Temporary Bachelorhood Winding Down

It's been a nice week here in pre Wifey's Birthday 305.  Wifey is ensconced in Atlanta, and I've been going it alone...except for the strange rescue dog, who indeed is fine company.

Wednesday night I met Norman, whose wife was off with her daughter, for a great dinner at Shula's.  We sat and discussed crucial things, like the Hurricanes, and the nice young waiter came over, to tell us about the fish specials.  Norman said "Do we look like the kind of guys who'd order fish?"  The waiter laughed -- and we did NOT order fish.  We had the French Onion burgers, which we agree may be best in the city.

I had Ubered over to the restaurant, and Norman dropped me off.  On the way, we listened to what I think may be the best sports interview of recent memory -- Dan LeBatard's skewering of Rob Manfred, Commissioner of Baseball.  It was memorable.

Yesterday I hit the office to move a few papers around, and then retired to Trulucks, where I met Rob and Mike.  Rob's boy Matt is getting married in January, and he's here from LA for the party.  Matt is a talented artist, and making a very nice living at it -- a rarity.  We talked about how lucky he is. The three of us also discussed topics of crucial importance -- the Hurricanes.  We'll all be attending the Orange Bowl on New Year's Eve, Eve.

From there, I Ubered to meet D1 and Joey.  And I tried something new -- Uber Pool.  The estimate was $5 versus $20 for UberX, and I had plenty of time.  The cordial Cuban driver fetched me, and then swung Downtown where he picked up a most affable black fellow -- he was the marketing guy for Greenberg Traurig.  We chatted the entire trip to his Edgewater condo -- he went to Cal Berkley for law school and practiced in California, but he wanted a change -- and came to Miami to market instead of lawyer.  He was in his 30s and seemed to be impressed that the head of litigation at his firm was a friend of mine.  It made me feel very old.

I met my kids at a small Argentinian place on Biscayne and 70th -- near the house they just bought.  We chatted about crucial things -- not the Hurricanes.  After dinner, we drove to the development, and saw they had dug some trenches and put down rebar.  Joey was very, very excited.

It made me remember how I felt when Wifey and I bought our first place.  That led to a funny tale, however.  We hosted my suegra's cousing Dobka -- like my mother in law, a woman not exactly, um, reserved or taciturn.  Our house had open beam ceilings, which Wifey and I loved.

Dobka looked up at them, and smirked.  She said, in her Yiddish accent "So -- you a law-ya -right?"  I  I said I was.  "Den good -- mebbe someday you make some more money and buy a house with finished ceilings."

Wifey and I were crestfallen.  This woman besmirched our proudest possession.  Of course, we laughed at her crassness.  I'll always remember it.

Anyway -- Joey and D1 drove me back to my office, and I got in my car for the drive home.  D1 made me promise to text when I made it.  How the worm has turned...

Today the painter has promised to finish our house, and wants to take me around to show his handiwork, and, of course, get paid.

I have no plans yet for the final days of bachelorhood, but something will come up. It always does.

In the mean time, strange rescue dog awaits her walk...