last night to find the wife huddled around the kitchen table with fellow members of the Panamanian Mafia.  One of them is about to become a first time grandmother (tough for the wife to tolerate that).  My wife was helping the future grandmother with party favors for an upcoming baby shower.  Since I did not want to participate in that riveting conversation I headed outside to start chipping away at the mulch mountain deposited in the driveway.  Buddy provided vigilant security against any unprovoked squirrel attacks while I worked. 

Buddy Ensuring its Safe for Me To Approach the Mountain

Then came Jack!  My wife could not believe I was so excited for the reappearance of my favorite TV hero when the tell-tale countdown began signalling the return of 24.  Jack’s been gone for over four years now and while his capabilities are at the science fiction level of believability – he’s just such a dude!  The first two hours did not disappoint although he didn’t kill anybody until the second hour which in itself was a bit shocking.  I had his personal body count at four (if the drug dealer bleeds out) plus about a dozen bruised CIA operatives who thought they could take on ultimate warrior.

Jack and Chloe Last Night

I hope they don’t take his edge away and make him cuddlier (read politically correct).  Jack’s been off the grid for a few years and re-emerges to save Chloe who’s become a Wikileaks type hacker.  While he’s at that he’s also going to save the US President who’s visiting London while avoiding capture by Chuck and Dexter’s girlfriend.  The bad guys look sinister and I’m sure the insurance rates for central London will skyrocket by the end of this.  Welcome back Jack, you were missed.  In honor of Mr. Bauer’s return I present some time honored Jack Bauer truisms: 

Jack Bauer once stepped into quicksand. The quicksand couldn't escape and nearly drowned.

The city of Los Angeles once named a street after Jack Bauer in gratitude for his saving the city several times. They had to rename it after people kept dying when they tried to cross the street. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.

Jack Bauer was once charged with attempted murder in Los Angeles County, but the judge dropped all charges because Jack Bauer never "attempts" murder.

If you are still verbally capable of telling Jack Bauer that he is hurting you, then trust me, he isn't.

Most people would need months to recover from 20 months of Chinese interrogation. Jack Bauer needs a shower, a shave and a change of clothes.

If Jack Bauer had been a Spartan the movie would have been called "1".

It takes you 24 weeks just to watch what Jack Bauer does in a single day.

Quatro de Mayo Celebrations North of the Border

A mundane May 4^th was transformed yesterday with a trip north into the wilds of New Hampshire to spend some time with the Keene Friend.  Yard chores were dismissed due to the possibility of afternoon showers and that opened an opportunity to head north since the Keene Friend had one of his rare days off.

We started out with a great lunch at the Stage Restaurant at the head of the square.  In something that has become sort of a tradition for returns to my hometown we ran into a high school classmate that I hadn’t seen in forty years.  He was none other than the nemesis of the Cantankerous One himself.  They’ve been sharing some pretty pointed jabs at each other on Facebook over the past few months.

I welcomed him to the club of people the Cantankerous One loves to argue with and provided him with my well-worn description of arguing with His Cantankerousness:  “It’s like arguing with a pig, everybody gets dirty and the pig loves it.”  The nemesis stated they had recently declared a truce which seems to be holding. 

Keene Friend in Scores

My wife abandoned us rather quickly (tax free shopping was beckoning) and left us to our own devices in central Keene.  Somehow we ended up in the central sports bar – Scores (call it kismet!).  We attempted to call the Cantankerous Friend but he was not accepting invitations yesterday.  We were in for a very entertaining afternoon as several “teams” of college students rotated through the bar.  Next week is graduation day and the seniors organized themselves into color coded teams for a pub crawl.  They each wore tee shirts with the slogan:  “Before We Walk, We Must Crawl”.  Anyone who knows my opinions on the whole pub crawl question knows I felt a certain amount of pride in the local college for their delivery of an obviously first class education.  The kids were all very well behaved and a credit to their age group which was depressingly distant from our own.

The Red Team Lined up at the Bar

My friend and I had just about figured out that the red team had the best skill players while the white team had a devastating offensive line capability when we received the shock of our life.  My wife called to report she was finished shopping and was waiting for us across the street in Margarita’s.  This was truly a momentous occasion for someone who normally has to be dragged kicking and screaming from her shopping efforts.

Just a Great Sentiment!

We walked a semi-straight line across the street for dinner with my favorite Panamanian designated driver.  My Keene Friend was called upon for his role as my public comments filter and was approximately 75% successful mainly due to the extremely short shorts waiting on us.  My wife took our (my) enthusiasm in good stride as we watched the different Pub Crawl teams wending their way through the streets outside.

Huge Surprise - Wife beating us to Margarita's

The ride home was fairly quick – at least for me - as I had entered a loquacious stage.  I received a call from my Pittsburgh Friend who was targeted with several incriminating texts during the afternoon.  It was fun catching up with him and I even volunteered to help link him up with my daughter and son in law during an upcoming trip to New York City to cover the Penguins playoff series.  I followed his call up with a conversation with that same daughter who was incredibly patient listening to her father holding forth and promised to provide the needed guidance to my Pittsburgh Friend.  Mundanacity was certainly squelched yesterday in no uncertain terms.

Keene Friend and Wife at Dinner

My wife was avidly watching the presidential election yesterday back in Panama.  She was so pleased that the “puppet” of the current president was defeated by someone she thinks will be a much better president, Juan Carlos Varela.  She wanted to congratulate the Panamanians on their victory.  It’s demonstrative about how far Panama has come that a sitting president’s chosen successor was actually defeated at the ballot box.  Congratulations Panama!

President Elect Varela

Spring Finally Dances In

My son made an early morning escape from maternal embraces as we had a full day scheduled outside.  Last week’s deluges finally abated long enough to enjoy some of the results as green exploded from the dreary winter browns.  The trees up here in the hills still haven’t delivered the leaves but it’s easy to see they’re imminent.  It was a day spent outside enjoying the sparkling clean air (at least until Buddy wafted into range).  The windows were open in the house of the first time this year (outside of the odd cooking tragedy) and the heat was finally turned off.

Buddy Assisting the Wife in One of Her Gardens

I got the canopy back up on the deck and started moving some of the deck furniture out of winter hibernation.  I even fired up the mower for the first time while my wife attacked her gardens with the fragrant assistance of the pungent Buddy.  Looking back towards the house from the back of the mowed lawn it really seemed like winter was finally giving up the ghost (but it didn’t go down without a fight).

Looking Back Towards the House

Our outdoor activities were compromised in the afternoon when the Bruins took the ice although for a couple periods it looked like my beard was definitely going down.  My wife was sharpening the clippers until the Bruins staged a comeback straight out of a movie plot with four goals in less than ten minutes that stunned the Canadiens.  My wife had to remind me of the open windows and young neighborhood children who might not understand some of my more colorful exclamations as the comeback unfolded.

I Apologize to the Neighborhood Kids for my Enthusiasm

I surprised my wife this week by telling her we would be going out dancing last night.  Usually she’s the one who organizes and cajoles me into taking her into Worcester for dancing.  I turned the tables and I think she was a little shocked.  I’ve been careful to keep her from understanding that I enjoy the dancing more than I let her know.  When I asked her father for her hand in marriage more than thirty years ago he told me I had to promise to take her dancing a lot because it was really important to her.

Maxwell's Last Night

This turned out to be a vast understatement, the woman is completely possessed by her dance muse and I enjoy watching her lose herself on the dance floor.  She’s so good that people watching rarely note how bad her dancing partner as my inadequacies are less apparent next to her. Maxwell Silverman’s had its usual stock of middle aged Lotharios looking for love but we had a good time.  I think I may have broken the brownie point bank.

Since it’s supposed to rain this afternoon we’re heading up the New Hampshire to check in on the Keene friend; road trip!!!!!

Going to the Well

Some days I’m lucky enough to sit back at the end of the day and think, “that went well” and really mean it.  Yesterday definitely qualifies for that distinction.  A slow day at work distinguished additionally as the First Friday of the Week and therefore required celebration.  My excellent boss had a better week than usual with the politicos but still required some routine decompression that can only be provided by adult beverages at Brew City.

The Selfie We Sent to The Ops Manager
The Accompanying Message said - This Picture is Missing a Large Italian

The added bonus was scheduled attendance of my son who was spending the night with us since the MEF was marking 100 days to the wedding with a California sojourn with her equally excellent parents.  My boss and I decided to join the selfie parade in a failed effort to cajole/shame the operations manager into attending.  The bar tender had our drinks waiting before we even arrived at the table where my son soon joined us for yet another selfie aimed at my wife.

My Son and I - Sent to My Wife

She responded with a photo of Buddy working on his tan.  Buddy was apparently upset I was delaying the arrival of his favorite human.  We rectified that situation and my son thought Buddy had put on weight since he wasn’t around to be chased.  Buddy obliged with a subsequent hot pursuit that had the pictures bouncing on the walls.

Her Response - A Lonely Buddy

Friday’s required attendance at Zorba’s was boosted by drawing the fetching waitress.  She was on top of her game again, having abandoned the pink hair experiment.  My son was exposed to full maternal attention which was a lot of fun to watch (and not just because I was spared spousal attention).  The required giant pizza fell victim to our predations but my wife’s denial of Ronnie benefits was still in effect.  My son’s not crazy about ice cream (how the hell did that happen!) so I’m going to need the MEF to overcome my wife’s reluctance to institute summer return trips to Ronnie’s from Zorba’s.

Son and Wife at Zorba's

We ended the night back on the couch watching the Red Sox.  My attention may have been comprised at times but my son’s loud exclamation at a Pedroia grand slam restored full capacity.  Time with wife and son with both a First Friday and Zorba’s topped off with a Sox win; it certainly went well.

I finished off Ready to Kill by Andrew Peterson featuring his hero Nathan McBride.  He’s not in the same league as Brad Thor or Vince Flynn but I’ve enjoyed each of his preceding novels which featured some relentless action.  This one was tough to hang with for the first half which moved at a snail’s pace.  I’m sure someone would be fascinated with an in-depth recounting of jungle patrol techniques.  I did it for so long, granted a few decades ago, but it still didn’t bring back a lot of fond memories.

The story has McBride returning to Nicaragua where he was horribly injured years ago to assist a local he trained as a Contra back in the 1980s.  The second half more than made up for the initial slow pace as McBride and his buddy Harv engage in an overnight duel with a deadly assassin.  The final battle inside a mine had me rushing through it.  He hasn’t reach Horvath level yet but I’ll definitely return to McBride.   

Bearded Fail, Russian Adventurism, Buoyed by End

Well, Shit!

I’m not going to dwell on the late night spent watching the initial game of the Bruins playoff series with Montreal.  It went double overtime and did not end the way it should have, but it was an awesome game and why hockey really is the only major sport that hasn’t lost the true spirit of competition.  These guys obviously care and that makes such a huge difference to old fogies like me who fondly remember the days when professional athletes actually seemed to worry more about the outcome of the game than where their next endorsement dollar was coming from.  Looks to be a great series but my beard needs to start working its magic soon.

Ex-Ukrainian Military Helicopter

Putin’s had to slow down a little with his plans for Ukraine but obviously felt emboldened by nostalgia yesterday on May Day.  Two Ukrainian helicopters were shot down by shoulder fired missiles.  This undercut Putin's claims that the well-orchestrated seizure of eastern Ukrainian cities was done by armed locals.  Local militias don’t wander around with this type of sophisticated weapon.  This was another step towards goading the Ukrainians into securing their own territory so Putin can rush in to save the poor oppressed Russian speaking population.

Putin's spokesman said the Ukrainian attempt to secure their own territory "effectively destroyed the last hope for the implementation of the Geneva agreements" that aimed to defuse the crisis. A day earlier Putin warned Ukraine not to move against the insurgents and said it should withdraw its military from eastern regions.  Seems a whole like what we used to call “setting conditions” prior to a military campaign.

It’s interesting to see Putin’s reinitiated the old Soviet tradition of May Day parades and sad that such a great people are so poorly led.  A country can never move forward if they’re constantly looking to the past.  Putin’s treasured memory of the failed and thoroughly discredited communist system will hurt Russia in the long run.  As I’ve said before it’s also sad because I’ve always thought the Russians would be better and more natural/reliable allies for the US than the Europeans.

Russians On Parade

We have a shared need to wipe out radical Islam amongst other endeavors.  Looking fifty years down the road I think Islam will control most of Europe and it’ll be the US, Russia, India, and Australia allied to confront them.  Putin needs to look forward instead of the failed past.  It will be fascinating to watch the results of the meeting today between the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Obama.  We’ll learn if Putin’s economic ploys hit home enough to back the Germans off supporting the freedom of Ukraine.  A tepid response will doom the precarious situation in Eastern Ukraine and hold incredibly important long term importance to the viability of NATO.

On a much lighter note, I received a text last night from my son in law which I didn’t read until this morning.  Apparently all of his time in Minneapolis hasn’t been spent in the recording studio.  He reported a fellow band member and he visited no less than three breweries to sample their wares.  He opined that I would have been proud of him.  True that.

My Son in Law At "Work" Yesterday

My son will join us for First Friday of the Week celebrations this afternoon in Worcester which combined with my son in law’s Midwestern efforts should have us all ready for the summer pub crawling season.   We’re all aiming towards a truly epic tux fitting episode in late May.  Something tells me we’ll be ready.

Rained In Hump Day Connections

I hope all friends and family who went through the storms in the South and Midwest over the past week are safe, sound, and dry.  My thoughts were with you as I saw the reports of damage coming in (which I’m sure offered an immense amount of sustenance during your stressful time).  The same storm has been pummeling New England for the past twenty-four hours but all we’re getting is rain, lots of it.  I think it’s safe to assume the drought is over in Florida although two feet of rain within one day is probably not the tactic of choice for ending it. 

Lunch Yesterday with This Guy!!

I dodged a few rain drops yesterday for the weekly morale boost afforded by lunch with my favorite son.  We’d missed a couple weeks as schedules conspired to prevent this needed spirit lifting.  The MEF is heading west for a few days so he’s freed up for a Friday night visit home as well.  I’m guessing some Zorba’s pizza will be involved at some point.  In honor of the MEF we may even hit Ronnie’s (that’ll teach you to go to California!).

My wife and I also finally spoke with our daughter last night as she overcame her balky telephone issues long enough to catch us up on her New York City happenings.  Her husband is gone to a Minnesota recording session so she and her excellent friend attended the Chaplin Awards honoring old Meathead himself, Rob Reiner, at the Lincoln Center.  They had excellent box seats to the event where a number of Hollywood legends introduced clips of Reiner’s legendary career as a director (Princess Bride anyone?).   

My Daughter and Her Friend at Lincoln Center
Their Talents Lie Well Beyond Christmas tree Decorating

My daughter, having bred true, is every bit the movie geek that I am (and probably more) so this was a magical night for her.  She sent me some photos which I’ve included below.  She said the only really awkward moment of the night was when Tom Cruise’s taped message was played. She said there were a number of other such messages played for the audience which were really well received.  Cruise’s fell flat as she opined he really does live in a completely different dimension than the rest of us.  Luckily he can still make awesome action flicks. 

Harry and Sally Themselves, Meg Ryan and Bill Crystal
Introducing the "I'll Have What She's Having" Scene

Rob Reiner After Being Introduced by Martin Scorsese 

James Caan (blue suit) and Scorsese