it sucks to be me now....

Hire a good-looking but gay male escort to take your wife to the wedding and get your self to Monterrey.

Go to Monterrey and pick both your wife and your niece up something really nice while you're out there. Send the niece the present with a nice note explaining that you're so sorry you couldn't attend her wedding, the pictures are beautiful, etc. but that you were thinking of her special day while you were unavoidable stuck on the Monterrey peninsula and wanted to give her a small gift of your own that you picked up while you were there.

Yeah, you've got pretty much the definition of a Dream Job. I'd seriously consider doing morally reprehensible things to which I was deeply opposed in order to keep that gig, so between offing a competitor's beloved Golden Retriever and missing a niece's wedding... Well, missing the wedding doesn't seem so bad, now does it?

I'd play the job-peril angle, and get a seriously badass gift for the niece - it's all she'll remember of your attendance anyway.

Plus I'm learning all about suspension geometry, chassis dynamics, engines, Hewland gearboxes,and mingling with some impressive folks. Went to a party hosted by Bobby Rahal at Mid Ohio, met Brian Redman at Road America, whose knows who I might meet in Cali...

The escort doesn't even have to be gay. Jealousy is for the birds, and works both ways. Just be thankful you don't have two kids to complicate the guilt scenario. I passed up a lebowskifest and a major brewfest in Portland OR this weekend because I carry BIG guilt (and we're moving to DC in a week).

best bet.....go to cali....and get the wife a really nice present before you leave...like a weekend by herself at a spa..... then you are even....