Tag Archives: Cigar Inn

Here Come July

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And it’s raining again. There is no surprise in that. I just got back from Manhattan, this time I was prepared. I wore a full body wet suit, pinstriped of course.

I did finally hear from Vivek. He made it in long enough to fill a basket full of rice pudding pops. He actually called me letting me know that he was going into the office to do it.

Presently on the phone with an irate Julio who is trying to use his credit card points to rent a car while he’s in Spain and he is meeting with tremendous difficulty. Of course I hear all about it. I don’t mind. He’ll have to listen to my tales of woe eventually. Took a lot out of me to listen to his aggravation but that’s what friends do.

Last night I heard from Billie in DC and he had his own tale of woe. His car was stolen a while back. That worked out fine, the insurance paid more than what the car was worth. He also invited Bill and I down for a weekend in the autumn which was nice. We’ll have to work that out somewhere down the line.

Today I headed into Manhattan, wearing work boots and carrying a big umbrella. It didn’t look like rain as I waited for the bus, and it was 91 degrees and quite humid. As I walked across town I ran into an old friend, Corey Williams who I used to work with at Arista Records.

Hadn’t seen Corey in a few years. He and his wife Ann Marie had a baby boy a few weeks ago, named Corey. He’s still at Atlantic Records, been trying to get out of there for 6 years. He’s still looking though.

We talked for almost a half hour by which time it looked like it was going to rain any minute now. We parted ways, I wished him and his family well. He’s such a good guy. Hard to believe I’ve known him about 15 years.

He’s also friends with my friend Miriam who just had a baby girl a week or so ago. Baby crazy these people are.

I made it to the office, collected my mashed potato dances and was soon outdoors again just as it started to rain.

I did have a tentative plan to meet an online friend that I’ve chatted with for years at the Cigar Inn on Second Avenue so that’s where I headed. Nice lounge for smoking cigars, I used to go there with a former co-worker when times were better.

Tom was the friend’s name and it was finally good to meet him in the flesh after years of chit chat. He was in town running around and while doing that got caught in the rain storm. We sat and talked for an hour or so, about music and cigars. We like them both.

After that I walked him over to Grand Central Station since I had a big umbrella and he didn’t. I’m pretty sure he appreciated it, plus it was on my way anyhow.

Walked over to the Path which wasn’t as crowded as I anticipated for a Friday afternoon. Had a seat and read The Low Side of the Road by Barney Hoskyns. It’s an unauthorized biography on Tom Waits that I got from the Hoboken library.

I was reading Transformer: The Story of Lou Reed by Victor Bockris but Tom Waits is a much more interesting character, and I much prefer Barney Hoskyns writing to Victor Bockris.

So that’s about it, I’m spent. Tomorrow I’m going with Meghan, Lily & Ruby to All Points West. That should be fun. I’ll tell you all about it, either tomorrow or Sunday.

Giant

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It’s Wednesday again. An out of the ordinary day. One day left for me this week at work. Last night Bill was doing the sleep apnea test thing and it went well I suppose. I’m sure I’ll hear all about it later. More than likely during the last 5 minutes of Lost which will have steam almost leaving my ears. I do want to hear all about it, but not between 9:00 and 10:00.

Harpy is scheduled to go to the NYU Dental Clinic for dentures. He needs ’em. He’s been getting a little too close to Shane McGowan’s dentistry as of late and this should improve his chances of getting a job and perhaps eating solid food again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love me my Harpy and only want the best for him. This morning I was out on an errand and saw in my building, at the Staples store a notice on the window for positions opening up downtown at Broadway and Vesey Street.

I only glanced and called Harpy to tell him. It probably wouldn’t be his thing so I asked him to forward the info to Susan, former co-owner of Farfetched. The news about Harpy’s scheduled dental visit was posted on Facebook and commented on by Susan and myself.

When I finished my errand I stopped and called Susan who immediately was in attack mode, thinking that I was calling up about the dentist. I had to raise my voice a bit to let Susan know that I was calling to let her know about the possible job info and to help her out.

Still she filled me in about Harpy’s problem which I knew all about from Harpy himself. She dutifully wrote down the info that I recited over the phone, where to log in and apply, where to go for the actual store. I just hope it doesn’t turn out to be a madhouse, with hundreds of people lined up around the block.

That’s how it’s been lately. I spoke with my former boss, present friend Risotto see how he was doing. He is in a human resources position and told me how he listed a job for sales and was inundated with a couple of thousand applicants, for one job.

Robert and I made plans to see a mutual friend, Fay Victor singing at 55 Bar on Christopher Street when the weather gets warmer and when Fay returns to the States from Holland.

Work was all deck chairs today. Steve, former co-worker who’s been lingering and using the office facilities to get a new job since he was released from his job in October when he came back from his honeymoon in Greece, came in again.

It seems that he has gotten a new job in Tarrytown, just finalizing the details. He asked me if I wanted to go have a cigar with him to celebrate and of course I said yes. We headed out around 2:30, no one really noticing that I was out of the office, but I left a note letting them know they could reach me on my cell.

He brought along a bottle of Woodland Reserve, a nice bourbon that went very well with the San Luis Rey cigar I picked out. We sat in the lounge at the Cigar Inn on Second Avenue and sipped and puffed with quite a few other men smoking cigars on a Wednesday afternoon.

A nice mellow scene indeed and quite aromatic. Of course that ended about an hour later, Steve was off to his wife and me back to the office, quite buzzed and wondering what the hell was I doing there.

After a half hour of bewilderment I got my stuff together and headed towards the bus terminal. Finally coming down from the cigar/bourbon buzz and not complaining at all, just wishing I had another cigar and more bourbon.

The fact that Steve was able to get a new job, really gives me hope for my other unemployed friends.