Last summer, Warner Brothers, Marty Scorcese, Matty Damon, Leo DiCaprio, and Martin Sheen were on hand to film scenes from the upcoming movie "The Departed." (It should be noted that I work in the historical epicenter of Boston, Massachusetts. I could have used the term "hub," but we both know that Boston IS the Hub of the Universe, so to say that I work in the hub of the Hub would be a bit superfluous and akin to saying "ATM Machine" or "Rabbitt Rabbitt."

That being said, when you walk around you see a lot of rickety old buildings with writing on them spanning as far back as 1965, and in some cases, the 1800's - that is how old Fort Point is. I'm talking Johnny Tremain old. Maybe Paul Revere walked down these stairs, that's how old this building might be. Much older than Back Bay, which is a landfill, and we all know that too. You're not hiding anything Back Bay! I digress.)

Construction went on for weeks. They were trying to change the face of the building from "Rickety Old Corporate Headquarters" to "Rickety Old Maybe this is an Abandoned Warehouse." There were some pretty intense scenes being shot outside the building. I don't want to ruin anything, but one involved gunshots and another involved a flying dummy. During the frenzied shoot, we learned many things. Leonardo DiCaprio smokes Newport Lights, Martin Sheen enjoys the taste of a fine Ghiradelli chocolate, Matt Damon sometimes has to stop and ask people for directions but seems to look handsome while doing it, and Martin Scorcese waves to John Q. Citizen each chance he gets.

The shoot went on for a few weeks, and each day was more exciting than the previous. It was difficult to get work done, knowing that Hollywood magic was happening right outside our windows. So rather than miss it, we all decided to be a part of it, and took to hanging out the windows and watching what was going on. The lesson learned was that making movies must be very boring. There seems to be a lot of sitting around, which brings up the question - why are actors paid so much? They don't actually do any work. Not like those of us who work for corporate America! After the filming was over, we took our thousands of birds eye view photographs, showed all our friends, bragged about seeing celebrities, and chalked it up to history. Little did we know what was coming.

There was an invite for the "End of Summer Bash" sponsored by Warner Brothers and thrown by Boogie Down TF Productions. We all thought, "Hey, why not. Free beers on a Thursday night, what's the harm in this?" So we faithfully showed up on that late summer night, eyes wide open, expecting the unexpected. We stood in line to get leid and to get free cups (cups!) with some sort of glow in the dark liquid inside of them. A quick glance around would have shown not one but TWO Harpoon Trucks, a DJ spinning our favorite dance hits, and a buffet of cuisine, complete with chocolate cakes and Hoodsie cups.

We gathered in our natural cliques, enjoyed small talk and steadily progressed into the happy Thursday feeling that one usually can find on this side of a beer at around 6:30 on a Thirsty Thursday Night. As the evening progressed and we became more bold, we started making requests to the DJ. I remember several Michael Jackson songs being played, which is always a good decision. The concept of Stranger Danger was soon thrown out, as our inhibitions were lost and we made fast friends with the hired help who was serving beers. Hours flew by, and laughs were had.

But all good things must come to an eventual end. Some of us had to catch the Commuter Rail to our respective Fortresses of Solitude, so we were on a tight schedule. We left with misty eyes, not one of us were ready to go, but we had to. Armed with memories and inside jokes, we departed the party thrown by "The Departed."

I still remember that evening, 7 months later, with fondness in my heart and hilarity in my head. Thank you, Warner Brothers, Harpoon, and Boogie Down TF Productions. Thank you very much.