Milwaukee is a blast. I called Larry three weeks ago and
asked him what I should pack for and he said to get my shorts and T shirt as
the temperature was 5 degrees (-18C). Well, I land in Milwaukee three weeks later
and the temperature is a mild 32 (0 C). The sun is shining and everything looks
great.
Well, I’m here for work and not for the weather and I get
down to it. Call it beginner’s luck (or you could just say that I am darn
good!) but I have the boards working in two days against the four days that I
had planned. I try to advance my flight to Portland but it’s just too expensive
so I decide to stay. There’s a snow storm brewing and I want to see it. We’re
going to get six inches tonight, maybe even eight. Well, it sounds obscene, I
tell them - they don’t find it funny. The morning turns out beautiful. How the
whole landscape can look so pristine and virgin after being slipped 6 inches
the night before is beyond me.
The days pass in a blur. There’s beer at lunch and there’s
Scotch at dinner; and sometimes there is Scotch for dinner. I make a new friend
in Tim and he offers to drop me off at the airport. We detour along the way for
a few Fat Tires. One is too many and two are one too few and in the end we make
a mad rush to the airport to find that my flight is delayed. That doesn’t
matter, because the Fat Tires keep on coming. I only hope that I will be OK to
drive when I get to Portland.
Corvallis feels like coming home. All the signs are familiar
on the drive down. I stop on the way at Albany to see my seaman friend and
there it all starts. He has a good Glenfiddich which is already 12 years old and there seems no point in letting it get any older. He drives down to Corvallis with me and
after a quick shower I am ready to hit the bars. A bunch of people join us and
we close the bars down – one by one. The designated driver is drinking water.
Don’t drink water, I tell him, because fish do it in water (it sounds better
when you use the actual word but this is a kid friendly blog). It’s not just
the fish, J announces to the bar. Apparently she does it in the water too; and
salt water is better than fresh. That was more information than I needed and I
vow never to drink water again. But then again…. Why not! It might be
interesting.
I am a bit dismayed at the number of my friends that I find
are recently divorced. I remember reading a recent statistic which said that 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Might as well, I guess, because the other 50% end in death!
Sunday is slow. I recover from my flight and the jetlag. We
watch the game. The Beavers are playing the Ducks which is always interesting.
The Beavers seem to be holding their own until the last ten minutes where they
lose it. The night ends with me walking into a glass door. The door is undamaged
which is more than I can say for me; I have a bug bump on my forehead and the guys are rolling on the floor laughing.
Saturday is the (Pub) Crawl for a Cause and we
enthusiastically sign up. I doubt the enthusiasm is for the right cause though
– I think we all have our own private agenda. Apparently more women care about
the cause than men which is not really a problem. We take a group pictures and
G has his eyes closed. It’s not surprising – I think he has had his eyes closed
for a long time now. A tiny pink thong turns up miraculously and the women can
now become superwomen – they merely have to wear the thong over their pants. J
confiscates the thong. I suspect that it will be just the thing to wear under
water.
Lunch the next day is with friends at the Red Robin. The burgers are
exceptional and the service is impeccable. They give me a card to fill out and
I tick all the right boxes. There is a question at the end: “Would you like to
see anything else on the menu?”. Hell Yes …. The waitress! I wonder if anybody ever
reads the feedback cards.
Sunday is a family dinner and we are cooking Indian food.
They make good use of the cheap Indian labor and I even end up cleaning the
floor. I have two beautiful women as helpers and this makes cooking a pleasure.
We are having roast chicken. I stuff the birds and then find that the chicks
just can’t keep their legs together. I ask for some string to tie them with and
find that there is no string in the house. Is this symbolic, I wonder. Maybe there
should be more string in this house.
The flight back is uneventful. I am in a little matchbox on
the Portland to Seattle leg and this is not something you want to do in
turbulent weather. It puts most roller coasters to shame and I can hear a few barf
bags getting used around me. Thankfully it’s a short flight. The 747 from
Seattle onwards is smooth and I sleep off my excesses. I have enjoyed my trip
but it feels good to be coming home.
