Posts Tagged ‘Heroes’

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Pinball Wizard

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

It’s Tuesday. So far so good. Spent part of the day job searching. Online of course. New York State Department of Labor, the New York Times and Craigslist. More of the same, cover letters, resumes and waiting with hope.

The online job search has included some phishing lately. If you don’t click a box for continuing your education via online ‘colleges’ your search ends. If you do click the box you get phone calls telling you why you should sign up with them.

Today I heard from Tiffany at AIU and Sharon from the University of Phoenix. Both tried the hard sell telling me that continuing my education (which I marked as interested in a post doctorate degree in criminal justice) would be the way to go.

One of them even went so far as to ask, ‘Don’t you think you didn’t get that job because of your education status?’ I answered no. I think I didn’t get the job because someone will work for less money than I would.

And that’s basically the reason. Money. Someone will be hired because they are willing to work cheap. I am willing to take a $10,000 cut in salary but any more than that would be crazy.

I also used a link that Janelle, a friend and former co-worker from my Wanker Banker days gave me. I sent an email a little after 5:00 not expecting anything until tomorrow.

About 5 minutes later I get a call from the woman I sent a resume to. I remarked that I was surprised at how fast she called back. She said timing was everything.

Turns out just as she got my resume, she received a job posting. She thinks I will be good as an office assistant and would I like to see her tomorrow. She offered a 9:30 or 11:30 interview. I said 9:30 since it’s all about the timing and if it works out, it will work out earlier.

I already have my suit picked out, my shoes, socks shirt & tie. I’m trying not to get anxious about it, thinking that the job is mine. I do that a lot and wind up having my spirit crushed, but I do have a good feeling about it.

Also smartly decided not to post anything about it on Facebook. It was nice getting all the good wishes and thoughts regarding the last interview, but it was a drag to keep repeating the outcome. So if you have good wishes, post them here.

Easier to maintain and you’ll read about what happened tomorrow night. Last night, Heroes was pretty good. Perhaps for the first time this season. After that I watched Futurama which is always fun to watch.

Helped Bill with his sleep apnea mask which works best when he wears an eye mask. Unfortunately Bill can’t see what he’s doing while wearing the eye mask so that’s where I came in. If we plugged his ears too he’d probably play a mean pinball.

It worked and I had the best sleep I’ve had in days. And so did Bill. So that’s that for today. I’ll fill you in tomorrow with regards to the interview. Until then, keep it under your hat.

8:32PM Phishing. Nathan calls with an offer for online education with the pre-approved GE Home Safety Alarm attached.

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99 Bottles of Beer

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Don’t know what to write about since there’s nothing really to write about. I went for a walk around Hoboken. Saw a few other unemployed people, all with the same look on their faces as me. Though I’m reluctant to describe it this way, it certainly was a vanilla sky.

I tried watching Gran Casino by Luis Bunuel finally after getting it from Netflix back in September. I did some reading about it online and read that Bunuel felt it was one of his lesser films so I stopped halfway through. I really didn’t care for the story and didn’t have the attention span to sit and watch it.

So that got me out of the apartment. Things being tight financially made buying anything risky behavior.

Heard from Pedro who is in Puerto Rico since his father is not doing that well. He called me up the other night to ask me about what type of luggage could be carried on board. I explained that a 2.5 foot bag worked for me when I last flew and that I was able to stow it in the overhead compartment.

When he called he asked me to guess where he was calling from and when I answered, Puerto Rico he was surprised, having forgotten that he actually called me telling me what he was doing and where he was going. Such is his state of mind lately.

Sent out a few resumes today, with hope mixed with antipathy. I almost wrote despair but I know how that would go over with some people. Antipathy is a better word anyhow. Almost like antipasto which is more repugnant to my delicate palette.

Having this time is good though sometimes.

I’ve been cleaning the apartment, bit by bit. Unfortunately there are quite a few bits.

Last night, being a Monday night meant Heroes is on. I feel I’m committed to seeing it all the way through. Bill was home when I started watching it and he remarked that he likes the show but finds it difficult to follow.

He hasn’t seen all the episodes like I have. Bill also mentioned that it reminded him of Lost. Well Lost is something totally different though also in the realm of science fiction. And that’s scheduled to wrap up next year.

Heroes doesn’t seem to have an end date and they keep introducing ludicrous characters that no one (at least in the forum that I read about it) cares much for the new actors. They should definitely tie it all together as much as they can and pull the plug.

You might have noticed that it was a late posting last night. That was mainly because I was distracted by the Google Chrome browser that I started using. Harpy suggested it so I downloaded and played with it, figured out the ins and outs.

I had actually finished the post before 6:00 last night, but when I went to check it still wasn’t up. Then I checked out the Word Press dashboard and there it was, forlorn and forgotten. So I posted after midnight even though the time stamp was something like 17:45.

I can tell how alarmed you all were, being inundated by emails showing concern. Well rest assured it will not happen again, at least not tonight.

11.10.09 Sun

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Right Back to You

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Yes, it’s Tuesday. Don’t know how it got here, but here it is, or rather, here it was since there’s only a few hours left for Tuesday. Let’s see, last night watched Heroes. Bill was here but not really watching. He complained that I monopolize the TV so I asked if there was anything he wanted to watch at 10:00. There wasn’t and he wound up going to bed before Heroes ended.

I wished Juan was here to join me in the snarky comments department. But Juan is busy doing his thing, school, work and he also has 2 new kittens to look after. Heroes was ok. Syler is now working alongside Željko Ivanek, who may or may not be a shape shifter. I would bet that he is.

The other parts of the show had Peter Petrelli and his mother in some catholic church hiding out and praying and Nathan and the cheerleader holed up in a fleabag motel south of the border in Mexico. That was weird. I expected the 2 of them to start making out, which would have been super creepy since their characters are father and daughter.

I stayed up of course and watched a few minutes of Scarface. Man I loathe that movie. It really is a crap movie and the fact that so many ‘kids’ like it emulate Al Pacino’s Tony Montana character only goes to show that these ‘kids’ don’t know anything about movies. Oh it’s so bad.

I rented it once or twice on VHS. It was a 2 tape set and I could never get past tape 1. So as far as I’m concerned, Tony Montana cleans up his act, loses the terrible ‘Cuban’ accent and moves out west as a homesteader where he creates the great state of Montana, a safe haven for ex-expatriate Cubans with bad accents and crap cigars.

A few of my friends like the movie, but I don’t see those friends that much anyway. I think the only decent movie Brian DePalma ever made was Carrie and that was because Sissy Spacek was the star. Forget about the Untouchables. I almost walked out on that, but instead found myself in the lobby of the Stanley Warner theater smoking cigarettes during most of the movie.

After watching about as much as I could stand I switched over to watch Futurama which was good as usual.

Work today was busy and I decided that I would really put myself in the position of office manager looking after the 5 different companies that reside in my office. Greg Stevens came back from Arizona. He’s now retired from the company that originally hired me but now only exists on paper.

He’s now going to be working for a Los Angeles company but based in Manhattan. He mentioned that he’ll be renting office space and I might be doing work for him which should bring in some income. He’s such a nice guy that I would do work for him even if there was no pay involved. But I wouldn’t turn down any money that he would offer.

Tomorrow is April Fool’s day and who knows? If that computer worm is out there and gets activated tomorrow this could be my last post. Then again it could be a hoax, it is April Fool’s Day after all.

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Crackerbox Palace

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Not a bad Fat Tuesday. Not that I’m celebrating Mardi Gras. Just today was an agreeable day. Sure there was a bit of nonsense but nothing that couldn’t be overcome. Last night was rather ho hum. I thought Heroes would be the big thrill of the day, but actually it focused on the boring characters.

Harpy called when it started and I told him I would call him back In retrospect, I should have taken his call. The horned rimmed glasses guy’s back story simply isn’t compelling, and the cheerleader would have been a better storyline. Also, no Syler which means dull dull dull.

After that I watched Futurama and Demitri Martin’s show on Comedy Central. My brother Frank recommended it and he was right, it’s pretty funny. He does remind me of John Hamilton though. Speaking of John Hamilton, Bill and I are attending a surprise party for him on Sunday. Hopefully he doesn’t read this blog, or Google his name, where this entry might pop up.

Went to bed after the big news story of New York getting a new archbishop, replacing the old archbishop who’s retiring. Not that anything with change, they’ll just have to let out or take in the brocaded cape and gowns.

Haute couture while schools are closing. Yeah they have their priorities straight.

Yesterday was the first time in a while that I’ve walked on the property of St. Patrick’s cathedral. I usually cross the street, but it couldn’t be avoided. Did you hear or read that the catholic church is bringing back selling indulgences? Yep. Sure are. Gotta raise some money and bishop needs a new pair of (Prada) shoes.

Slept really well last night, woke up to the sound of the Monkees singing Daydream Believer. I like leaving a little later, the bus isn’t that crowded since there are buses rolling down Washington Street every 5 minutes and I get to ride in a coach bus. Very comfortable.

Since I finished Sarah Vowell last week as well as the double issue of the New Yorker I had nothing to read yesterday and wound up staring out the window. Today I made sure I had something and brought the latest issue of Uncut magazine and read about the formation of Apple Records 41 years ago. What a mess that turned out to be. Good intentions, lousy results.

Work was a breeze today. Tom Chin has the flu and didn’t stay all day which was good. He gave me something to fax when he gave me the go ahead and then he left the office. I got the thing ready but didn’t fax it, but sent an email telling him I did.

I’d get yelled at if I didn’t fax it and wasn’t sure if he wanted me to, perhaps I missed his go ahead. He responded, probably while on Metro North heading back to Connecticut, in caps writing ‘I told you to wait until I told you!’ I replied that the fax machine wasn’t working properly so it didn’t go out after all.

Actually it never left my desk. He’ll probably have something to say about it tomorrow, if he comes in.

Today’s comedy was courtesy of Vivek. He gives me some checks to deposit. One goes to this bank A, the other goes to that bank B.I get the deposit slips all set but the account number has one too many digits. I ask him if he’s sure it goes to bank B and he says yes.

I go to bank A and that went well, I was able to make the deposit. I go to bank B and they tell me it’s not their bank. I then go to bank C across the street and it’s not them either. I then cross another street and go to bank D where I’m met by some helpful staff.

They escort me to an office and a handsome young man comes in and enters the info. It turns out it is his bank, bank D. He does the transaction while I wait in the office and comes back with the deposit receipt. I ask him how things are with the current economic climate and he tells me he works at a bank that actually has shown a profit.

Then he asks where I bank and I tell him. I’m getting a vibe from this guy, that he’s into me. Imagine that, being seduced so I could perhaps switch banks. It was a pleasant experience and I left after complimenting him on his suit. Gave him something to dream about.

Left work an hour or so later, on my way to see Bill for a few minutes. I had every green light and made it across town in surprisingly record time. Saw Bill and we had a few laughs. He asked me to go to Easter services with him and his mother.

Sure, I said, mentioning that I will have 40 days from tomorrow to think about it in case I change my mind. He mentioned that he wouldn’t be able to get ashes tomorrow due to his hectic schedule. I told him that Ash Wednesday is probably a favorite holiday of dermatologists around the world.

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(Keep Feeling) Fascination

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Still a bit under the weather but I persevere. Didn’t sleep well last night, so since I’ve been home I haven’t napped. I’m tired enough to nap but I resist the arms of Hypnos. I figure if I don’t nap I should sleep better tonight.

Already I am planning on phoning in sick tomorrow since I need to get better and just get some rest, plus it’s been snowing all day and though it hasn’t been sticking, it will freeze up tonight and it’s supposed to continue to snow all night. So staying home and resting is my plan for tomorrow.

Last night was just rest and I felt better but then again I was next to an open window. It was warm enough to do that. I can breathe outdoors in fresh air with no problem, inside it’s congestion city. I watched Scrubs and Olbermann, forsaking Rachel Maddow for Heroes.

I enjoyed Heroes, but it could have been shorter. I tried watching Chuck in 3D, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as watching Keith Olbermann in 3D, and by enjoyable, I mean terrifying. Heroes was good though. Very much like a comic book, now that this Legion of Super Heroes is hiding. It would have made a good two hour episode but no, they had to bring back Medium which a show I cannot get into.

I watched RuPaul’s Drag Race on Logo. It’s a show about who can be the best drag queen. I enjoy RuPaul, always did ever since she gave me passes to a party back in the 1980′s saying that she was my big black mama and she wanted to see me there. I didn’t make it though, risking the wrath of my big black mama.

I don’t watch many reality shows at all. Actually I don’t watch any, but this was worth a look and it was fun and enjoyable. Drag queens are generally tough people. They have to be. You never know who’s going to come at you so they have to have their guard up at all times as well as looking good.

They were also on the front lines at Stonewall in 1969. Drag is not my scene but it was a fun show and if I remember I will check it out again.

While RuPaul’s show was on, I was sitting in front of my computer, an elbow on the table when all of a sudden, the table vibrated for a few seconds. I obviously thought it was odd but since it only lasted a few seconds it was quickly forgotten and ignored.

The 11:00 news came on and it was announced there was an earthquake with the epicenter in Morristown. That’s what I felt. I have to say it was thrilling to know. Luckily no one was hurt and it certainly wasn’t on a scale like a California earthquake. I didn’t go through anything like my sister has been through in the past so I am lucky to say it was a novelty.

I neglected to write that over the weekend I watched 3 DVD’s. ‘Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride’ a short documentary on Hunter S. Thompson. It was so so. Not impressed but then again I never read any Hunter Thompson. His myth overpowered his writing and he always felt like he belonged to my brother Frank’s generation rather than mine.

‘Human Traffic’ was about a group of British youth off work for the weekend and partying up a storm. That was funnier than I expected and oddly true to life.

And lastly, ‘Man on a Wire’ a documentary about Philippe Petit, who crossed from World Trade Center Tower A to Tower B in 1974. I watched that with sweaty palms of course, me with my fear of heights. I remember hearing about it while having breakfast before school sitting across the dining room table from my mother.

That was fascinating and Philippe Petit still lives. He was on The Colbert Report a few days ago. Now I sit drinking juice and constantly blowing my nose with a temperature of 98.2.

Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper…50 years ago today.

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Tell Me Something Good

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

It’s Tuesday. In a much better mood at that. I did think about going to McSwells for their holiday party, but it’s always so awkward. I’d go and see Roda but he would be wanted by so many that I would stand around wondering what am I doing there.

Rand and Lisa went and I bet they had a good time. They always do. And the wonderful Pat Longo was DJing and I’m sure he did well. Whether or not any one danced is another story.

As much as I loved to DJ at the McSwells party, it was always a stressful affair, including one time Irwin Bicuspid was sitting next to the speakers and complaining about the music being too loud. He is or was a DJ at WFMU as well as my brother Frank.

No one would dance at the holiday party despite my best attempts. It didn’t matter since I wound up getting as fucked up as everyone else. New Years Eve was a nerve-wracking experience as well.

No one would dance at all before midnight when, no matter what year it was, I would play Prince- 1999. That would get those asses shaking not to mention those butts. And of course I would get as fucked up as everyone else, usually spinning from 9PM until 3 or 4AM.

I would usually be situated by the bar so it was an easy reach to the right for a fresh cocktail or pint of Guinness. But somehow I acquired the foresight and knew that I couldn’t keep on partying like that.

Plus I wasn’t in Hoboken anymore, I was in Weehawken and the walk home wasn’t as kind as it used to be. So I eventually faded from view at McSwells.

Steve Fallon eventually sold the place to a guy I never had the misfortune of meeting though I did see the huge beer vats that he had installed in the front room. He gave up after alienating most of the staff and regulars and it fell into the hands of Todd Abramson and 2 others.

When I did go back I didn’t know anyone, except for Roda who signed on after the Fallon era, after listening to the fun stories that Rand and Julio and myself told him about what fun we had there.

It wasn’t fun anymore, Todd had taken control and the regulars moved on, sobered up or died. He’s still there though and it would have been good to see him last night. Perhaps Friday I’ll pop in for a pint and give him a holiday hug.

Last night was quiet instead. I watched Heroes instead of recording it. I was glad that I did, especially with the Obama-esque president at the end. A black president. You only see his lips and his eyes, never his whole face.

If I recorded it, it more than likely would have been cut off like the previous weeks. It did give me a chuckle. He did a better job of a Barack Obama impersonation than Fred Armisen.

So I’m in a better mood today. The stalker phoned and Vivek took the call as he was at my desk. He told the stalker that I am being fired because she wouldn’t stop calling. She asked him where his ethics were, firing me at Christmastime.

He told her that if she wants to call me she should call Ireland starting in January and hung up the phone after wishing her a good life. I wished I would have thought of that. Still I forwarded my phone to the fax machine in case she calls again.

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