Woke up this morning, hot as all hell, in the 80’s. The last fifteen minutes of sleep lasted a long time. I peeked and it was 5:45, then after what seemed like a long time it was 6:00 and time to get out of bed.
Bill was off and running taking the recyclables downstairs which was nice. I left soon after and took the recyclables out of the garbage cans and put them in the recycling bin which was stuffed by I was able to fit the things in, Nice effort on Bill’s part, great follow though on mine I guess.

Hot hot hot as I walked to the bus stop, got on the bus while the other people were jerking off their Blackberries. Normally I would let the women on before me but if she’s too busy on her Crackberry, then too bad I’ll get on first. Too hot for proper etiquette if there is actual etiquette around these days
I walked across town sweltering in the heat, cutting through Grand Central Station which provided some relief from the heat. Got to the office, started things up and changed by soaked t-shirt in the IT room which is nice and air conditioned.

People came in in drips and drabs and the office came alive shortly thereafter. I had some errands to run of course in the now 90 degree heat. Walking down the street was like walking through hummus. That’s where the reference comes in, in case you’re in Sydney and don’t know what the hell I am writing about. Tried to do a few things for the office, like getting a proper sign made so when you get off the elevator on my floor you know who’s offices you are going to. That was a slight headache since we share our space with another company and it sounded like someone was going to be slighted. But the lease states that only my company can have signage at the spot so a showdown should be happening somewhere later in the week.

An old friend and business partner of Vivek’s asked me a favor, to go and get some minutes for a cell phone. He has some friends coming in from India and they needed minutes for their cellphones. I needed to go to T Mobile and Cingular and bought $400.00 worth of minutes. I also had to suss out some restaurants for a closing dinner on July 26th, which I am invited to. So I ran to T Mobile and Cingular and bought the minutes that were needed and also checked out some restaurants in the area. I also went to a Sign Maker and inquired about some signs to be made. Then I came back to the office and broke down the info for the minutes from the cellphone companies on a separate paper for convenience and an easy read.

I go to Vivek’s friend and he tells me he needs SIM cards, not minutes. It didn’t make sense but it was his dime. I went over to the T Mobile store across the street and tried to explain the error. They’re telling me it’s too late the minutes can’t be taken back since they are on my phone. But I didn’t want them or need them. They were really arrogant. This balding motherfucker yells at me as I’m walking out the door, ‘Don’t get mad because you can’t get what you want.’ I yelled back, ‘Oh grow some hair.’
I was fuming, literally and figuratively and went back to my desk and logged into my T Mobile account. No sign of added minutes.

Then I called T Mobile, spoke with Justin who was very understanding and helpful and couldn’t find the minutes in my account, nor in Vivek’s friend’s account. Justin called the store and they gave him the run around too. But he was able to get me a full refund, or perhaps the SIM cards that were asked for earlier. It was only 6:30 PM now and another T Mobile store in the area was open to 7:30. I went there and it was a madhouse. The manager was trying to leave the store for the day when she was corralled by an assistant who listened to my story, then told the manager something totally different in right in front of me. Long story short, the manager couldn’t help me since all I had were receipts and didn’t have the credit card that I gave back to Vivek’s friend who for now I’ll call Pain in the Ass Patel.

I finally left the office about 7:30, having a well deserved cigar. Throughout all this I remembered to get an iTunes card and send it off to my niece Cassie, who’s birthday is tomorrow. That was ballsy. I cupped the cigar in my hand and walked into the post office but the depository closest to me was closed so I hid the cigar in the entrance where I came in and walked across the lobby of the post office, and threw the card in, coming back and picking up my cigar and puffing again as I swam down Lexington Avenue.

I time it perfectly so that by the time I get to the bus station the cigar is basically finished. Of course I was drenched in sweat and I hopped on the bus only to be eyeballed by some guy in the front row who looked disgusted by my sweat. I eyeballed him back, hard, really obvious which seemed to frighten him and I noticed some other guys throughout the bus all staring at me. I guess I imposed myself on the bus, perhaps declaring alpha male status in a primitive way. Nonplussed about that. I was hot and tired and didn’t need to be looked at like I was a freak. If I frightened him, then perhaps he’ll be a little discreet if he sees a man sweating like a horse heading for his direction.

I had a bad day, Bill had a bad day, and Annemarie, Rex and Earl who left Hoboken around 11:30 Monday morning, just arrived in Arcata 9:00 eastern standard time, they really had a bad day. Craziness indeed.

Yes I am back to work. Vacation is over.