Paul Griffin Day at Santa Fe County
On my last day at the County, yesterday was the Board of County Commissioner's (BCC) meeting. The day started out with an Finance staff meeting where I handed out mathems (as in Bilbo Baggin's birthday party) to each member of the staff. The house is full of all sorts of silly things to give away, so that was a ball. Then I went over to the BCC meeting which started at 10am where I found out that they had really gotten even with me. I was hauled up in front of the Board where a long proclamation was read, outlining my whole life and career, proclaming June 30, 2009 as "Paul Griffin Day in Santa Fe County." I guess I had built up quite a reputation (or rather, notoriety) in the County utilizing humor and giving elected officials look-alike names - a practice which Duane Lee and I developed at Hanford. Also, I quietly over the years, conservatively budgeted tax revenues and built up a large reserve of money in the General Fund that now, the Commissioners love because we're not in financial trouble like everyone around us.

Of course the Finance shop had to be part of it - I wondered why Teresa, my boss asked all about my life; then it popped up in the proclamation, and they also presented me with the t-shirt you see in the picture.

The afternoon was full of cleaning out the office and I finally took my last trip home, well into the evening. I guess you get some bragging rights (hope this isn't too much) at times in your life, like retirement and funerals and such.