Archive for September, 2008

(Gloryhallastoopid) Pin the Tail on the Funky

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

“$700 billion dollars, a staggering number, but only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies to our country, policies that were built on budget recklessness. When President Bush took office, he inherited President Clinton’s surpluses. Four years in a row — budget surpluses, on a trajectory of $5.6 trillion dollars in surplus. And with his reckless economic policies, within two years, he had turned that around. And now, eight years later, the foundation of that fiscal irresponsibility, combined with an “anything goes” economic policy, has taken us to where we are today.” That is basically what Nancy Pelosi said that upset the oh so delicate republicants.

As expected Olbermann and Rachel Maddow said all the things that Bill and I agree with. I did have a plan to go to McSwells and meet up with Thaler Pekar and give her, or lend her Naomi Klein’s book No Logo. But with my general mood yesterday all I wanted to do was go home. I’m sure she would understand. I requested Naomi Klein’s latest book The Shock Doctrine from the library so I should get that in a day or two.

Since the economic miasma yesterday it seems to be quite a popular book. After the Olbermann/Maddow shows Bill and I watched Heroes which was excellent once again. Bill went to bed and I soon followed. Woke up at 6:30 with Bill asking if I was going to work today. Apparently I didn’t hear the alarm clock and slept right through it. It felt good though.

I lumbered around the apartment, trying to avoid Bill. Two big guys weighing over 200 pounds can be troublesome. I jumped in the shower, Bill made some coffee for me then he was out the door. I once again soon followed. He caught an earlier bus, I was on a later bus. No Casey on this bus.

Finished the New Yorker from last week and since I finished Alan Bennett’s Untold Stories I knew I wouldn’t have anything to read on my ride back. I made a mental note to have something to read, but misplaced it somewhere on my mental desk.

Got to the office, the auditor was sitting on the floor with her lap top. She was nice, asked me a lot of questions about Hoboken. She too is also a bit nervous on the economy right now, and she’s more entrenched in the financial world than I am. She works for a government department that audits investment banks, as does her husband.

She was enjoyable to talk to, a definite change from the average auditor who generally lack personality and don’t talk to anyone. Perhaps with my being warm and outgoing, it could lend itself to a favorable rating from the audit. Who knows? Perhaps she and her husband will find an apartment in Hoboken and we’ll cross paths again.

Today was payday and with the dire warnings yesterday about small businesses not able to meet their payroll, I checked my account online. My heart stopped when I saw the same amount as yesterday. It seemed that the direct deposit did not go through.

I checked with Tom Chin who said that the payroll had gone through with no problem, he showed me my account as well as everyone else’s, and it’s true the payroll did go through and I do make a lot less than everyone else. I’m not complaining. I’m comfortable with my salary.

I checked again online with my bank and sure enough, there was my direct deposit. The bank had some glitch with it’s online services. Talk about bad timing.

The morning was going by smoothly when the bell rang. I went to see who it was and there was a guy in a nice suit with two other people. A real estate agent, asking for Jonathan. I told him the name was John and I didn’t have any record of an appointment to see the space. He also mentioned Vivek’s name and I went and asked Vivek to see if he knew anything about it.

Vivek said he didn’t and gave me the go ahead to brush the guy off. I went back to the now flustered agent and told him it was a bad time and gave him my card to make an appointment. He checked his iPhone and he was visibly nervous, with shaking hands. His clients were understanding and perhaps a little bit miffed but they left.

Vivek then walked up to me to ask how it went and that was when he remembered that they did have an appointment. I gave him the agents card and hopefully he apologized but he more than likely blamed the whole thing on me. I hate dealing with the real estate office space situation.

Had a nice Padron on my walk across town, no change for the homeless guy who nonetheless said my suit looked sharp. I’ll take a compliment from anyone, no proof of residency required.

Happy birthdays to Rita, Thaler and my nephew Earl who is now 18!!! Yikes!

Love for Tender

Monday, September 29th, 2008

Well today was a day at work like no other so far. Panic basically. It seems that Nancy Pelosi made a speech complaining about the past eight years of right wing ideology and that just upset the right wing so much that they sabotaged whatever bailout was in the works.

Now because of their ‘hurt feelings’ my job is in even greater danger. Small businesses like the one I work for are in grave danger. A difficult year ahead is what they’re saying on TV right now.

The ‘hurt feelings’ is too reminiscent of when the Newt Gingrich philanderer was upset that Clinton had him sitting in the rear of Air Force One, which caused Gingrich to shut down the government for a few days. Not the best move as we learned and probably forgot since then.

Greg Stevens had me fax and overnight some documents, he’s taking his money out of Wachovia and putting it somewhere else. This week there are just four of us in the office, Vivek, Greg Stevens, Tom Chin and myself. Esteban got married on Saturday and is on his honeymoon.

Nervous jokes were made after the stock market plunged 777 points, jokes about how lucky we were that we didn’t have windows that opened. And if they did, we’re only on the fourth floor anyhow.

I felt the panic and dealt with it as best as I could. I did ask before I left whether or not I should come back tomorrow. Vivek asked what I was going to do next. It doesn’t look good and perhaps the end may be sooner than anticipated.

Once again, no one knows anything. It should make for interesting TV tonight, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. I am sick of the republicans and their tricks and lies and out and out greed. I’ve never seen such merchants of bullshit.

The day didn’t start out that way. Last night was rather cool too. I watched True Blood last night. Very good. A visit to the local Vampire bar, Fangtasia. And Sookie’s brother is still very much an idiot. Last night despite being warned to take only a drop of the drug V, a vampire serum to help him with his erectile dysfunction.

Being an idiot, he drank the whole vial and was in a priapismic state for quite a long time, causing him to go to the emergency room to have his penis aerated. And I was glad they didn’t show that. They did show the tent underneath his hospital gown though. And the serial killer isn’t a vampire it’s the owner of the bar, Sam. Saw that one coming before it was revealed.

Entourage was good, but not as good as last week. Little Britain USA was more miss than hit and had an annoying laugh track. It looked funnier in the commercials, that’s for sure. Woke up with Justin Timberlake in my head.

Specifically the song, Sexxyback. Not a bad song and I had it on my iPod anyway, Juan’s influence you see. The city isn’t under lock down like last week though. All the major players went back home.

Fasten your seat belts, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

From Joe.My.God (blogroll on the right side of this blog)
Top Ten Bank Failures Of All Time

1. Washington Mutual, Seattle (2008)
Total assets: $307 billion

2. Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust, Chicago (1984)
Total assets: $40.0 billion

3. First Republic Bank, Dallas (1988)
Total assets: $32.5 billion

4. IndyMac Bank, Pasadena, Calif. (2008)
Total assets: $32 billion

5. American S&LA, Stockton, Calif. (1988)
Total assets: $30.2 billion

6. Bank of New England, Boston (1991)
Total assets: $21.7 billion

7. MCorp, Dallas (1989)
Total assets: $18.5 billion

8. Gibraltar Savings, Simi Valley, Calif. (1989)
Total assets: $15.1 billion

9. First City Bancorporation, Houston (1988)
Total assets: $13.0 billion

10. Homefed Bank, San Diego (1992)
Total assets: $12.2 billion
The previous nine biggest failures together don’t equal WaMu.

all of the above happened during republican administrations.

My Spine (Is The Bassline)

Sunday, September 28th, 2008

It’s Sunday. Right now, it’s 100% humidity and 80 degrees. A bit uncomfortable, but that’s about it. Just a bit. Last night I watched Chris Rock and he was funny of course, but not as funny as I had hoped. It was a live show shot in various locations, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, New York and a few other places I believe.

They kept cutting between venues since he did the same show basically all over the world. They do it for rock and roll concerts sometimes, various shows many splices. This may have been the first time it was done for a comedy show. For me, it was too gimmicky. But over all he was alright.

I just expected a little bit more. Not as funny as his other specials I think, though the proper gauge would be to see how many times Bill laughs out loud and busts a gut for a few minutes. Bill missed it last night, but I’m sure it will be rebroadcast ad infinitum.

Saturday Night Live was pretty good though. Anna Farris was good and Duffy was really good. I know some people don’t like Duffy but I do and so does my sister. Darrell Hammond and Fred Armisen were both funny as McCain and Obama for the debate sketch and it was good to see Chris Parnell who Bill and I always liked. And he looks good in a Speedo too, but that was a different sketch a long time ago.

Slept like a log and woke up with Bill kissing me goodbye as he was off to church. I soon got out of bed and found myself walking down Washington Street looking at various vendors setting up with wishes that the rain wouldn’t happen.

Saw The Lopez clan as I dropped off some bagels and chatted with them for a bit. Seems like it’s getting to be a Sunday morning routine, chatting with Mama and Papa Lopez while Alexander feasts.

I watched the Sunday morning shows for a while before finally watching a documentary about the tailor to the stars, John Taylor. Old school tailor, dressed the biggies like Mike Douglas, Monty Hall and Jan Murray. Big I tell you! He also dressed Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bing Crosby. He’s the last of a breed, few good tailors around, I guess in Beverly Hills and I certainly can’t afford a bespoke suit that starts at $1500.

Ran into Rand and Lisa at the supermarket and then heard from Rand a little while later. He was at the Art and Music Festival and watching our friends in Sexpod playing. I didn’t think they would be on until later but there they were. I only caught the last 2 songs, but Alice noticed me while she was on stage and gave me a nice smile.

Rand

Sexpod

Alice

Karen and drummer

Rand and I hung about waiting for Mary Weiss from the Shangri-La’s who was better than anticipated. She did her hits as well as 2 songs by the Rascals among others. I mentioned to Rand that she should have covered a Blondie song or a Ramones song. They would’ve have sounded great but overall Mary Weiss was plenty enjoyable as was the crowd.

Mary Weiss

Rand’s wife Lisa joined us and we all had a pleasant stroll through the festival, enjoying the finale of the Salsa group that was performing. Rand suggested a drink but I needed to go eat. Came home and made some pesto with gusto.

Bill came home after singing Something’s Coming from West Side Story for a church presentation. I threw in the DVD of West Side Story that I bought a few years ago that I hadn’t watched completely. I knew why I hadn’t. I always cry at the end, and watching Tony sing Something’s Coming before meeting Maria at the dance I started to get choked up.

I usually watch the movie and always ridiculously hope that Tony and Maria will get away, but they never do.

The crowd

Yabba Dabba Don’t

Roda and his daughter

Night of the Living Baseheads

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

Last night was the debate between Obama and McCain and of course, as far as I’m concerned it was Obama’s victory. Whenever they would show a split screen and Obama was criticizing McCain and his record, McCain was grinning through gritted teeth it seemed.

Obama was most presidential I think. McCain was crazy. Obama did say a few times, ‘You’re right John..’ and then go on to back up that McCain might have been right at some point but where he is now was some place totally different.

And already the wrong wing has taken that little snippet of Obama saying that and will try to turn that into a pro McCain advertisement. Next time Obama will have to be a bit harder and sharper. I was tired before the debates started yet when it was underway I was totally engrossed. Bill came home halfway through.

His mother is making progress and will likely be in the hospital for a while. And she’s taken to speaking in Spanish to everyone, regardless if they speak or understand. Another thing that she’s taken to doing is behaving the nurse she was for quite a number of years, making the beds of various other patients on her floor to the amusement of the actual nurses as well as Bill. It’s good that she’s active though and stimulating her mind somewhat.

Bill was in bed soon after the debate and since I was drinking some crappy cranberry juice that had quite a bit of sugar in it I was up for a while. I watched Bill Maher after that but didn’t pay too much attention. I can catch that at a later date. I tried sleeping but the sugar hadn’t worn off yet but eventually I slept. It was rainy still when I woke up, gray skies and drizzle.

I had a plan to participate on an Improv Everywhere assignment of Governor’s Island, but with the weather being what it was I decided against it, watching instead a DVD of the Twilight Zone from the 1980′s with a soundtrack by the Grateful Dead and Merle Saunders.

It was the series brought back on CBS back then. I specifically wanted to watch the episode called Nightcrawlers, about a Vietnam vet who cannot fall asleep or else his nightmares of Vietnam will come to life and wipe out everyone including the dreamer.

It was also the very last episode on the DVD. Nightcrawlers also had Exene Cervenka in a featured role as a waitress in the diner. She was great and I remember telling her that I thought so when I met her at McSwells back in the day. She was doing a spoken word thing that night and mentioned that William Friedken who directed that episode was a crazy man, or words to that effect. He really put them through the paces.

After that I wandered around Hoboken, so muggy out, quite Hummus. I had hoped Pier A in Hoboken would be deserted but it was far from it. There was a Lights On celebration that had a lot of people wandering around.

I sat and looked at Manhattan through the fog and talked to my sister on the phone before heading home for a penne, pesto and chicken dinner. It is Saturday after all.

The weather promises to be the same tomorrow which is the Hoboken Art and Music Festival which features the headliner, Mary Weiss from the Shangri-La’s of Leader of the Pack fame. As well as Remember (Walking in the Sand) and I Can Never Go Home Again.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and give me something to do or at least give me people that I can surreptitiously take pictures of. Yes, we see…

Just watched Bee Movie which was cute and funny. Waiting for Chris Rock’s latest HBO special. That’s it. Smell ya later.

Rest in Peace Paul Newman

photo from JockoHomo

Tiny Dancer

Friday, September 26th, 2008

It’s a Friday. A wet Friday at that. Just Bill and myself last night, Juan back at school. I did have a short chat with Song online in Sydney though and I wished him well then as I do now, that he aces his exam. Roda is a father again, a baby girl born this morning. Congratulations and best wishes!

Watched the usual last night with Bill, actually watched a little with Bill. He was in bed fast asleep by 9:00. It started raining last night and continued into today. It sounded like a maelstrom when Bill was kissing me goodbye at 6:00 this morning.

He advised that I stay home. I agreed and continued sleeping after getting up and emailing Vivek and Tom Chin that I wouldn’t be in. Due to flooding. Imaginary flooding, but flooding nonetheless. I went back to sleep and slept like a rock with mother nature banging trash cans up and down the street.

Around 8:30 I got out of bed again and checked my email to see if it went through ok, if there were any glitches. Tom Chin thanked me for the heads up, Vivek wondered if I am generally up at 3:45 in the morning.

I figured out that the time stamp on the email was set at PST and let him know, that on Mondays through Fridays I am generally up at 6:00. I was worried that he might think I was partying and decided not to come when the bars all closed, like my supervisor Felicia used to do when I worked for McMann and Tate, or rather Wolff Olins.

Then I went back to bed, and woke up an hour later. Still wet and miserable outside and I felt uncomfortable staying home. I also had my nephew Earl’s birthday card and present to send out. That was the main reason actually. I made it in and took the subway across town.

Tom Chin was surprised to see me. I explained that there was stuff to be done, then I wished him a happy birthday. It’s true they are quite helpless without me. I did what I had to do then had lunch and left again a few hours later.

It had stopped raining mostly and the walk across town was mildly enjoyable. Came home and wound up taking another nap. It’s really the best thing to do on a rainy day, if you can get away with it.

Now, here I am, writing again, waiting for the debates which Cotton Hill tried to postpone as well as Peggy Hill’s vice presidential debate next week. Looking forward to Barack Obama showing McCrazy who’s the boss and I don’t mean Tony Danza.

Tomorrow has something to look forward to as well, Chris Rock’s latest special on HBO. Here are some of Chris Rock’s best lines this week according to New York Magazine.

• “If this was a boxing match, McCain would be holding on to Obama.”
• “McCain jokes are easy jokes. ‘I don’t want a president with a bucket list!’ You basically take the dust off your Reagan jokes and tell them again.”
• “You got a guy that’s worth $150 million with twelve houses against a guy worth a million dollars with one house. The guy with one house really worries about losing his house — because then he’s homeless! … John McCain could lose half his houses and sleep well!”
• “[Bill Clinton's] wife was running for president. If you give me a choice of pissing off a whole race of people or my wife, I’m sorry, I gotta piss off a whole race of people. Sorry blackies! Go eat some chicken! … Right Larry? You’ve been married twelve times, right?”
• [On the choice of Sarah Palin] “I thought Al Davis made the choice, or something. That’s how bad it was.”
• “Jason Lee has done more interviews promoting My Name Is Earl than [Sarah Palin] had to run for vice-president of the United States.”
• “[Sarah Palin is] kind of like Kim Kardashian on Dancing With the Stars. All that ass and you can’t shake it!”
• “Bin Laden did more movies last year than Sam Jackson. I think he’s in Lakeview Terrace.”
• “America is broke right now, and nobody understands broke better than black people.”

Next belly up bank: Wachovia

apologies to Mike Judge

Just who is the elitist?

This guy!

But not these two!

One more

That’s it! Good night!

Solid Air

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Well Juan was here last night. A total surprise. He was ringing my bell five minutes after I got here. Lately the buzzer has been broken making communication to the street near impossible. I was hanging out the window yelling to whoever was ringing the bell, but they couldn’t hear me. Finally Juan looked up and I buzzed him in.

His car broke down in Newark and his mother wouldn’t help him so AAA picked him up and drove him to Union City where he fought with his mother and then walked down here to Hoboken. It was cool hanging out with Juan, of course.

Then Bill came home and we all watched Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. All very good despite Bush Co making his speech about how the economy is terrible. Nice for the idiot to notice. It happened on his watch and once again he has done nothing. Oh history will judge him harshly for sure, but I can’t wait for history.

From the History Boys: ‘History? It’s one fucking thing after another innit?’

Juan wound up sleeping on the couch, Bill and I snuggled in the bed. I told Juan that Bill is up at 5:30 and out by 6:00 and I’m up and out by 7:00. Of course at 6:45 Juan was still fast asleep with morning mouth. He does look adorable when he’s sleeping though. He got himself together and got a train back to Trenton. For me work was busy.

We had an auditor in the office which made Tom Chin extremely nervous. Still there was nothing to worry about. A steady stream of visitors were in today which made things busy for me but I didn’t mind. The streets are still on lock down outside the office and it’s going to be like this until next Friday due to the United Nations General Assembly.

I got through the day ok and had a nice walk past various agents and policemen. Gave some change to the homeless guy who always calls me ‘soldier’. Today he said I was looking sharp. I noticed that when I walk past some agents they look at me like I am one of them. I guess all thats missing is the tell tale bulge. No not that one. The bulge of a gun. A revolver.

I did run into Casey this morning. He’s been going in earlier so we’ve been missing each other. It was good to see him though. He doesn’t drink coffee but is quite caffeinated. We were talking politics which no one else on the bus seems to talk about. They talk about generally dumb things though the guy sitting next to me was writing a script and the scene he was working on takes place in a conference room.

It’s now a quiet and cool evening. Summer is officially over and autumn is here. One more day of work this week and then I can sleep late. I saw Sheilah Scully outside the supermarket and she was looking good. She told me she reads this blog and that she enjoyed my writing which is good to hear.

Looks like Washington Mutual is about to go belly up.

Pro-Tibet protestors