This should be interesting...

Tonight will be the company Christmas party for my area and my wife and I are both attending. We have been looking forward to this for a long time and now the day is here. The catch is that there has been a shit storm brewing and I am worried about how things are going to go.

There is a nasty rumor mill in our small trucking company. Drivers, managers, dock workers, and dispatchers alike, they all talk about each other like it is high school. Let us add that the party last year was fantastic and everyone had a great time, so we booked the identical party for this year, but there will be half the turnout. The owners are coming in from out of state, got all excited last year, since we had such a great time, so they are bringing the whole family and a ton more people from the corporate office. I got a feeling they will be disappointed.

Add that to the terrible weather we are having, the economical meltdown that we had, the no cost of living raise, the bonus no bigger than last year, and an open bar with lots of drinkers.... should be a hoot.

Tracey and I are really looking forward to the hotel and the 5 start treatment for one night. The rooms (yes that a picture of the real room) are really really nice. We did not get to go away this year just the two of us so this is kinda our big "hurrah" for the year until later. We are planning a nice, quiet, and romantic evening just for us. The party is part of it, but since the party is in the hotel, and we got a room for the night, we can bail out pretty much at any time and go have a party of our own. I am going to stop and buy some wine for the room and maybe a bit extra in case we decide to invie a coworker and his girl friend up as well. We will play that by ear.

We are going to go play high rollers for the evening. We are doing a casino night. The party will start with drinks and an open bar, then dinner and awards (I am getting some kind of award and gift but I have no idea what for). After that we have a company that has set up a casino in our private area of the hotel and I will be at the blackjack table the whole night, drinking with the owners and my manager, while taking all their money, just like I did last year. I am looking forward to beating the snot out of them while looking like I could care less and talking about economics and business. It totally messes with them that one of their truckers is a former business owner with a degree in engineering.

Good times! I will will doge the political bullets, take all their money, and go romance my beautiful wife like the awesome husband I am. Sometimes.... life is geat.