Hitting the ground running. That’s how it went for me today. Last night wasn’t so bad, chilled with Bill which was quite nice. I could not fall asleep fast enough, though Bill of course falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

After an hour of lying in bed and sweating I was soon in front of the computer seeing if any insomniac friends were awake and online. They weren’t and after a few minutes I was soon able to fall asleep.

It wasn’t the usual amount of sleep since I had to get up a little earlier than most days. I was opening the shop after arranging to switch hours with Bradley. I am going to see Karyn Kuhl play with her band on Pier 13 tonight.

I made it to the store on time after riding the bus with an entirely different set of commuters. These people seem to have their act together and the bus which was a coach was comfortable and air conditioned.

Within 60 seconds of me opening the store a woman came in, wanting 3 items that she showed me pictures of. We had all three items and one was designed to look distressed. That was the one she wanted polished.

I did my best to polish it up but it wasn’t to her liking. She left the store having other errands to do and said she would come back. She told me she was a personal shopper and that she was buying silver items for someone’s 25th wedding anniversary.

It was all rather hectic, probably more hectic than it is when Bradley opens up the store. I did about $1500.00 worth of sales before 11:00 and that didn’t even count the personal shopper. She came back when I went to lunch and I gave the commission to Bradley. I had made enough money for the day.

Now I am back home. I left work early after dropping off some cigarillos at a customer’s apartment near the cigar shack. I walked with Sean who has been working in the area. He was on break and decided to walk with me. He’s going to Six Flags with his fraternity brothers tomorrow and I advised him to be careful.

A quick ride home via an express train and a waiting bus. I climbed the four flights of steps, threw the last of Stine’s hot dogs on the George Foreman and changed from my suit & tie into blue jeans and a shirt.

Knowing that I would be on the river and that it would likely be cool, I wore a suit jacket on top of all that and once the sun went down I knew I made the right decision. Rand & Lisa showed up and the three of us had a good time, hanging out.

We saw various friends from all over Hoboken. Rand had a beer, Lisa had wine and I smoked a cigar while Karyn Kuhl rocked hard in a funky place. It was a long enough set and the crowd was nice enough. My body clock was all messed up from getting up earlier than usual this morning and I was feeling pretty tired.

Plus I was still standing around, not in a cigar shop, but on a grassy pier on the Hudson River. Still I am glad to have gone out and see friends. I hope to do the same thing in August when another friend plays Pier 13 with the Neutron Drivers.

It is a fun place to see a show and the bands are generally entertaining and you certainly can’t beat the view.