As a joint farewell party, last night some of the guys in Weld Shop took us out to an NHL hockey game in downtown Columbus. It was my first NHL game I've attended - the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Overall, the night was fun and I laughed my tush off. We started the night by eating supper together in Dublin, and then carpooled down to the arena district of downtown Columbus. It was pretty, and reaffirmed my secret wish to just go to downtown and walk around for a day to check out all of its districts. I'll have to get out and do that yet in the month of October while it's still warm.
When we first got to the arena, we had NOSEBLEED seats. We were second row off of the back wall of the arena:
The seating was so steep, I'm sure if you took a trip, you'd stumble to your paralysis about two concrete decks below:
My coworkers, both supervisors, AND the Japanese associate Hide (pronounced Hee-day) all came out to watch the game. I couldn't help but take a picture of Hide - he is not used to cold weather. Nor is he used to an indoor ice rink, which he apparently equivocates to cold weather. (Move to Wisconsin, Hide!)
He showed up in a long sleeved-shirt, a pullover hoodie, AND a thermal jacket. Check him out:
Let's just say my supervisor "knows people."
During the first period, he made a single phone call, hung up, and announced that starting at the second period, we'd be moving down to the SECOND ROW. As in, right on the floor, just behind the protective fiberglass walls.
Sure enough, the ushers snuck us down on the floor. AWESOME!!! Look at our new view:
For Zach: at halftime I got a picture of the Zamboni for you. If you look closely, you can see the slick mark on the rink where they already brushed it, versus the path they had yet to cover. :-)
The game was pretty awesome. Pretty much everything that could happen in an NHL game, did happen. There were three fights. We're talkin', all out melees:
The game went into overtime, and it was still tied up at the end of overtime. So, the game went to a shoot-out. The home team (Blue Jackets) won. For hockey, it ended up being a pretty high-scoring game.
Because the boys all found out the game was on the eve of my birthday, I didn't have to buy a thing all night. My supervisor surprised me with this little local cultural treat from the concession stands. It's called a cheese coney. It's basically a hot dog buried in ground beef, shredded cheese, and a hot dog bun. It wasn't too bad, although it was still only food from a concession stand:
At the end of the night, we got a few fun group photos. Here is just one. I won't match names, but I can describe who is who:
The guy kneeling with me, in the Jesus shoes and brown shirt, is my peer. He is my next-door neighbor and hired in with me. He looks out for me and is a fun, all-around good guy.
The man standing just behind me, balding with the navy blue polo shirt, is one of my supervisors.
The black man in the striped polo also standing just behind me, is one of my buddies that has always been there for me, doing weekend work on some of our special projects.
The black girl standing with him, is his daughter. She was quiet, but such a sweetheart as soon as you started including her in conversations.
The punk throwing up the peace sign with the backwards baseball cap, standing next to the black girl, is our college intern. He is from Kettering University, in Flint, Michigan.
The man hunching to the right of the intern, with the white t-shirt and baseball cap, is my other supervisor. He is the one I've had to immediately answer to for the past 5 months....
The man with the beard standing to the right of the supervisor, is one of our buddies that works in the warranty claim department. He's a cool cat, he fits in with any group of associates at work. He just has that easygoing, muted personality.
Of course I let it slip, but the Japanese associate in the heather-grey pullover hoodie is Hide. He is the one that has been bringing the various funky Japanese snacks into work, to get me to eat. Yikes!
Hide's friend, a fellow Japanese associate, rounds out our crew, standing on the far right, and front.
It was a cool night - some folks let loose, some folks had too much to drink, some folks yelled like hooligans from the stands. But, I laughed freely at their adult humor and smart-talking. I admit I had a little bit of a shock factor, trying to distinguish these people as people, outside of work, instead of viewing them as my bosses.
It was still a great networking activity and bonding experience. I am glad I went!
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