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the evening, and the morning after
Dec. 6th, 2003 11:55 pmLast night, we went to the Groove Networks holiday party. This is the company that laid Francie off in February, and re-hired her last month. The party was at founder/CEO Ray Ozzie's mansion in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. When I say mansion, I don't mean one of those pallid, tacky, mis-shapen, pressboard palaces that keep popping up like mushrooms on that picnic table you've been meaning to - somehow - dispose of. No, this is the real thing, built for some robber baron over a century ago, tastefully updated over the years. It has about a buhzillion rooms on three floors, with a lot of solid hardwood. Being built before electricity, it's a bit narrow front-to-back, to optimize the natural light. But directly behind the house is a piazza, which became part of the house by means of a rented tent and dance-floor. (Beyond that are the Rocks which give the house its name, and the sea.)
The house was mostly open for exploration, so we poked around a bit There's a bit of a computer museum in the "home office" (about the size of the FTP playroom, but much, much nicer). We even peeked in the wiring/phone closet, which equals or exceeds that of many small companies. He has a T-1 for the house, and a T-3 for the neighborhood.
The food was, naturally, delicious, but was challenged by a lack of utensils. We ate, we danced, we schmoozed. Never got a chance to talk to Ray himself, but he seems like a genuinely nice guy. I did spend some quality time with his 14-year-old 3-legged black lab Sparky, and that was good.
And then it snowed. Actually, it started snowing gently during the party, as if it had been ordered for the party - not too cold, not too windy, just a dusting really, just enough to set the mood. Kylie was at a sleepover last night, and we could have stopped by and collected her on our way home, but we decided not to. So we had to do it in the morning, when there was already 6" of snow on the ground, and more coming down all the time. And the snowblower wouldn't start. More fool me for not checking it before the storm. Fortunately, the driveway is only about 50 ft long by about 20 ft wide, but it still takes a while to shovel by hand. (Actually, it takes a while with the snowblower, and you get just as wet and tired, but it's a different set of muscles.)
I finally set to work on the boot rack I've been meaning to build from some scrap from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lyonesse's deck. I think it's the first time I've run the table saw since it chewed up my fingers three years ago. Sadly, brass screws are no match for mahogany, even with a pilot hole, and I sheared 5 of them before giving up. Besides, I didn't have enough screws for the project anyway - I counted, and came up about 5 short. So I'll just nip out to the hardware store, eh?
This evening, the power went out briefly, just as I was plating up dinner. We decided it was a sign, so we lit a candle, and turned out all the lights except the back-yard spotlight, and ate dinner watching the snow.
The house was mostly open for exploration, so we poked around a bit There's a bit of a computer museum in the "home office" (about the size of the FTP playroom, but much, much nicer). We even peeked in the wiring/phone closet, which equals or exceeds that of many small companies. He has a T-1 for the house, and a T-3 for the neighborhood.
The food was, naturally, delicious, but was challenged by a lack of utensils. We ate, we danced, we schmoozed. Never got a chance to talk to Ray himself, but he seems like a genuinely nice guy. I did spend some quality time with his 14-year-old 3-legged black lab Sparky, and that was good.
And then it snowed. Actually, it started snowing gently during the party, as if it had been ordered for the party - not too cold, not too windy, just a dusting really, just enough to set the mood. Kylie was at a sleepover last night, and we could have stopped by and collected her on our way home, but we decided not to. So we had to do it in the morning, when there was already 6" of snow on the ground, and more coming down all the time. And the snowblower wouldn't start. More fool me for not checking it before the storm. Fortunately, the driveway is only about 50 ft long by about 20 ft wide, but it still takes a while to shovel by hand. (Actually, it takes a while with the snowblower, and you get just as wet and tired, but it's a different set of muscles.)
I finally set to work on the boot rack I've been meaning to build from some scrap from
lyonesse's deck. I think it's the first time I've run the table saw since it chewed up my fingers three years ago. Sadly, brass screws are no match for mahogany, even with a pilot hole, and I sheared 5 of them before giving up. Besides, I didn't have enough screws for the project anyway - I counted, and came up about 5 short. So I'll just nip out to the hardware store, eh?This evening, the power went out briefly, just as I was plating up dinner. We decided it was a sign, so we lit a candle, and turned out all the lights except the back-yard spotlight, and ate dinner watching the snow.
