Last night, and again this morning, I managed to get away for a few hours from sitting around the house. No vegging out on TV. No reading. No cooking, cleaning, or eating. I met up with a coworker and we went out for some food and drink. Now if you are familiar with Los Alamos, you quickly understand that there isn’t much in the way of choices, especially on the weekends.
My coworker, who is wrapping up about 30 years at Los Alamos, is moving. His plan is to vacate his place of residence, move back east for the holidays and when the new year starts, spend some time on a change of station with the DOE (Department of Energy) in Washington DC.
The downside, from my perspective, is that I will be missing a coworker who was part of my coffee cabal. No more conversation about work, bad managers, great coffee, discussions about science, economics, or whatever.
My task to get a life will become more and more…however you want to describe it.
We had planned to both retire this year, and now he is off for a few more years in the land of make believe. And I will be here, soon starting on my 32 year in the Land of Enchantment.
So the afternoon’s festivities started by walking to a local drinking establishment. We chose Boese Brothers Brewpub, which was only a half mile walk from our perspective abodes. I have been to this establishment several times, especially in the summer months, as they set tables outside in the grass and on the sidewalk. Usually go there with another coworker, but I can save those stories for another day.
There were a couple of basketball games on the TV screen’s when we entered. Largely empty but there were about a half a dozen people there when we arrived. It was too cold to sit outside so we grabbed a table and ordered the Double Dead Red, an advertised red ale at about 8% alcohol. Not too hoppy but tasty. As we were conversing, and our waitress was wondering whether we would have food with our libations, she mention about a new establishment right next door, which served cocktails. Neither one of us was aware of it and thought we would check it out. As the dinner hour progressed, we each consumed two of those, along with a sandwich the had chicken, green chili and other fixings. My friend had the panini and I had the club. After about 2 hours of food and drink, it started to fill up and we were ready for more adventure.
With that, we moved on to the next establishment for cocktails. Upon entering the place, we spied several coworkers who had gathered for somebody’s birthday. We didn’t join them but certainly noticed that the place wasn’t very full. This place, right next door, opened about a month ago in Los Alamos. Called the Long Pour, it is a cocktail bar that serves drinks made from vodka, agave spirit, gin and bourbon that are being crafted at the Boese Brothers’ distillery in Albuquerque. I had mentioned to my friend that I thought that would be an excellent side-gig after retirement, one which I could put chemistry to practice.
Had we bothered to read the local on-line news paper, we would have learned that the establishment has been open for about a month…
The Boese Brothers now have opened several establishments in the state, as I was able to explore as I wrote this post. One can find more about their efforts here:
Obviously the next time I venture off to Santa Fe, I will have to check out Desert Dogs.
So after another couple of hours and more libations, we vowed to return and managed to walk home after venturing out on the town. Parted company and agreed to meet up the next day for Sunday coffee.
While I mentioned that my friend was moving, I failed to mention that he provided me with some books from his vast collection that he is downsizing as he contemplates his move.
I am pretty sure that the “dear Asshole” will be very worthwhile as I contemplate work over the next few months.
As Sunday morning came along, I found myself out and about, walking to the coffee establishment in town, as I have come to do on many weekends where I do not have the kids. Of course, it is getting cold, snow in the higher elevations, and the local celebrities were out and about…
I introduced TheMcKeeSpot Readers to Homer and Edna in a previous posting (August 8, 2021). Water was cold, some ice in spots, but there they were, just floating(?) in the water at Ashley Pond. I passed them on my way to Starbucks. There I had some coffee, Pikes Place I think, and my friend showed up for more conversation. As it was over coffee, the topic often focused on work.
Out of the house, exercise walking about town. Food and libations. All in the span of a single weekend. Some of my readers might think that I was getting a social life outside of kids and horses. Well let’s see what tomorrow brings. Until next time…
TheMcKeeSpot. 