Monthly Archives: April 2011

I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water

Well it’s a Tuesday and it’s been a rainy Tuesday at that. Not that I’m too upset about it. Like my brother Brian wrote to me, At least I’m not in that hellhole. And he’s right on that point. Not so bad.

Spent part of the day not wearing the knee brace and even walked around outside for a bit without. I should have worn it, but I managed nonetheless. I ran into Stine and Alexander for a few minutes. She came back from grocery shopping and then had to get Alexander ready for school.

He’s still so adorable and now calls me John instead of Don. We parted ways with Alexander screaming good bye with me responding in kind, halfway down the street. Some grocery shopping was in order for me too, as well as the first of two visits to the supermarket and a stop at the dry cleaners.

Back at home I had some breakfast, did some laundry and watched Eyes Wide Shut which I originally saw in a theater with Julio when it came out and it left be confounded and her it is years later and I’m still confounded.

I think that may have more to do with the casting of Tom Cruise as the male lead. Still a beautiful movie to watch though and the second DVD were worth watching if only for the interviews with Kubrick’s wife and daughters.

Then a trip to the bibliothèque to return the DVD where I took out Tropic Thunder, Citizen Kane and the CD of Squeeze, Argybargy. Bill hadn’t seen either Tropic Thunder or Citizen Kane and figured both would be good since he’s in a bad way today. It turns out a co-worker of his was murdered by a family member over the weekend and Bill was in a state of shock and grief. Now he’s home and just went to bed at around 8:45.

The television is out at the moment. Don’t know where it went. It left a note, saying it was going out for some cigarettes and the paper and hasn’t been back since. It was here last night, I swear it was, since I was watching Craig Ferguson until about 1:30.

Here’s something I’ve been meaning to write about for the past couple of weeks. The March blog statistics. I’m sure you’ve all been waiting with baited breath. I think you might want to reconsider a different kind of bait, since people are starting to talk.

In March, this here blog had 1,526 visits. Some were for a few minutes, some were just for a minute. Some read a few pages, others just sneezed, blew their noses and shut down the tab, or window.

Here are the Top Ten cities that visit from March 2001:
New York (166 visits)
Hoboken (102)
Eureka (36)
Atlanta (32)
Bala Cynwyd (!) (30)
Lakewood (29)
(not set) (25)
Chicago (24)
Bilbao (23)
Philadelphia (18)

And the Bottom Ten are:
Auburn Hills (1)
Vista (1)
Haifa (1)
South Bend (1)
Leonardtown (1)
Esslingen (1)
West Lafayette (1)
Mount Vernon (1)
Huntsville (1)
Omaha (1)

Congratulations to all the nominees.




Actually the last ten that I posted went up from 491 to 500 cities.
Here are the actual bottom 10 cities as follows:

West Lafayette (1)
Sheffield (1)
Banja Luka (1)
Marietta (1)
Sopron (1)
Framingham (1)
Fairview Heights (1)
Chengdu (1)
Columbiana (1)
Mollica Hill (1)

Once again, thanks to all the readers, Bala Cynwid included.

I Was The One

Back at the Cigar Shack. It’s a Monday for everyone, for me it’s like a Friday since I have Tuesday & Wednesday which is quite nice I think. Yesterday was the inventory day at the Cigar Shack. I came home exhausted on Saturday night and finished up what I had started writing earlier in the day.

I took a Melatonin and soon fell asleep a little after midnight. Bill was still working, filling ticket orders for sporting events in the metropolitan area. He came home at 4:00 in the morning and at 5:15 he was standing above me asking me what time did I want to wake up. I said 5:00 and he told me it was 5:15.

I sat bolt upright in bed and immediately had a tantrum. Hitting the bed with my hands on each side of my body yelling ‘No No No!’ Still I got out of bed and showered, made some cereal and had some coffee. Bill went to bed after making sure I was awake and he gave me the number for a cab company so I could get a ride to the Path train.

No buses on Sundays in Hoboken until 7:00 which is when I was expected to be at the cigar shack. I got on the train thinking that I might be able to close my eyes for at least a few minutes but the coffee I had prevented that. I got off the Path and caught another train uptown.

I got off that train at the proper station and wandered around bleary eyed and limping. Too many staircases. Too damn early. I also took a Naproxen which sort of zoned me out. I was headed to get some coffee when I heard someone say I was walking like a pimp. It was Calvin. He was going to Starbucks and I was headed elsewhere.

The day wasn’t as bad as I expected. Things went smoothly since the store was prepped all week for the inventory and the Bradley and I put the finishing touch on everything on Saturday night. There were about 20 people in the store all counting and recounting and thanks to the prep work it went very easily.

I was beat though, from the Naproxen and from getting up early. I counted everything correctly though, at least I think I did. No mistakes, no corrections. Marcus brought in donuts and coffee and that is what I sustained myself with.

Where Marcus usually ordered pizza for everyone, this year it was every man for himself. Most of the bean counters went home by then while Thomas and the Bradley got their food. I wasn’t sure what to do since all I had was a stomach full of coffee and donuts.

Calvin made a point to tell me that the store will have to be put back together after lunch. Then Calvin went out to get his lunch. Marcus was still running around, making sure everything was counted and recounted correctly.

Then Marcus turned to me and asked if I closed the store the night before. I told him that I had and then he said I was free to go home. I asked if he was sure about that since I would take him up on it and he said he was sure, shaking my hand and thanking me for everything. Nice to hear.

I got my stuff and started to head out when in walks Calvin, asking me if I was going to get my lunch. Marcus told him that I was going home since I had closed the store the night before. If looks could kill, Calvin would have had me dead right there and then. But I didn’t ask to go home early, I was offered an early leave and I took it.

Had a fun phone call with Annemarie while waiting for the bus and I then came home and slept for about 45 minutes, not enough really but it helped. Bill and I watched TV before heading to bed. I expected Calvin to say something to me today about my departure yesterday but he didn’t say anything.

Still his method is usually bringing it up at a later date, when I will be totally unprepared for it.




******* 12:04AM
I met Anthony Weiner today. Forgot to write that. Nice guy, handsome and asked me my name as he shook my hand.