Joy of Strip Malls

I have returned for my monthly pontification on Chinese New Year's night after being a glutton at my Uncle's place for New Year's Eve dinner last night.

I'll skip most of the moments which brought my great joy since my last post a month ago - the peaceful Christmas with the core family together and the first New Year's Eve with my future fiance. I appreciate and have blessed with the time with the once and future family.

There was one fleeting moment that shined in a very dark January. The prodigal son returned to his boyhood home Pittsburgh in mid-January with E and R to watch the irresistable Black & Gold horde do battle with the elements and the sunny foes from San Diego, and prevail in a swirling windy snow. While others may revel in the warmth of summer, I prefer to shiver happily exposed to the cold and bad beer enjoying my Steelers take on the enemy in the "Win or Die" mentality of the NFL playoffs. After a glorious triumph, we stopped by good old Murrysville, and realized that while Old William Penn Highway may be littered with nameless strip malls, it is my McDonalds, Eat-n-Park, and Dunkin Donuts I grew up with!

Being in the eye of the figurative hurricane is working on wall street while the economy struggles, and you know that one day 50 years down the line you may be telling your grandchildren what you lived through. I unhappily had to tell a loyal employee that his services were no long required at my company. My stomach churned and my palms sweated, even though I was not the messenger of employment of death and just played a supporting role for management, I dread the day of having to do that again.