Virgil
November Thanksgivings
by , 11-30-2008 at 09:06 PM (3012 Views)
Well, November is over and it has been a struggle but it has ended on a very good note. I was very busy this month at work, our successful October test requiring all sorts of briefings and reviews. I must say it's great when you stand in front of management and you have great news to present and that we are actually ahead of our goals. And then going down to a major potential customer and proudly presenting the accomplishments that some on their side didn't think were possible, well, that is a real high. There was a fellow on their side that tried to squash the whole effort and it was sooo satisfying to have him sit in the audience while I presented my data and have his bosses be openly impressed. It was certainly more fulfilling to have such a positive response from the customer, but it certainly was a little side treat to stick it to him.
The month did start off well (other than the election results). My mother had her 75th birthday at the beginning of the month and we took her out to dinner on the weekend for her birthday. Actually she was really feisty the day of her birthday. When I got home from work and stopped at her house as I do every day to check up on her, she started berating me and wagging her finger at me. She was particularly sprightly.
“Boy, you’re all pent up” I said. “Even on your birthday. What’s our problem?” (This is a rough tranlation from the Italian we speak.)
“Ah, you remembered,” she said.
“Yeah, and don’t you know how old you are, you’re 75,” trying to get as dig in.
“I know how old I am, and don’t you ever take any confidence over me.”
“What?”
“I haven’t forgotten what you’ve said to me, a few times now.”
“What?”
“You’ve said you’re going to lock me up in a nursing home.”
That was true, I had angrily said that a couple of times during the summer because she wouldn’t stop in the garden. She was digging ditches, even with her recent hip operation. She was recounting this all day I bet.
“Well, you won’t stop,” I said. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Don’t you ever threaten me,” she said wagging her finger. “Don’t you ever say things like that me again.”
Well, where do you think I got my habit of speaking that way to her? From her. She would always say some hypothetical threatening thing to us. My father never talked like that. She did and I picked it up.
Here’s a picture of me and mama at the restaurant.
She had a great time. The waiters and waitresses sang happy birthday to her. Actually since I’m giving a picture of her, I think she would prefer one in her beloved garden. This was taken over the summer.
And this is now the end of a five day weekend. I have gotten into the habit of taking the Friday after Thanksgiving off (who wants to go to work after Thanksgiving and that Friday is such a nothing day) and I take the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off as well. That day before the Thanksgiving holiday is a killer commuter day. It has taken me as much as three hours, when it should take me an hour, to get home. It’s just not worth it. Everyone is traveling to relatives and clogging the roads.
It was a very nice weekend, though it didn’t start that way. When I got to the car pool meeting spot and I went into my car, I heard a strange creaking sound when I closed my door. What was that, I asked myself? I looked in the rear view mirror and my back window was frosted over. Frosted over? That’s odd, it wasn’t even close to that cold. So I got out of the car and as I shut the driver’s door, I heard glass crinkle and drop into the car. No???It can’t be I thought, but it was. My back window was shattered and wen I touched it glass particles fell into the car. Urrgh. I looked over the car and there wasn’t even a scratch anywhere else. The best I can piece together was that a rock must have been propelled and smacked it. They were working on that street for the past few days and there was lots of dug up rocks along the ground. Amazingly I wasn’t angry, though I should have been infuriated. And then as I drove home I kept hearing glass falling as I touched the breaks or drove over a bump or pot hole. I had a huge hole in the back by the time I got home. I called the insurance right away and I was lucky. I had glass coverage and I didn’t have to pay anything. Boy that was fortunate. And they would send a glass replacement person to the house. Well, I couldn’t get better service than that, though with the holiday I had to wait until Friday.
And on Wednesday I got an email across my blackberry from that fellow who tried to squash my project and he said that his management had endorsed us. Hooray!! That’s really a big step and it will make the team thrilled on Monday when I pass the info on, and it will make my management so happy. Oh it must have killed that fellow to send that email. Hahaha. I wish I was a fly on his computer when he wrote it.
Thanksgiving was great. Wonderful food. My mother is such a great cook. Her stuffing is to die for. And the Cowboys won their football game, so how can you beat that. And last night my wife and I went to a concert: Bach, Mozart, and Schumann. And that was really enjoyable. So I’ve had a nice relaxing five day weekend and I’m floating with good vibes. So many things to be thankful for.
Oh there was one negative thing to the weekend. And I can’t pass this over. This is part of my soul. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India sent the same shivers up my spine as when they occurred here seven years ago. I was glued to the news hoping for a good outcome. It wasn’t, I’m afraid. My heart is with the people of India. I think we’re lulled here in the US by the success of our prevention efforts. But it isn’t over. The fight continues.
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