Posts Tagged ‘Padron’

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Down in the Depths

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

The day is Thursday. Oddly enough it’s been a bright and sunny day. Me, I’ve been morose at best.

It was most noticeable this morning while walking to the office in midtown Manhattan. The day started off kind of depressing. Nothing in particular but then again everything in particular. Perhaps it’s all from waking up on the wrong side of the bed, but then again if that was the case, everyday would be like today.

And it isn’t like this everyday..

What happened? Let’s see, I was almost hit by a Coach USA bus in midtown. The driver insisted he was in the right since the Don’t Walk sign started flashing as I was midway through the intersection, enabling him to justify almost killing me.

Flipping him the middle finger didn’t bring the satisfaction that it used to. I got the bus number, but not the ‘How’s My Driving?’ 800 number. Took a picture of it but by the time I got to my office I stopped caring. What is it with bus drivers? Why are they such an unruly sort?

Shortly after the bus incident, I walk past some guy with what appears to be Tourette’s Syndrome screaming quite loudly either at me or in my direction. So that is basically the start of my day.

My sister seemed to pick up on my blue mood 3000 miles away. She suggested taking a walk to clear my head, but having walked from 50th Street and Third Avenue to 30th Street and Sixth Avenue and then from the Path train to Sixth and Park in Hoboken didn’t clear my head to begin with.

I think staying in and not seeing anyone is the perfect remedy.

Last night after vacillating back and forth about whether to go out, I went out. I walked up to the Whiskey Bar a little after 9:00 and saw my friend John Williams play in his band, The Caterpillar Book.

Why the Caterpillar Book for a band name? I couldn’t tell you. They were good, competent musicians, John was a tasteful guitarist.

They write their own songs which made it odd to see them at the Whiskey Bar since it’s mainly a place where cover bands play. Pearl Jam & U2 tribute bands, but on Wednesday nights, bands playing originals are welcome.

The Caterpillar Book is pretty much a Jersey Shore band, good but a little too AOR for my tastes. But like I said they were good, but not my cuppa.

I also got carded at the door by a handsome cugine who could have been my son if not for the bulging muscles in the tight black t shirt and the black hair straight out of Bensonhurst.

I know this blue feeling, or period, won’t last and will probably be gone by tomorrow.

My three day weekend begins with laundry and then who knows?

I hope to get some bike riding in. Don’t know where to or how far but if the weather is permitting, that is what I might just do.

Right now I’m just glad to be home, away from people.

Ha! Juan just called, he might be stopping by. He’s not people.
"How's My Driving?" The bus that almost ran me over.

The bus that almost ran me over. “How’s My Driving?”

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Posted in WTF | 4 Comments »

In the Ditch

Monday, April 13th, 2009

It’s a Monday and all is ‘meh’. Just one of those days. Last night was quiet as well. Bill came home after 2 church services, dropped off his mother with Elsie and Andy Capp and came home depressed and in need of a nap.

He napped for a few hours and then I woke him up around 7:00. Our usual show on Sunday nights, 60 Minutes was late due to golf and that gave me an opportunity to watch a Bill Moyers rebroadcast from Friday about Abraham Lincoln with Sam Waterson and a Lincoln scholar.

Since Bill had just woken up he was confused that 60 Minutes wasn’t on and hearing Sam Waterson’s voice thought Lawn hors d’oeuvre was on. He soon got into Bill Moyers though.

After that, The Simpsons which was as good as expected. Worst Couch Gag ever! Bill wasn’t feeling King of the Hill. Maybe he doesn’t like Tom Petty and is more of a Billy Bob Thornton fan.

We watched some of Metallica’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, more ugly women in his eyes though there were no women on stage. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ronnie Wood, Metallica, Flea and Joe Perry all on stage playing Train Kept a Rollin’ at the same time. It was a bit much, but over within minutes.

I told Bill the tale about how Metallica took over the recording studio I worked at for a few months and how they treated us all nicely. Food for days, weeks and months. Generally they were alright, though Kirk Hammett and Jason Newsted were outgoing and willing to talk to the common folk, Lars and James were aloof at best.

Once again the people around them were obnoxious, the band themselves were ok. Q Prime is their management. A room full of wankers, one of whom got into an argument with me and threatened to have Metallica leave and go to another studio.

I knew that wasn’t going to happen and called him on it. He never called again.

Bill and I then watched an early episode of Lawn hors d’oeuvre: SVU which was good. Well paced and ended leaving us hanging and wanting more. Then Bill went to bed and I stayed up watching Peter Gomes, the Harvard theologian at a book signing from 2007.

I could listen to Peter Gomes talk all night. He was on a book tour for his then current book, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus. Entertaining and informative, I would love to have dinner with him sometime. It would be enlightening. Even Luis Buñuel counted clergy as friends despite his atheism.

Off to work today. Vivek came back from Mexico and of course didn’t show up until an hour before I left. He sounded like hell and in turn he said I sounded hungover, which I wasn’t. Hardly anyone was in the office and that made the day crawl by.

4:30 couldn’t arrive soon enough so I left at 4:15. Tomorrow I have to go to the Indian consulate for Vivek and get a work visa for someone coming in from India.

That should be interesting. Never been to the Indian consulate before.

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Posted in Iron my Shirt | 2 Comments »

I Am the Walrus

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Easter Sunday. That’s today. Apparently a big deal. It’s just another Sunday for some, a major religious holiday for others. It’s a big holiday for Bill, since he’s the religious minded one in our relationship.

Last month he asked me if I wanted to go to services with him and his mother at church and I figured why not. He’s always mentioning how his church friends always ask about me so I decided to show up. Bill’s mother was able to make it.

She’s now ensconced at Bill’s cousin Elsie’s apartment. He knows better than to deal with Andy Capp, and so far so good. His mother seemed alright at the church. She was obviously welcomed and looked after.

Bill is a Deacon in his church so that meant midway through the service he had to go and hand out the bread and the wine. It was a full house and unlike the catholic ceremony where you have to go and get it yourself, here they brought it to you on a silver platter and it gets passed down the pew.

It was the usual length for a service, a little over an hour. This was interesting for me, when the Pastor started his sermon I immediately went heavy lidded.

I remained awake and it was a fairly interesting sermon but like in the past when I used to attend mass, meaning when I was forced to attend mass, I would invariably drift off when the priest would sermonize.

And this guy was more interesting than the sermonizers I had when growing up. Except for Reverend Pat at Bill’s former church, Metropolitan Community Church. The LGBT church.

She was a fired up pastor and usually politicized her sermons which always got my attention. But Bill doesn’t go there anymore and neither do I, obviously.

Bill and his mother were staying for the next mass as well. Deacon duties you see, plus his mother can’t get enough church.

I walked from 85th street and Park Avenue down to 42nd Street and Eight Avenue, enjoying the sunshine and smoking a Padron.

Quite a few people on Park Avenue dressed up and either going to or coming from their respective churches. I crossed over to Madison Avenue when Park started getting crowded, then over to Fifth Avenue when Madison Avenue was getting crowded.

I had an idea to check out the Easter Parade on Fifth but when I saw the crowds headed towards it I had a change of mind. Walked down Sixth Avenue then over to the bus terminal, timing it so I would only have to wait for a few minutes for the bus back to Hoboken.

Came home and turned on the news which was all about the ship captain that was being held hostage off the shores of Somalia was freed. Didn’t end well for the pirates though. 3 of them killed, one captured by the US Navy.

Here is a link to an informative article from the Independent in the UK about the climate that has created these Somali pirates.

Cut n’paste if you will….

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html

I am the Eggman

I am the Eggman

They are the Eggmen

They are the Eggmen

I Am the Walrus! G'oo G'oo G'Joob!

I Am the Walrus! G'oo G'oo G'Joob!

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Posted in Wonderful World Beautiful People | 6 Comments »

Ugly

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Ugh. What a day. Some of it could be blamed on last night. Drinks and some noshes with Pedro did my head in later in the night. I fell asleep at a decent hour and slept ok I guess. Well not really since I was a bit drunk.

Woke up ok. Bill kissing me goodbye, me sleeping until 6:30 which is better than the 7:15 that it’s been the past couple of days. Not enough milk for cereal but enough for coffee. It was in the 30 degree range this morning and an occasional snowflake drifted down to the ground.

The office was buzzing along though I felt like I was invisible. I said good morning to the usual drones and didn’t get anything said back to me. I didn’t care but I did notice so maybe I cared a little bit. Vivek was off to Mexico leaving me with a few tasks to do, including an errand down to 28th and 7th Avenue.

That warranted a subway ride to 28th street then a walk across town. I decided to walk back, listening to Simple Minds. Got back to the office feeling ok but as I waited for the final hour of the day to be over I started to feel tired.

Nevertheless I walked back across town to the bus terminal, enjoying a Padron. Got on the bus which wasn’t crowded at all but right in front of me a woman complained to another passenger across the aisle and loud enough for me to hear that ‘it smelled like someone was smoking a cigar here’.

I just sat and read the New Yorker. Went to Empire Coffee at 4th and Bloomfield in Hoboken. My old pal Jeff wasn’t there. They cut back his hours so maybe today was one of the days that were cut.

Then it was office to the supermarket where there was a girl with a pierced face, dressed all in black with purple extensions in her dyed jet back hair to compliment the gigantic platforms she clod hopped around in. Ever since the demise of Farfetched I have no tolerance for Goth brats.

Came home very tired. Could barely stay awake during Harpy’s Heckle and Jeckle impersonation. He does both parts.

Tired to access my gmail account but it tells me my password is wrong. I enter it again same message. I go to help which tells me it will send my information to my Verizon email account, which I haven’t used in years since I no longer use Verizon.

I don’t even remember my Verizon log in name and gmail asks when I started my account. What month and year. I guess and say February 2004. Still no access.

My other gmail account is fine and despite me contacting gmail telling them to send it to that working gmail account. Now I am tired and frustrated and trying to write at least 500 words. Yes, I am hitting that wall while going back and forth trying to see if gmail is of any assistance to me.

Basically I am pissed off. The latest message from the lack of help department of gmail is that it may take 24 hours to get me a new password. That is infuriating. I use Firefox and the password is saved in my browser and somehow it’s wrong. I am now suffering from gmail withdrawal.

Argh!

Bullshit!
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Posted in Iron my Shirt | 1 Comment »

So Hard

Monday, April 6th, 2009

So last night, Bill was at St. Luke’s / Roosevelt Hospital being tested once again for sleep apnea. He had to wear that mask thing, which if you remember the Sopranos, Uncle Junior had to wear one for a few episodes. Not the most comfortable thing to sleep in.

Bill likened it to sticking your head out of the window of a moving car and trying to breathe. He should be coming home tonight so I’ll be getting the whole story.

His mother is not being moved to the nursing home on Roosevelt Island after all. She had a panic attack on Friday when they told her and she then had a panic attack which led her to wind up in the cardiologist unit since her heart started beating irregularly.

She is now going to be staying with Bill’s cousin and her husband Black Hitler. The bright side of that is the fact that Bill knows what he’s getting into this time.

This morning without Bill not being around to kiss me goodbye I over slept. Actually forgot to set the alarm so I woke up at 7:15 when my cellphone alarm went off. The steady rain outside didn’t make it worthwhile to get out of bed but I had to nonetheless.

Walked to the bus stop and got on, rode the bus to 11th Street when the bus crapped out and it was everyone off the bus to wait in the rain for the next bus. I didn’t like the look of the crowd standing in the rain so I walked down to 9th Street where thee was an even more unsavory group.

7th Street was just too crowded and I wound up walking to 5th Street where I originally boarded the bus. Read the New Yorker and was soon walking in the rain across town to the office.

By the time I got in I was wet despite wearing a raincoat and carrying a large umbrella. Tom Chin is still around and he looks at me saying, ‘You look wet’.

Today was very busy. Vivek is due to join his business partner in Acapulco tomorrow, Greg Stevens is in Arizona and Tom Chin is more than likely wanking somewhere.

And of course there were errands to run in the pouring rain. Three indifferent bankers at three different banks. After work, I wasn’t sure whether or not to take the subway across town or enjoy a Padron and walk.

Since it was only drizzling on and off I decided to walk. And the cigar was excellent.

Got a phone call on the bus from Pedro who’s going to be in the city tomorrow and wants to hang out. I’m game for it, especially after seeing his latest picture, all tight with six pack abs.

That’s something to look forward to. He needs to get a haircut and he always get it cut in the Village so that’s the plan. What happens after that I couldn’t say.

He wants to have a drink which is fine with me. I can’t stay out late since it is a school night so I’m sure I’ll get an earful on that. Can’t think of anywhere to go though. I’m sure we’ll think of something.

In the meantime, here’s a video that my sister sent me yesterday which made my day.

Me want to go there.

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Posted in Iron my Shirt | 1 Comment »

Down From Dover

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

It’s a late Friday posting. And what a day it’s been. No word from Harpy all day so I guess I’m on his shit list. I couldn’t tell you if it’s a long list or a short list or even if there is a list at all.

Still he’s back in the good graces of Susan and so I guess I’m out of his good graces, or graces period. A gray cloud of Harpiness hung overhead through most of my day.

I did enjoy sleeping until 9:00 this morning, woke up checked some email and found I had a new T Mobile bill. A bill that is over twice the usual amount. Apparently according to them I went over my 600 anytime minutes.

I suppose that was possible since there was a few long calls with Harpy before 9:00 and I found out today that mobile to mobile calls aren’t free. And a few long calls with my brother Frank during daytime hours too.

Plus a $9.99 text charge which more than likely came from the ‘IQ’ test I took via Facebook and had the answer sent to my phone. Apparently having an ‘IQ’ of ’145′ isn’t smart enough to outfox a texting scam like that so be forewarned and learn from my mistake.

So a part of my morning was arguing with Tiffany and Chris from T Mobile. Actually there was no arguing, it was me venting as I drank my first cups of coffee and Chris and Tiffany thanking me and apologizing.

It was a drizzly gray morning as I did my laundry which now hangs on racks and in the bathroom drying in the dampness. I had a plan to meet up with Mr. & Mrs. Casey Chasm this afternoon. Casey Chasm asked if I liked lasagna and I said I sure did.

Around 1:30 it was still drizzling out as I headed over to the Chasm residence. It wasn’t so bad when I left my building but as I walked a few doors up the block, the sky opened up and I reached for my umbrella which didn’t do any good besides keeping my upper torso and head relatively dry.

Everything below the waist was wet. I needed to run to CVS and when I left CVS it was still pissing out. I decided the best thing to do would be to head home since the sneakers, socks and blue jeans I was wearing were quite soaked. Up four flights of stairs for a quick change and then I was out on the street again where it had stopped raining.

I hung out with Mr and Mrs Chasm, chatting. They even got me to play Wii which I did for the first time. I did good on bowling, on tennis I won over Mr Chasm though Mrs Chasm wiped the virtual tennis courts with Johnno’s body.

Then came boxing and it wasn’t foxy boxing to my chagrin. Casey Chasm went easy on me but my left uppercut was most ineffectual which was understandable since I didn’t think an uppercut was actually possible.

He set the Wii for training after a practice round, me throwing punches all arms akimbo, Casey Chasm all tight and controlled. I was getting hungry, looking forward to some lasagna when Bill called.

His mother was being moved from Beth Israel hospital to a center on Roosevelt Island. He asked if I could go with him and of course I said yes. I made a hasty exit from the Chasm abode and on my way home had a slice of lackluster pizza which while filling couldn’t compare to homemade lasagna.

I went home again, up four flights again and unloaded some crap and got some new crap. I needed something to read since I was going to be back on the bus on a late afternoon on Friday.

That meant some rush hour traffic which like last time, brought me closer to 34th street rather than 42nd street where the bus terminal is. Two other passengers and myself persuaded the drive to let us off on 35th street and I once again navigated the crowds milling towards either the bus terminal or Penn Station.

I got to Bill’s office building and he came down a minute or so later. We then caught an F train to Roosevelt Island. The plan was to have Bill and I there at the facility when he mother arrived, to have two friendly faces to make her transition a little bit easier.

We got there a little after 6:00 and waited for nearly two hours when we found out that Bill’s mother wasn’t going to be transferred tonight after all. Bill handled that news admirably and we had a pleasant walk to the Tram which we took back to Manhattan.

I had never been to Roosevelt Island so I took a few snapshots.

4309-roosevelt-001

4309-roosevelt-002

4309-roosevelt-003

4309-roosevelt-004

4309-roosevelt-007

4309-roosevelt-008

from the Tram

from the Tram


We got off the Tram on 59th street and would have walked back to the bus terminal smoking our cigars, but of course that wasn’t going to happen since it was raining once again. We rode the subway to the bus terminal and caught a waiting bus. And now we’re here. The day ended better than it began oddly enough.

Where are you?

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Posted in Whats for lunch? | 3 Comments »

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