Left Out

It looks like we’re starting a new tradition in our village; Snubs R Us. I hooked up with the numbers and The Exec Friday night at The Swinging Door in San Mateo. It’s a neighborhood joint that was formerly known as The Prince of Wales. I believe The Exec let the cat out of the bag when he called TCG and asked him if he was going. That’s when it was determined that he had not been invited. I’m blaming #1 since he was the one who suggested the outing. I rarely initiate anything with these characters.

We had a good time. My wife asked me what we talked about. What am I supposed to tell her? “This and that”, “puppy dogs and butterflies“ or “How much we love our wives”? Catch a clue lady! I’m not talking. I’ll lawyer up if necessary. #1 and I did have a political chat while the other guys were up getting another pitcher of Spaten. We’re both on the same wavelength so it was mellow. I think all in this foursome is at some level of Obamamania but I’ll let them speak for themselves via the comment feature.

We also had dinner there. There was no table service so we had to pick our food up at the bar. We left an extremely generous tip nonetheless. It had nothing to do with the barmaid’s décolletage (one of The Execs favorite words). #1 had ordered a mushroom and Swiss burger but as far as I could see it was mushroom free. Apparently the burgers were mediocre. Fortunately I had switched my choice to fish and chips at the last moment. My stomach was feeling a little touchy that day so I figured fried fish and beer would be anodyne.

Saturday night The Execs and TCGs showed up for my daughter’s ballgame. The Division III CCS playoffs took place at Notre Dame Belmont so it was pretty much a home game for us. They dropped Prospect High of Saratoga 82-49. My kid was the leading scorer. My son is going to start college in the fall so I expect to be bankrupt by 2011. I hope she gets a scholarship.

We then headed to Portofino, one of the many high end restaurants in our burg. The Exec was going to split a pizza with TCG’s kid but the “machine” was busted. Since when in the hell do they make pizzas in a machine? TCG got the carbonara. Fortunately the carbonara machine was working. Since he couldn’t have his pie, The Exec chose one of the local delicacies, The Lagoon Clam special. He raved about it. His wife indulged in some grilled shrimp with a side of pesto rice, which had just a whisper of green dye #2. My wife and Mrs. TCG had some appetizers, including one you commonly find at Italian restaurants, wontons.

So what did DJ have? I was just there for a glass of wine. So why did I get stuck with a third of the bill? These guys have been working me since I met them back in the mid 90s. I have a little free bread and a bit of The Exec’s salad and bingo, 52 bucks. Maybe I would have been better off left out of this little get together. I shouldn’t complain too much though. Some of their friends bought our table a bottle of good Cab, which I made sure I got my fair share of. And another group dropped off some Merlot that they had left over from their grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. After sipping those two, my Gnarly Head Zin tasted pretty gnarly. When I ordered it at the bar, the guy was going to give me white Zin. I had to explain to him that I’m white Zinfandel intolerant.

During our dinner chat, my blog came up, as it often does. I let them know that one of my recent ideas was to work on a career autopsy. As one of my office buds often says, I should have paid attention in school. I think my lack of political savvy hasn’t helped either. I did, though, recently get tapped by my boss to produce our team’s monthly newsletter. As you can imagine, I’ll have to seriously restrain myself. However, I think the main reason my career has stalled is the ill-timed and ultimately ineffective use of emoticons during IM chats with the senior leadership team.

Tonight, somewhere in Foster City, there’s an Oscar party I’m not invited to.