Archive for the ‘Yesterday’s News Tomorrow’ Category

I Close My Eyes

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Well Bill did not come home until the time he usually heads off to work, around 6:00. He went right to sleep and I woke up around my usual time, time to go to work. But I was off today and was able to take my time getting my day started. Getting the day started has been easier than starting this entry tonight.

So many distractions. Facebook, TV, email, phone. You name it, it will have my attention for a few minutes. And it just happened again, being distracted by Second Hand News by Fleetwood Mac, a song that has been floating around my head for the past couple of days. I went to the bibliothèque the other day and one of the CD’s I picked up was Rumours.

So having that at my disposal I thought I would play it. Dreams just came on and yes, I like that song. I like the song so much that I already had a copy of it. Then there is the distraction of being able to read every single issue of Rock Scene magazine from the late 1970’s, early 1980’s. I didn’t read it that often, preferring Highlights for Children or My Weekly Reader. I identified with both Goofus AND Gallant, which probably says a lot about my state of mind in my adulthood.

Bill slept a good part of the day before heading into the city to go to a call back, and seeing his mom in the hospital. Bill’s mom seems to be OK and comfortable. Apparently she was nauseous and clammy, then she fainted, which is when Bill’s cousin called for an ambulance. The strange thing is, she tried getting in touch with Bill via his iPhone, while we were waiting outside Le Poisson Rouge, trying to find out if Bill’s garment bag was still in the dressing room.

Bill’s phone was dead though, and it would have made things a lot easier if we knew about his mom before heading back to Hoboken. But that’s in the past and all unchangeable.

As Bill was getting ready to head out this afternoon, he started getting caught up in ‘I Love You Philip Morris’ starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. It’s surprisingly very good. I can’t remember liking any Jim Carrey flick, but this one was quite charming and had a few twists in it. I had to remind Bill that we have the DVD and when he comes back we can watch it again.

I can easily see why it took so long to come out, it has a few explicit gay scenes which more than likely made Jim Carrey’s fans quite uneasy. It wasn’t titillating and it had some genuinely sweet moments.

Not much walking around Hoboken since it was raining, but I did spend a few minutes with Rand who is currently attempting to extract 20,000 songs from iTunes on the old computer which will probably be put out to pasture (landfill) or refurbished for someone else to have. Either way I’m cool with it.

I would like to get those 20,000 songs back but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I don’t. I do have a few back up CD’s somewhere, I’m just trying to figure out which I have uploaded already.

That’s about it for today, back to work tomorrow which isn’t so bad. My mantra should be recharged and ready for use once again. More distraction, courtesy of Windex. Yes I saw a spot on my PC screen and had to clean it, and then I saw the TV screen was dusty so I had to clean that too.

I am so close to being next to godliness. Found the backup discs so now I am uploading a whole bunch of stuff. Bill just called, his mom is OK, and depending on the oncoming hurricane she may be released on Monday.




An early Tuesday morning fire burned down two large tobacco warehouses of Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia., the manufacturer of Fuente Fuente Opus X and Arturo Fuente cigars. Does Calvin know about this? Is Calvin the Shack Master? Does the Shack Master know Lazy Teat? Is it all one great big incestuous fuzzy lollipop?

I Can’t Live With You

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

When I last wrote I neglected to mention the squirrel. We had a squirrel break through a screen in the kitchen. Bill saw the squirrel Friday morning around the pots and pans. Apparently made enough of a racket to get the squirrel to scram. I wondered why Bill was taping the screen, figuring that Bill had done something.

A squirrel invasion seemed so outlandish. This morning Bill was adding more tape. Apparently the squirrel returned and proceeded to eat the bread. The bread I was going to use for a sandwich. Bill made it a point to show me the squirrel hair on the tape to prove that it wasn’t anything that he had done.

And then there is the ongoing saga of the drain in the bathtub. It just won’t go down. I usually shower with a bucket in an attempt to save water, I use it for flushing the toilet. Lately the bucket has been used for bailing out the tub. A plumber came after I left, took $240.00 from Bill and broke a snake in the pipe.

There seems to be a problem with the apartment below us and Bill phoned Peter the absentee landlord. Peter was upset that no one contacted him sooner, but he’s basically useless. The plumber is scheduled to return on Tuesday.

Originally he was supposed to come by on Monday and I was willing to cancel my beach plans but Bill insisted that it would be good for my mental health to go down the shore. He was going to take the day off from work and wait for the plumber but now it will be on Tuesday. I am off and Bill can go to work.

From what Bill told me, the tub is now drained and the plumber’s snake was broken in the drain. A few years ago, Julio used a snake to fix the drain and in doing so pulled out two other broken snakes. I don’t know how and why it happens but I wouldn’t be surprised if the squirrel was involved.

At the cigar shack today it was alright. Me, Thomas and Bradley. My brother Brian (a plumber) stopped by the shack with his wife karen and two friends of theirs. They were going to Damrosch Park to see Lesley Gore and La la Brooks from the Crystals.

It was a nice time seeing them if only for a few minutes. Now the cigar shack is awfully quiet. And having written that there’s been a flurry. An old friend, customer Adam stopped by. Hadn’t seen him in a few months and it was good to see him again. Nice guy, keeping his head above water just as most of us are trying to do.

Another customer stopped by yesterday and gave me the suggestion on what I should write a book about. It was somewhat rooted in what I wrote yesterday, before I went back and edited before bedtime. I am glad that I did.

Now I am home. No food to eat, had to order a pizza from Grimaldi’s. Big day tomorrow, going to Millbrook. Who knows, it might be something to write about.

I Need Someone to Lean On

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

Wow. Just had a nap, went longer than I expected but it was well deserved since I was up earlier than usual this morning. I could probably sleep some more, perhaps through the whole night but now that I am up, I am up. And it’s been a crazy day today.

Last night wasn’t so bad. There was the visit to Maxwells where I did not spin after all but I did see David Byrne and Fred Armisen play with Ira, Georgia & James. It was crazy late when I got home and a little bit buzzed.

And I was still able to get up early than I usually do. It was about 7:00 which is probably de rigueur for most of y’all. For me it’s the start of the last hour of sleep. I got up, made some coffee and poured some cereal.

As I was drying myself off, the lights went out. I wasn’t sure if it was just our apartment or the whole building or the whole town, but it was just us. I dried myself off and put on some clothes and walked down to the basement and flipped the circuit breaker.

I wasn’t sure if it took since Bill was long gone and there was no one I could have called to see if the lights were back on. So I climbed the five flights of steps and was happy to see the lights back on. The coffee that was being made was stopped so I hit the start button and then proceeded to get dressed.

The coffee making was completed and I had a cup of what was quite mediocre coffee. I had no time to start over again as I had to go catch an 8:00 bus, 2.5 hours earlier than I usually do. At that hour there is a bus every five minutes guaranteeing that the buses would not be too crowded.

I was soon in the bus terminal and walked through the cold with a thousand other commuters. I was soon in front of 1700 Broadway, a building I had worked in 25 years ago for Friedman Alpren and Green (F.A.G.).

The building used to also house ABKCO as well as the Screen Actors Guild, now it houses George Soros foundation. I met with a woman with Daisy and had a nice talk with her, the interview lasting about 20 minutes. It was a struggle to promote myself, I mentioned that I was intelligent, that I often think out of the box and also that I was an artist. (!)

An artist that sees most things in an off center way. When asked what I expect from the company, I mentioned that I would like to support the people I would be working with and if asked for some ideas I would likely have something to contribute. I think it went well but I really couldn’t tell with the lack of caffeine in my system.

I stood outside the building and called Bill when I saw a fairly regular customer to the cigar shack walking in my direction. He’s a drinker and I turned and faced the building, holding the cellphone to my ear and hoping the fairly regular customer would be a bit hung over and not notice me at all. And he did not.

Bill gave me a pep talk as well as some advice with regards to the jobs that I had in the past. How things that seemed great between the interview and before the actual start of the job, turned into something else once I started. I explained that I did like working for Putnam Lovell and if it weren’t for Zelcah Farsijani I would have probably stayed on.

And with Wolff Olins, I was overwhelmed and when I found the memo stating that my job actually needed 2 people, and that they weren’t going to have 2 people working my desk like they had suggested to themselves I knew it was time to go.

And with BIO-IB, I would have stayed there but things went south as the company went under. It was good advice and I paid heed. I rode the bus back to Hoboken, 2 hours after riding into the city. I picked up some bagels, got the paper and stopped off at the bibliothèque and picked up the Keith Richards autobiography which I doubt I would have time to read the whole thing since I am still in the middle of Suze Rotolo’s book and the latest issue of the New Yorker came in.

I did get some things done in the apartment, and headed out once again to run some errands. Saw Martin Kelly at CVS, and headed to the supermarket for some other items.

While in the supermarket I got some text messages from Ron and Dave (Don & Raymond- former cigar shack employees). Ron asking me if I was still working at the shack since there was a posting on Craigslist showing that the cigar shack is looking for both full & part time positions.

Then Dave texted me asking me if I was alright. I got paranoid and that basically became the rest of my afternoon. To which I took a half a Xanax which made me drowsy and prompted a nap for 2 hours. Now I’m better, still groggy but not paranoid.

Bill is home and we just watched Community which is likely my favorite show on TV. I love Abed. Now I guess I have some dinner.



I Got Stung

Monday, March 14th, 2011

A day off for me. And yesterday was a day off for you. You didn’t have to read this blog. Of course you never HAVE to, I mean, it is nice that you do and I’m grateful for it. As far as I know you or someone might have been to this here blog and read SOMETHING yesterday. That’s fine.

Today has been gray and chilly. Not exactly welcoming to go outside. Plus after having to deal with people at work in the world of retail, dealing with people on my day off does not appeal to me.

I think I got the hour that I lost with the daylight savings thing. It was well deserved. Yesterday I worked with Calvin and it was alright. Not much to report on that front. The day did go fast but that was probably because the body was saying that it was 4:00 but looking at the clocks it was now 5:00.

It was an agreeable illusion, but with five days in a row of working at the cigar shack, I was pretty much toast at the end of the day. So today was mainly about recharging my batteries.

And speaking of batteries, last night I decided to listen to some Madonna as I headed from the cigar shack to the bus terminal. I heard maybe 2.5 songs before the iPod crapped out. I originally got the iPod from Bill in 2005 and in 2006 I’m pretty sure I got it replaced since it crapped out then.

I was working for Wolff Olins or McMann & Tate and wound up at the Apple Store on Prince Street. I remember having just purchased Bob Dylan’s Modern Times and soon after that the 2005 iPod crashed. The girl at the Smart Bar in the Apple Store made a remark about Dylan burning out just like my iPod.

I’m pretty sure I wound up getting a new iPod. I’ve had it for a few years now and it has served me well, but now I think it is about to shuffle off its mortal coil. I do have a back up courtesy of Julio & Stine from a few years ago, so it’s not the end of the world, but it only holds so many songs.

I’m going to save my money and get a 160GB iPod to replace the 30GB. I blame it all on Madonna. I mean, I should have known better.

And like I wrote on Facebook, if that is the only thing I have to complain about, then I really don’t have anything to complain about. Not with what is going on in the world today.

The news from Japan keeps getting worse and worse. The nuclear power plants are exploding or melting down. Bad news indeed. Hopefully it will get the US to rethink its policy on nuclear energy.

Kaddafi’s killing the Libyan rebels, Saudi Arabia has sent in troops to Bahrain, Wisconsin and Michigan have been going through labor troubles and I’m complaining about my iPod? Oh boo hoo. Woe is me. And I know the same thing could be applied to my employment situation.

Lots of people are still out of work and at least I still have a job so why complain? It’s true, things could be better managed at the cigar shack and despite some nibbles elsewhere I should be happy with what I got.

‘Easier said than done’ he wrote.

The world continues to spin on its axis, albeit a little more wobbly than it was before the earthquake. I’ve been catching up with Big Love on HBO. A very good show, great acting all around. If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth watching on DVD.

You know who you are.


that's my Bill



I Could Make You Care

Monday, December 20th, 2010

It’s late, it’s cold and I am home. It’s been difficult for me to get back into the work mindset after one day off. But I prevailed and here I am at home, at 11:00 and writing. It was a sort of busy day at the cigar shop.

Most of the regulars kept asking me how Prince was on Saturday night and I don’t know how many time I mentioned how hot Sheila E was and how Prince does not wear high heels anymore. Most everyone agreed he’s a giant with his talent, big enough that the heels were not needed at all. And now with a possible hip replacement, he no longer needs the heels and he doesn’t do splits anymore anyhow.

It was a long day and of course some people had some drama, mainly Sean who is having an ordeal in court regarding child support payments on a part time, college student salary. Homeboy has to learn to stop listening to the smaller head. He’s cute and the girls find him irresistible and he can’t help himself but he is going to have to. 20 years old and in such a mess.

Last night I had a long phone call with Julio who is trying to get a lot done before he flies off to join Stine and Alexander in Denmark. Clean the apartment, tie things up at work, get things set at the West New York property so he could afford to be away. His job is having it’s holiday party at the Cafe Elysian in Hoboken and he mentioned the bonus that he’s expecting which is quite a nice bonus.

No bonus expected for me, except for what is planned on Friday. Calvin is buying a bottle of Port and we will be able to smoke any cigar in the humidor. I intend on having a Padron Family Reserve cigar, a cigar that is usually off limits to the staff.

I mean, we can buy one of those cigars but it’s definitely not one of the freebies that we’re entitled to each day. So that forbidden fruit will be mine to smoke on Friday night after work. Calvin expects the thing to go on until 7:30, I think it will be a 6:30 departure for me. I do have to make it out to Garfield with Bill that night.

I was able to get a nice package sent to California this afternoon. I was going to use the post office to send it, but it was pandemonium at the post office and using FedEx would be about the same cost and getting there in time for Christmas whereas if I used USPS, it might not get there until next week. And of course, I obsessively track the box of presents.

Four days left in the week, and already I am down one day. I’m sure I will be more in the swing of things by Friday. Tonight I of course listened to Prince as I left the cigar shop and stomped my way down to the bus terminal. Kiss and 1999 and half of Little Red Corvette, in about 16 minutes and change. And now here I am, done with writing for the night.

Someone in Bala Cynwyd definitely sports wood for this here blog. What is up with that?

I Zimbra

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

And it’s Friday for some people, Tuesday for me. Somehow that makes sense. Probably not to you. Let’s see. Another day. Today was an interview day. It was for a sporting goods store.

In my desire to work a Monday through Friday job, I found the posting on the NY Times Monster job search and tried to schedule an interview a week or so ago. They rescheduled and I never heard anything from them again.

Still I maintained contact and finally they got back in touch with me. So it was arranged to meet this morning before I headed to the cigar shop. That meant a lie was needed. I came up with no buses going into the Lincoln Tunnel since there was a car fire and I had to get off the bus and take the Path train into the city instead.

And take the Path train into the city is what I did. A brisk walk down Washington Street, nerves a jumble. Uneventful train ride to 34th Street and a quick walk to the corporate offices of the sporting goods chain stores.

Before I went into the building I called the cigar shop. The phone rang and when it was answered I heard, ‘ Benny’s Pizza can I help you?’ I was taken aback. I mentioned I was trying to reach the cigar shack and heard, ‘What? You don’t want no pizza?’ No, I replied and then heard laughing.

It was Calvin having a laugh. I told him the lie and he understood telling me to come in when I come in. That bought me some interview time and I signed in at the front lobby desk. Handed over my picture ID and got a photo pass, for “Jonh Zeed”.

My name is properly spelled out on the ID but the security card just could not handle a qwerty keyboard. This woman has a job, whereas someone like me who can spell properly can’t get a foot in the door.

Anyway, I made it to the 20th floor and was given a form to fill out as I sat in an oversized catcher’s mitt. I met with Tina who seemed nice and she seemed to like me. She was ready to send me onto the next interviewer, but interviewer number 2 wasn’t responding to her email.

She didn’t want to keep me too long and asked if I could come back next week. I said sure, telling her that I was off Tuesday and Wednesday. She was hoping for Monday and I said that was possible and I would prefer to meet before 11:00.

I suppose I would have to wait to hear about that. It’s Friday night, and as of 10:38PM, there is no word forthcoming. I’m not holding my breath.

I saw Bill for a few minutes after the interview. He’s so great and he is my rock. He doesn’t seem to mind and enjoys playing the role. We parted and I headed to the subway. He’s driving to Atlantic City tonight so I won’t see Bill until tomorrow.

The cigar shop was fairly busy with a cigar promo and a rum tasting. So many smoking rummies in the back room. I decided to make peace with Bradley once again, a new start. It seems to have worked and we actually had a decent conversation for the first time since he started working there.

I treated myself to a hamburger for dinner which was quite good. Haven’t had a burger in a few weeks and of course I walked it off after work on my trek from the cigar shop to the bus terminal. Now I’m tired and don’t feel like writing anymore.

One other thing. I was supposed to work overtime for a Monday Night Football showing in the backroom, food, booze and cigars. My distaste for most sporting events is now well known and I was asked if it would be OK if Bradley worked the event instead of me.

I have no problem with that and now I don’t have to stay in the cigar shop until midnight, and catching the 1:00 bus. Let Bradley get the overtime, for I certainly do not care. Such is my largesse.