Monthly Archives: November 2010

I’ll Come Running

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OK, it’s Tuesday, I know that much. It has been a decent day. Marcus was not in the shop when I showed up and Calvin had the day off, leaving Don and Bradley and myself to run the shop. It wasn’t bad.

There were moments when Bradley was going off, being outrageous for the sake of being outrageous, like I used to do when I was 16. And Don was busy telling certain customers of his plans for leaving the cigar shop behind.

Most of them, nay- all of them were happy to hear the news and wished him well. He has a few contacts within the customer group that he’s going to do work for as well. Don is quite computer savvy, and tried to get me involved with these situations but alas, I am not as computer savvy as he is.

I might be more computer savvy than the average guy on the street, but there are still others more savvy than me. He has bolstered my ego somewhat, that Don. So the way things are going, Bradley will assume Don’s duties at the shop, coming in early, doing an inventory check and leaving around 7:00.

I’ll remain with the schedule of coming in late and leaving late. I guess that’s fine, since I’m not a morning person and wouldn’t want to commute during the rush hour. After Thanksgiving (which will be here, 2 weeks from this Thursday) I’ll be going in at 12:30 and leaving at 10:30 or thereabouts.

Such is the retail life. But there was one customer than came in this evening who asked if I worked in finance before working in the cigar shop. I explained my positions, office manager, office services, reception.

It turns out that he’s working with a company that I interviewed with this time last year. Nothing happened with that office team and I still send an email to them, to remind them I am still looking.

No word from that Mr. Castillo and according to the customer, Mr. Castillo is no longer employed by that office team. The customer did ask that I send him a resume and I will do that very soon.

Still I hang onto the epiphany that even though it’s not the job that I want (the cigar shop) it is the job I have, and there still aren’t many jobs out there to be had. So the resume was sent out once again. Hope is still there, but also somewhat satisfied (?) with the fact I am still working.

And getting a free cigar a day and a nice discount on cigars is a nice perk. I met Tico Torres from Bon Jovi yesterday. He’s the drummer. Nice guy, never met him before but I said I had as I shook his hand.

It was Jon Bon Jovi that I met when I was working at Right Track, Jon’s cousin Barry Bongiovi (super nice guy and quite handsome) was the manager of the studio at that time.

That’s it for now.

I.C.B. (John Peel Sessions)

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And now we find ourselves on Monday, November 8, 2010. It’s my friend Maurice’s birthday and also Scott Williams birthday. Both of them are 42 years old today. I haven’t seen Maurice since I saw Beck with Julio at Radio City on Valentine’s Day in 1999. Another world ago.

And I haven’t seen Scott Williams since the early part of this century at his mother’s wake. I might have seen him once since he may have been a police officer being interviewed on the television a few years ago.

I sent a Facebook message to Maurice and sent him birthday wishes. Alas I have no information regarding Scott so if he searches for himself, the grandson of Nanny Williams, best wishes Scott.

Yesterday was a busy day. Spent part of the day with my brother Frank, his wife Elaine, their daughters Meghan and Corinne and Meghan’s husband Rob. Meghan ran the New York City marathon last year and this year it was Rob’s turn.

I met up with Frank, Elaine and Corinne in front of Stack’s pancake house. Meghan was in the city already, cheering Rob on. We waited a good while to get some pancakes and after 20 minutes we decided to head out sans pancakes.

We opted for bagels at Panera Bread further down Washington Street, closer to the Path train. Not much of a wait to get on a train. From the 33rd Street Path train we were on the R train heading to 5th Avenue, the Plaza Hotel.

From there we could head into Central Park and wait for Rob to run by. We walked up into the park, and at one point we were in the roadway. We decided to step over the 2 foot wooden barrier, first went Elaine, then Corinne, and me with Frank bringing up the rear.

Unfortunately Frank lost his balance and took a tumble backwards. I grabbed his arm but I was no match for gravity. He landed on his back and boinked his head. I didn’t think it was so bad but there were a few people around who saw him hit his head and were concerned.

There were also a number of Emergency Service Technicians (EMT) nearby and a few of them made their way over. They asked Frank a couple of questions, do you know where you are? What year is this? And he answered correctly.

Speedy pulse and all that, caused them to sit with him for a while. It would have been worse I think, if I wasn’t grabbing Frank’s arm, he would have fallen a lot faster and really did some damage to his skull. The roadway was intact by the way.

We made our way to the other side of the park, trying to connect with Rob, post finish line. After some waiting we saw Meghan and Rob coming towards us, Rob looking in sore shape. Despite being the #1 track coach in New Jersey, he was wasted from the marathon, his time being 3:28, swearing that it was his first and last marathon.

We met up with Rob’s parents who dutifully got their car and drove Rob & Meghan home, leaving us to get the subway and the Path train back to Hoboken. Frank was OK, everyone was tired.

I made my way to the Hoboken Artist Studio Tour, but decided to only see Hiro Takeshita. He’s been living in my old apartment building at 2nd and Madison Streets for the past 26 years. It was nice to see him as he showed me his latest works as well as things from the past.

By that time I was tired and also needed to do some grocery shopping, so after a half hour I headed out. Hiro did say that he sold a few pieces and that it was very crowded the day before, and that was good to hear. I do enjoy his work and he’s a genuinely nice guy.

Came home, made dinner and talked with Frank to see if he was alright. He was and we rehashed things from earlier in the day and earlier in our lives. A few minutes after that, a phone call from Annemarie, more chatting.

Bill came home during the call and for some reason, was sitting in the kitchen not making a sound. After I got off the phone with Anne, I went over to Bill who was out of sorts. He had gone to see a friend sing in a cabaret, and since there was a 2 drink minimum he had 2 Absolut and cranberry cocktails, then after the show went to the gym where he promptly over did it.

He had a ringing in his ears, was dehydrated and generally disoriented. I brought him down to earth somewhat and kept a close eye on him throughout the night. He rarely drinks and this is why. Sleep followed after a while, after Boardwalk Empire and Bored to Death.

Bill went first and I was asleep an hour later.

I’ve realized lately that I have a job. Not the job I want, but the job I got. So I’m likely going to take a break from frantically looking for something new. Perhaps next year.

It’s just as well since Don came to the cigar shop on his day off, to give his 2 weeks notice. So now, behind Marcus and Calvin, I will be the longest serving employee. Into my 6th month. Sean is a part timer so he doesn’t count.

By Hiro Takeshita.