Hey Chief--a change of scenery

I have no idea which fire department this is, but I've been to a few retirement parties for fire chiefs, and a pic like this of the appropriate department is always included in the video montage. For some reason, it always makes me laugh. That, and the fact that everyone seems to call each other "chief". And they all either are or were fire chiefs. It's surreal. "Hey Chief!" "Hi Chief!" "How ya doin' Chief?"

Mr. Wonderful and I went to a retirement dinner on the Cape for the chief in Brewster--he retired after 45, 46, 47 or 48 years of service, depending on which proclamation you heard. It was a nice tribute to him, the stories were actually pretty funny, and it was at a beautiful place. He had been chief for 29 years! Mr. W and some of his buddies coordinated themselves, one of them brought the Pirsch, Mr. W picked it up, and then picked the chief up at his house as a surprise. He was the first driver of the truck back in the 60s. All of them are alums of the same college program where they staffed the university fire dept--it's like a fraternity, and they are all interconnected by this invisible bond no matter when they went to school there. Kind of nice to see.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go...it was a little shaky a couple of times, but I figured it was worth it to go since half the night would be spent sitting listening to people roast the chief. I probably zoned out every now and then, but I think I was able to keep up with the conversations around me! Hell, they were all talking about fire trucks, so I couldn't contribute much! The change of scenery was nice, and the Cape is always great in the off-season. Smokey the Bear even made an appearance.

Ooh--Alec Baldwin is on SNL doing a skit with a Boston accent a la "The Departed", but the skit is about the Hudson Valley Swim Team.

Anyway, the cool thing about the dinner was that I was able to talk to the chef and get a huge salad with grilled chicken instead having to navigate my way through the buffet. It was delicious! I didn't get dessert though--chocolate cake. I stole a nibble from Mr. W's plate. Just a nibble.

We stayed on the Cape and then meandered our way home since I had to have more bloodwork today. Even hit a "buy one get two free" sale at the Bass Outlet! Time to update summer sandals, no? It wiped me out though. Nothing like leaning over to find the size I wanted and then having the store spin for a bit. Then I fell asleep in the car. We came home via the hospital lab, and I really knew I was not myself when I wanted to reach over the counter and grab the guy who kept telling me I wasn't "in the system". Usually I'm pretty patient, but it wasn't there today. After showing me the screen showing all the people with the same last name as me, but not the same first name (isn't that a violation of some confidentiality thingy?) , he finally found the right name so I could get jabbed. Think the TSH will make it past 10 this week?

"Weekend Update" is still pretty funny, but not the other skits.

So off to bed for now. What was the word of the day recently? I want to hear you say "UNDETECTABLE"!

Thank you!