Tag Archives: Rod 2.0

Dear Prudence

The day after St. Patrick’s day. No hangover here. All is calm, all is bright. Another beautiful day today, enough so that I headed into the city and looked into getting some new eyeglasses.

Not that my eyes are getting bad, it’s just that the lenses have some light scratches in the which can be annoying. I’m on Bill’s insurance and it has an eye plan so I thought I would check it out. I did stop by at the end of January and they gave me a coupon for 50.00 off frames.

I walk in and look over the 99.00 frames. That is when they expertly direct me to the more costly frames. I have a problem with the price of frames. I just don’t believe that an average plastic frame does not cost 250.00 to make. It was their hard sell that ultimately got me out of there.

It must be the main method of the store. But I’ve been lightly browbeaten by them in the past and wasn’t going to go for it again. And they weren’t in Bill’s insurance network anyhow. I made an excuse that I wanted my partner’s input on the decision so the girl suggested that I take a cellphone pic and send it to him that way.

Not the frames I had in mind

Not the frames I had in mind

Gigi was her name and she took the photo for me. Then I said I was going to call Bill and get back to her. I walked outside and did leave a message, then went back inside and told Gigi that I was going to talk to him and take a walk while I waited.

She told me I had better come back.

I walked over to Lens Crafters and had an exam there. They were in Bill’s network. It turns out my vision hadn’t really changed since my last exam 2 years ago. And my left eyelid was a little droopy which was the first I ever heard of that. I think if it is, it was always that way.

I took over 300 pictures when I was in Manhattan. I went crazy. A lot of people out and about. I think they came out good. Not much different than photo I’ve posted in the past from Manhattan, just about 280 more than usual.

Currently trying to upload them in Facebook. But that’s not working out as well as I hoped. Maybe it’s the amount of pic that causing the trouble, but I continue to try.

From my notes the past week: I’ve decided to write about the blogs I read every day. They’re all in the blogroll to the right. I usually read at night, hours after most of the entries have posted. Most f the blogs report news of some sort whereas mine is mainly news about me.

I usually open tabs for Rod2.0. Jockohomo, JoeMyGod and Towleroad as well as Blabbeando. Rod 2.0 is news from an African American and gay slant. Lot’s of news for everyone as well as the occasional side of beefcake. Rod was the first blogger to ever comment on this blog, almost 5 years ago.

Then there’s Jockohomo who has turned m onto a lot of great music. I credit him turning m onto Girl Talk.. Lot’s of fun Pop Culture stuff as well as beefcake and great links. Joe.My.God is great, a lot of fun, and mainly political info but lot’s of fun stuff too.

Bill and I have met Joe a few times at various demonstrations and I remember seeing him outside the Highline Ballroom having a cigarette during my ill fated ecstatic trip to Blow Off last June. I don’t know if he recognized me and I’m not really sure if I recognized him, being an an altered state of mind at the time.

Towleroad is the most newsy of the the first for, and least daily newsy. A many layered cake of information, videos and pictures. It takes a while to get thorough it all so out of the first four it’s the last one I read.

Blabbeando is a personal favorite of mine. Written by a really nice guy, Andres who I’ve also met at demonstrations around Manhattan. A political and cultural blog which offers a Latin view point. He’s also very supportive, we collaborated on a blog that’s also in the blogroll. Won’t say which one, I’ll let you guess.

I use Google Analytics every now and then to see where my blog is being read and since the beginning of March I’ve had 658 visits, the most visits being from New York. The surprising thing is no one in Hoboken reads it. I found that out yesterday. Since I’m been analyzing the stats, it was quite a surprise.

Still having so Facebook problems uploading pics. In the meantime here are but a few.

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That’ll Be The Day

Well it rained quite a bit overnight. So much rain it woke me up. Why, I was awake before 9:00 it was so loud. Bill was off to deal with the Department of Motor Vehicles in Bayonne so he could have a legitimate New Jersey address.

It could come in handy should we decide to tie the knot. The other night I showed him how to make a square knot, which is something my brother Frank taught me way back when.

Right over left, left over right. Ta da!

Have some good news possibly. Juan might have been misdiagnosed. What they thought was kidney cancer might actually be a tumor. A type of tumor which is sometimes mistaken for cancer. More info next week on that.

You’d think he’d be over the moon but he had just made arrangements with school to suspend his studies, spoke with his landlord who canceled his lease.

It turns out he didn’t have to do all that. I told him he now has an opportunity to restart his life, but oddly enough he’s worried that his friends and school will think he was trying to get over. I wrote oddly since he never cares what other people think.

And in any event, if he has this tumor, an operation will more than likely need to be performed so he will have the scar to show that it wasn’t cosmetic surgery. He’s on his way over right now and I guess things are back to normal since he’s basically furious with certain members of his family.

I expect him to initially be as charming in person as he was on the phone. I’m so HVAC sometimes.

Made fast friends with Kurt who runs The Hoboken Journal blog. He’s anti-Hoboken411 too so it’s good to have an ally in the blogosphere. I did visit that other accursed site, Hoboken411 and saw how good ol’ ‘Libertarian’ Perry so damn excited that a 7/11 is coming to town.

He’s more than likely angling for free Slurpees and burritos. Across the street is Hoboken Daily News which is a nice little store currently run by Andy and his brother, both upstanding gents. I’ve been going there since I moved to Hoboken in 1984.

Andy and his brother are worried since 7/11 is a big impersonal powerhouse and these newcomers to Hoboken probably have no loyalty and will cling to the comforts of the suburbs that apparently have followed them to Hoboken.

Andy is a great guy and will let you slide if you don’t have enough cash, just pay the next day. In this day and age that is a rare thing.

Last week while I was in there getting my smokes, a thug wannabe was hanging out reading the magazines. Apparently he’d been there long enough so Andy told him he couldn’t read the magazines anymore.

The wannabe was indignant despite standing directly in front of a sign that said ‘Please Don’t Read the Magazines’. It’s OK to thumb through but to stand there and read an article is fairly enough, not allowed.

So the wannabe throws the magazine to the floor gets behind me muttering to himself that he’s going to ‘duff’ this guy. For those playing at home, ‘duff’ means to deliver a severe beating. I heard this and said ‘Whoa. Easy with that duff talk’.

The thug wannabe was obviously surprised that a white dude like myself would know what it means and challenged me on what it meant. I told him using the Queen’s English and he asked how I knew. I told him I knew because I knew.

I didn’t say my good buddy, Pedro the corrections officer told me. Anyway the thug wannabe buys himself a cheap ass plastic tipped cigar like the kind Snoop Dogg smokes and tries to walk all hard out of the store. Andy was most appreciative. I kept it gully. It was all on tape.

I picked up the magazine the thug threw down after saying that Andy wasn’t respecting him, and ironically enough, the magazine’s title was Respect.

I know, I thought it would be Cat Fancy or Modern Bride too.

I don’t usually involve myself in situations but I do consider Andy to be a friend.

This afternoon I had a nice little chat with Andy and his wife about blogs, told him about mine and Kurt’s Hoboken Journal. Kurt had posted about Hoboken Daily News and a few people commented how much they liked the store and Andy was very much interested so I gave him both blog addresses, telling him that Kurt’s was more political and social whereas mine was ‘all up here’ and pointed at my head.

I heard crickets in a hollow hall.

Walked around after taking pics of Andy and his wife as well as the exterior of Hoboken Daily News. Ran into Chris Repella on the street. Ran into her yesterday too. She was with her charge, a young autistic boy. She was a bit blue, broke up with her boyfriend and her cat died this week.

I did my best to bolster her spirits and told her that she’ll be OK. I love her and told her so. She’s a sweetie from the McSwells days 20 years ago. She appreciated it and I was glad to say it.

Now Juan is here reading and cutting up magazines and slowly coming in off the ledge. He wasn’t going to jump, just scream at the world about his frustration.

Also spoke this afternoon with that Chasm fella in Vermont. Mr. & Mrs Chasm and the baby are doing OK, Casey is trying to figure out some major life choices. He was surprised with the fact that I’ve been cannabis free for about 3 weeks now. He asked why and I told him financial. He asked if I had a job would I go back to it and I said probably not. I really don’t miss it.

OK that’s a bit of a lie. I miss it when trying to go to sleep at night.

Oh, last night Bill and I watched the Dark Knight on DVD. Bill had never seen it before and it was than Lawn Hors d’œuvre repeats. He loved it, sitting at the edge of the couch throughout the movie. We will probably watch it again before I return it to the Library. That’s where I get my DVD’s now since I suspended my Netflix account.

Flowers while on the phone with Casey Chasm

Flowers while on the phone with Casey Chasm

Hoboken City Hall

Hoboken City Hall

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12.9.09 Hoboken Daily News 006

Not the job for me...

Not the job for me...

Andy and the Missus

Andy and the Missus

Hoboken Daily News @ 500 Washington Street

Hoboken Daily News @ 500 Washington Street