The Company Christmas “Dinner”

Today our company had it’s traditional Christmas dinner. They call it “dinner”, but it’s served at lunch, and you still only get the standard half an hour to bolt it down before you have to be on your way. Roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans with almonds and cheesecake for dessert. I detest cheesecake. Cheese is not a dessert. Oh well, I hardly need the calories anyhow.

The more important part of Christmas dinner is the Bonus Check. I gathered mine to my bosom and made a quick get-away. An extra week’s pay! That will help cover the rental car and some of the hotel costs in California.

Unfortunately, the Big Boss caught me while I was at the cafeteria and announced that the Feds had made some unannounced changes to our program. He was going to forward the email to me for review; he was in the process of reviewing it himself and hadn’t found any substantial changes they’d made. The bombshell – there’s a 1:00 conference call with D.C. tomorrow, and Big Boss has to leave at 1:05. Guess who gets to represent my company on the conference call? With only 24 hours to read the document and prepare any questions or comments, we’ve barely been given enough time to get ready. Which has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. The Feds usually only pull this kind of stuff when they’re trying to ramrod something through. I already don’t like the sound of it, and I really don’t feel qualified to argue with the Big Wigs in D.C. if it comes to that. I’m printing off the documents now as I type this, so I should know soon what I’m getting into.

When I got home last night, the Professor was in bed. He roused himself briefly at 8:00, but hit the sack once he verified that I had no food prepared and waiting to be eaten. I was too wiped from this cold I’m battling to do more than finish off the remains of a can of cashews that I found in the cupboard (which was about all there was of ready-to-eat food available).

It was only when I went to bed myself around 9:30 that he remembered to tell me that the dentist’s office called to remind me to stop taking my coumadin in preparation for my appointment on Friday morning. Of course, I’d just taken my evening dose 30 seconds before he told me. Thanks a bunch for nothing. I always write down his messages for him, and leave them on his computer or wallet where he’s sure to see them. Oh well, too late now. I’m just going to have to overdose on dark green leafy things for the next two days to try to get sufficient Vitamin K in my system to counteract last night’s coumadin dosage. Who knows … with this cold I may end up having to cancel my dentist appointment anyhow (now wouldn’t that be just too bad?).

Well, my briefings are printed. I’d best get to them.