I’ve been here doing an install for the company headquarters. Things are going well in that regard. What I find interesting is the celebrity status I seem to have here in the head office. Everyone is so nice to me! I’m kind of bewildered and a bit embarassed by the attention I get, frankly. Still, its nice to know I’m appreciated.
Towards the end of the day I was asked when I was leaving. I said tomorrow (today) and the next thing I know I’m holding a ticket for a dinner cruise. The company was rewarding my coworkers who were involved in a major project and had a few extra tickets. In less than an hour I would be heading towards the ship.
This was one time that getting assigned a minivan by the rental car agency came in handy. I took three coworkers downtown to the edge of the Hudson river, where we boarded the cruise ship: a three-deck dinner ship. With the twenty-five of us were two other companies. Passengers totatled about 120, in my estimate. We sat down at our three tables and partook in heavy h’or d’oerves and an open bar.
Soon after we were underway the ship’s entertainment cranked up. Three nightclub-ish performers sang and danced to vintage rock and soul music. I laughed at the cheesiness of it all, though later I changed my mind.
Dinner and a drink later, the performers had given way to dance music. The floor was crowded and I was having fun, so I ventured out there to dance. My friends soon joined me and I spent most of the rest of the night out there, pausing only to take in the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge and see the Statue of Liberty up close. It was an emotional moment for me to see the statue from that vantage point. Seems that symbols of liberty are an endangered species in America of late.
After dancing, the DJ read a list of passengers celebrating things. First on the list was a guy named Mark who was celebrating a birthday. I was totally clueless until I saw the rest of the company smiling in my direction. Someone had remembered my birthday and had had it mentioned! I was totally surprised and very grateful.
We returned to the pier a little after 10, having gone around Manhattan and back. As we left the parking lot at Lincoln Harbor it started to snow: a beautiful sight. I dropped of my passengers and got back to my hotel around 11:30.
It was a spontaneous event, and far more enjoyable than staying holed up in the hotel with my book, which was my previous plan for the evening.
I’ll return to Raleigh this afternoon. It’s obvious it would be good for me to make more frequent visits!
“I’m kind of bewildered and a bit embarassed by the attention I get, frankly.”
It’s simple — if you were stuck in New Jersey, you’d kiss up to someone to get you out too.
Yes, but Cary is running out of room. Where would you put them?