September | 2007 | johnozed

It’s Tuesday and it feels like a Monday but thats what happens with a three day holiday weekend. Bill went to his Mom’s apartment, keeping her sane and providing company while his Dad is in rehab across town. I’m glad he’s able to do such a thing, and I’m glad he heeded my advice. I admit I am spoiled with Bill making coffee in the morning and pouring cereal into a bowl for me. Not that I can’t do it myself, but a while ago he took it upon himself to do these things, earning my gratitude, at least for that morning.

The forecast was for temperatures in the 80’s and I was going to wear a suit, but in 80 degree weather that’s not such a good
thing. So I opted for casual again, though I did notice that most everyone was wearing suits in midtown Manhattan and I also noticed that they don’t seem to sweat. How do they do this? I previously thought they were mammals but this no sweating thing is making me reconsider that. Perhaps they are reptiles. The segmented eyes are usually a tip off, but most of them wear sunglasses. It’s a strange thing.

At work most everyone was back in the office, including Greg Stevens who is back from two weeks in the Hamptons. I had to spend sometime with him alone, fixing his computer again. I am so glad he doesn’t have a clue about how certain programs operate and I am so glad that I can generally fake my way through. Vivek was in today. Tomorrow he flies off to Mexico, or whatever is left of it after the hurricane so the office should be quiet once again. Tom Chin is also out. I was in at 8:00 this morning and finished most of the day’s work, at least for me, by 10:45.

I ran a few errands and noticed that there were so many reptile men wearing suits and ties and most of them looked delicious. Except for the reptile men who had shed their skins and or tails. They were definitely more than a little off putting. I scrounged around looking for things to do to keep me busy when my day ended inadvertently. You see, there is a partner of Vivek’s who uses the office after hours and his assistants work from home logging into the system from there. Crystal is the name of the woman in the Bronx who logs in and she couldn’t and it seemed like she was blaming me.

Turned out she had the wrong IP address and when she finally got the right address she logged in effectively kicking me out on my butt. I didn’t mind really, I wound up leaving a whole 14 minutes earlier from work. 14 minutes! What would I do? Padron? Check. Feet? Check. Direction towards the bus terminal? Check. I was soon on my way listening to Patrick Cleandenim, and after each song, I’d think of going to another artist on the iPod, but wound up listening to every song by Mr. Cleandenim.

Ran into Julio outside. It’s where we keep bumping into each other. He had a pinched nerve in his neck from sleeping in an awkward position. It turns out he and Stine didn’t go anywhere this weekend. No beach for Frisbo then.

I was soon home, after picking up a boxed set of Left of The Dial. A four cd box set of songs from the underground in the eighties. Overall, it’s a pretty good selection, even including the ones I don’t particularly care for. Holiday in Cambodia anyone?

Back in Hoboken again. Pretty much mellow. Yesterday was the only day on the past four days that I didn’t have anything to drink, alcohol wise. Today was the BBQ in Garfield. Last night was pretty mellow. Not that I had much of a choice. The body does need to rest and so does the liver, though I have seen and do know people that can drink for days on end. That’s not so bad especially if one is partial to gin blossoms. I’ll take the expanding waistline from many beers thank you very much. Get some chubby chasers on my ass, that’s the ticket.

Last night was just hanging out with Bill, watching TV. That was it. We watched last week’s episode of the season finale of Big Love which was very entertaining. Got more out of it on the second viewing than I did the first. Really, such good acting on the show. The wives are amazing, Bill Paxton is very good. I read that he was once in a band called Martini Ranch back in the 1980’s. I heard of them, didn’t actually hear them and more than likely wrote them off since they were from Los Angeles rather than New York, Athens or the UK. I was such a rock snob, but I don’t think I missed much. I mean I got X, the Blasters, Minutemen, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Los Lobos and the Go Gos, which covered LA or Southern California. As far as San Francisco, I really couldn’t tell you. They were still considered hippie-ish despite Jello Biafra’s best intentions. California Punk was too hard edged and violent. Didn’t have the implied violence in leather jackets from the Bowery.

Bill headed into the city, telling me that he was going to see his dad when actually he headed up to the Upper East Side to get an available Zip Car. We did have a plan to leave for the train station at 12:30 but when the appointed time came, Bill wasn’t around. I figured out that he rented a Zip Car when we spoke on the phone and told me to bring cd’s. Most people would bring one or two, but not me. I brought a baker’s dozen.

I also packed along the two Andrew Loog Oldham books that brother Frank lent me and lent him Joe Strummer: Let’s Rock Again dvd and burned Girl Talk, Patrick Cleandenim and the Knife. We headed up to Garfield in the Zip Car, driving through Saddle Brook in Garfield past all my old haunts. We pulled into the driveway and headed towards the grill. No one was there except for friends of Frank and Elaine’s, John and Ann and their Boston Terrier. Bill sat and talked with them while I passed Elaine in the stairway on my way up to see brother Frank.

He’s doing a lot better and his conversational skills are getting better. I think he’s still doing the rehab thing which is helping him out considerably. He also has a month to go before he goes to work which is a relief to him. He was a bit stressed out about all that. Then there’s the driving issue about driving. We didn’t talk about that, just what we’ve been listening to, watching and reading lately. Driving skills didn’t come up.

Lot’s of hot dogs and hamburgers and Coronas and Guinness were around which made everything quite palatable. Brother Brian and Karen and Hillary, Brian and Cassie were there, as were Meghan and Rob, Corinne flying solo since John her boyfriend was making double time pay at the Gap. Rob’s parents and grandparents were there as well as sundry other friends from Garfield. A good time was had by all. Perfect way to unofficially end the summer season. Best one I’ve had in a few years thats fo sho.

And here are some pics

Bill, driver/partner extraordinaire