December 9, 1999
Dear Everyone:
Tooth News…
The Tooth is gone.
I will not go into details except to say that it was one of the
most unpleasant quarter-hours I would ever want not to have to
experience. Instead, I will
tell you about our “last meal” together (the Tooth and I).
It was a Pin Luncheon for a co-worker, the very afternoon that I
was scheduled for the extraction.
Some of you may not know what a “Pin Luncheon” is.
When you have worked for a company for a certain number of years,
the company recognizes the fact by buying you lunch and presenting you
with a nice, gold-plated tie pin with the company logo on it.
Hence, the term “pin luncheon”.
For the rest of your days with the company, you would wear the
tie pin proudly as it told others how valuable you were to the company,
and how many years of service you had achieved.
Over time, some companies began to realize that not
everyone wears a tie. Women,
for example. So they gave
the women a lapel pin instead.
Or a nice logo to wear on a chain around their neck.
Over still more time, the company began to offer other “awards”
in place of the pins. This
is how I have a key ring (15 years), a carriage clock (20 years) and a
weather station (25 years).
And, technically, the correct term is “awards luncheon” (or dinner, if
you prefer, with fewer guests).
But everyone still calls it a “pin luncheon”.
So last Wednesday was “Elaine’s” pin luncheon and
she was kind enough to invite me as one of her guests.
(The number of guests you’re allowed to invite is determined by
the number of years being recognized.)
Actually, she invited me months ago; you have to plan these
things well in advance. It
was a coincidence that the only time I could get an appointment to pull
the Tooth was the same afternoon.
Since the luncheon started at 11:30, and the Tooth wasn't
scheduled to go until 3:00, I figured I had time.
Instead of a restaurant, “Elaine” selected
something called “Chef’s
Table”. This is an
actual chef, who lives in
Lafayette,
and lunch takes place at his actual table in his kitchen.
Maximum seating is eight.
Chef Harold has prepared meals for thousands of pre-Super
Bowl Party guests, and every American President from
Nixon to the
current occupant
of the White
(dog)-House. He was
also, at one time, Food and Beverage Manager for the
Fairmont Hotel chain.
Lots of other achievements and a thriving catering business.
In addition, he prepares lunches and dinners in his kitchen at
the “Chef’s Table”.
For Chef’s Table, he has one assistant, who does
the salads, breads and desserts.
Needless to say, everything is made strictly from scratch.
He also gives classes.
In fact, lunch was as much a class in cooking, and a floor show,
as it was a meal. You even
got a note pad and pencil at each place setting, in case you wanted to
note just how to make White Truffle Oil Polenta and stuffed airline
chicken breasts.
In all, it was a terrific luncheon for “Elaine” and
a splendid sendoff for the Tooth.
And we finished in plenty of time for me to run home and change
clothes before reporting for torture.
Which I did survive.
Movies…
Some months ago, I tried to see a movie one lazy
Sunday afternoon, but the projector wouldn’t cooperate.
Instead of refunding the patrons’ money the theater gave each
person two readmission passes (two movies for the price of one).
Last weekend, I finally used one of them to see
End of Days
while “Jeannie” was still in
Italy.
This is another one of those the-millenium-is-coming
Devil-takeover movies.
For some strange reason, it is necessary for
Gabriel Byrne
to appear in all millenium-Devil-takeover movies.
As usual, the world is about to end and
Satan feels this would
be a really good time to come and take over the world.
(Sort of like a Going Out of Business Sale.)
Gabriel plays “The Man” whose body is appropriated
by Satan in an effort to mate with a pre-selected woman who will then
produce a child to rule the world.
So far, so predictable.
But then, someone said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun and different if
we threw in
Arnold Schwarzenegger, some big-budget action sequences, and a lot
of pyrotechnics?!!”
Not necessarily.
But that’s not to say the movie would have been any better
without Arnold. It might
have been quieter, though.
Lots of guns blazing. Lots
of running from the bad guys (unfortunately for Arnold, it turns out
more than half of
New York’s finest are in league with the Devil, literally).
Lots of conveniently abandoned subway tunnels and stations.
You have to wonder why New York has so much abandoned subway real
estate. In the end, Arnold
prevails, of course, but at a price.
As for me, I’m just glad the price this time was
free.
Love, as always,
Pete
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