8.29.2011

Happy Birthday, Big Red

Today is Big Red's 35th birthday. We're doing nothing special, just as he has requested (and always requests). Because I feel that's just insufficient to celebrate one's day, I insisted he allow me to at least make him something. His request: a New York style cheesecake. Done. Did it on Saturday, let it sturdy up overnight. Last night we finally cut into it.

Heaven.


We each had a piece and a half. Worth every single calorie and moment on the lips. There was nothing healthy, skim, non-fat, light about it. So delicious.

This past year was a rough one for my favorite ginger. Remember when I wrote about him getting his dream job earlier this summer? Yeah, well the dream quickly morphed into a nightmare. It was a huge disappointment and letdown. He ended up staying only 6 weeks. But just as one door was closing, or should I say slamming in Big Red's face, another window opened. Big Red's BFF, Josh, works at a dealership, a nice one, a clean one, a relatively fair and honest one. Turns out that as Big Red was nearing the end of his rope with the "dream gig," some employee where Josh worked found the end of his and quit. This left a spot open. To make a long story short, within a week of Josh discovering the open spot, Big Red was hired.

Big Red's new job isn't the end-all, be-all, but it's pretty solid. They pay him fairly, and generally when one mechanic is doing poorly, they all are. There isn't this overwhelming sense of nepotism and sneaky service writers feeding jobs to their favorite mechanics. While there may be a hint of it, it doesn't seem to be ruling all life in the shop. I think what I've realized is that a certain amount of favoritism will always be present. Hell, it's present in my place of employment. It isn't always obvious, but look closely and you'll recognize who is on whose list. It happens everywhere.

The most telling part of Big Red's new job was when he came home with under 5 hours paid for the day (after working a FULL 8; see "Flat Rate" to understand what I'm talking about), and he didn't let it ruin the evening. He chalked it up to bad luck on the job rotation list and a slow day. His new attitude speaks volumes. Like I said, the job ain't perfect, but it's not too bad.

I wanted to post a picture of Big Red, but the threat of divorce stopped me. Instead I'll show you this recent portrait I captured of him:


I hope year #35 is a good one. I hope he furthers his project '63 VW. I hope work, works out.

I hope he's happy. I know he won't read this because he can't stand blogs (hence the threat of divorce if I were to post his likeness). In fact he doesn't like people very much. As difficult and complex as a man he can be, for all his stubbornness, he is that much more loyal and loving, hard-working and honest.

Sometimes love is inexplicable. I could rattle off the tangible reasons I love this grasshopper-legged red head, but it would do no justice. I just love him. Period.

Go ahead, Big Red. Have another slice of cheesecake.

2 comments:

Mia said...

Happy Birthday, Big Red! I want to rub my face in that cheesecake. Drool. Looks amazing!

ilene. said...

Mia: the cheesecake was drool worthy.