THE FATHER BLOG

I’m not a manager of people. I have absolutely no desire to be, especially in my world. Those in middle management roles spend the overwhelming majority of their time wasting away on meaningless “conference calls”. Other middle managers arrange these meetings to fill their calendars each day. Sounding familiar?

On every interview I’ve ever been on I have asked the hiring manager their style and what they believe a manager should be. If the answer doesn’t fall somewhere within the realm of “I hire good people and then leave them alone”, then I’m not really interested. Hire The Best — Then Get Out Of Their Way And Take Care Of Them

This is literally all they need to do. I will be a more productive employee without all the noise. But these “meetings” they attend cause them to discuss issues that are either non relevant or are not fixable. Then they inevitably will press the panic button and push that downward to the rest of us.

I would like to think my track record of success is why the hired me in the first place. But now after all these years, they feel I (we) need to relearn everything or change our styles because maybe things didn’t look stellar for a 2 week period? Just leave me alone!! You hired me to do a job…..please let me do it.

It’s why I haven’t posted in a week. BS work stuff. And now I’m being called away for a live meeting for ….get ready for this….less than 24 hours. I have to fly on the company dime to the tune of close to a $1000 flight plus whatever the hotel will cost. This is ridiculous. But it’s my job and I will go because middle management says so and I’m counting the days to retirement!

Never forget my motto: a job pays the bills and kills time between vacations.

During this past weekend’s trip, I obviously had to make a stop by the Charlton location of Treehouse Brewing. I grabbed a case for myself along with some extras to give to a friend and my neighbor. Also muled home a couple extra cases for friends. The main location is amazing if you haven’t been there. It’s like a small college campus. Treehouse Brewing is obviously doing quite well for themselves. So well that, in addition to their multiple locations, they bought a farm. Yep…Treehouse at the Farm located in Woodstock, CT.

This location is much smaller than the others and requires a half mile drive up a dirt road. They have limited beers on draft and to-go options. But what a serene and relaxed place. It wasn’t crowded, people were there with their kids and dogs, there is corn hole to play, beautiful scenery, etc. Definitely worth a stop in for a beer if you find yourself driving through the area.

Had a Juicy Roads pale ale while there. It was definitely tasty and not available at other locations so felt it was a nice find.

Visiting Tree House Farm Brewery — Tree House Brewing Company

The boys enjoying a view of the lake/pond. Mikey jokingly asked “is that what life is like after 50?”. My answer was “If you’re lucky!”

I am back from another short trip with Mikey and his good buddy. We traveled up to New England and played multiple rounds of golf over the past few days. The trip was a lot of fun and we were lucky enough to have great weather and great meals as well. When in New England this time of year I want to eat as many Lobster Rolls as I can!

We played 4 courses over three days in three different states and it was a blast. The big finale was Sunday afternoon at Connecticut National Golf Club. We got to the course early and was lucky enough to have our tee time moved up. This was a big help to get us through 18 as it’s been getting dark earlier. We were lined up behind the 3:12pm group (which was going off early) as we were the 3:21pm slot. As we are sitting there, one cart cuts in front of us (young guy and his GF) and then second carts pulls up to us with the Dad and Mom. I inform the Dad that we are the next tee time and asked him what theirs was to which he responded “3pm”.

The looked like they could be members and I’m just a guest playing this beautiful course so I generously offer them to go ahead of us if they want. I was hoping seeing we were just 3 golfers and they were 4, that he would allow us to go. Also hoping because they were late and we weren’t, he may say to go ahead. No such luck.

So we sat as we watched them tee off…if you could call it that. The Dad looked like he could play a little after addressing the ball between 12-15 times before every shot. The Mom was basically all over the place. The young guy swung hard and clearly just prayed he’d be able to find the ball. The young girlfriend shouldn’t ever be allowed within 2 miles of a golf course. They held us up because they spent 5 minutes or more with the cart girl at the 2nd tee. We watched them drive their golf cart up on to the fringe of the green and over fescue and edges of bunkers. We listened to the Dad (possibly now drunk) cursing at his wife to “hit the f’ing ball!”. We watched the young couple act like they were at a carnival more than a golf course.

I don’t know if they quit after 14 holes or were just too drunk/stupid to follow the cart path to the 15th tee but we didn’t complain. We rushed up to 15, teed off, and off we went to finish the full 18. 18th hole was finished using neon colored balls and almost in the dark but we got it done!

Life is about the adventures and the stories we can tell. Years from now I doubt I’ll remember how I played that course but I’ll remember the idiocy of the people in front of us. So thanks for those memories!!

Mikey and his buddy Brayden doing the Ryder Cup pose.