I’m sleeping better and feeling good and still showing up crazy early for work. Day two and still I can’t figure out how I could get there with less than a half hour to kill. I do have the key card to get in now so I could just start earlier than usual. Fine with me.

The only problem I could see at work presently, besides not wearing a suit and tie, is using a Mac program. I’ve been fairly proficient on pc’s and not having to use a Mac for so many years I am a little bit more than rusty. I keep double clicking which achieves nothing on a Mac.

Today I had to add names to the emergency contact list and it wasn’t an easy cut and paste job. Spent a little too much time on it and still it was incomplete. I promised tomorrow I will put it in an excel program which make it a little bit easier. There are other systems I have to figure out, and I hope they are understanding enough to let me learn them.

They are a nice group of people, a few Brits sprinkled in the office. Met one of them, Roger who is really nice and suggested that I take a refresher course in Mac programs. I agreed saying that it would be beneficial for all concerned. The best part about that is that the company would pay for it. Hence it being beneficial.

They do things a lot differently at McMann and Tate. Different type of clientele. Different set ups for conference rooms. David, the temp who I’m replacing told me that these people think in visual terms so it’s all about the presentation when setting up for a lunch meeting. Have to keep that in mind.

There’s a new system also for booking the conference rooms, different colors and names for each room. I also have to remember to answer the phone with ‘Good Morning, McMann and Tate’ instead of mentioning Wanker Banker. Just a beat in my speech pattern for a second that makes me think, ‘where am I?’

It is a nice office, all white with big windows and the sun pouring in. I am really trying to do a good job and I remember how I felt when I was at Wanker Banker in my early days there. I wasn’t so sure about fitting in there either but eventually I did. Then I didn’t after a few years. But that was then, this is now.

Luckily for me, Julio is good with Mac programs and so is Bill, in fact Bill might be ahead of the game with his power book and his super Mac at home. Julio offered tonight as we were walking tonight to show me some short cuts on the Mac, but I was fried. We have the weekend to do that. Plus Bill said I could use his super Mac so looks like I’ll be in front of another computer most of the weekend.

Which is fine since they’re predicting rain on Saturday anyway.

And no I don’t have a car.

A wet and cold day. Not much to do. Tried to sleep late but couldn’t due to a crew jack hammering in the storm. Did get out and get bagels and the papers. Bill was off driving. Julio off to West New York so I didn’t get anyone else anything. Sat around, read the papers, ate breakfast. Very lazy. Which was more than fine.

Ipod is functioning beautifully thanks to Brandy. She’s so good. I think the Ipod might have a serious jones for her which causes it to flip out and require a trip to Tek Serve. Yeah that must be it. My Ipod is developing emotions. That’s all I need.

I did make it to the Library and picked up Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I’ve read Angela’s Ashes and T’is. Both very good books but I would favor T’is as my favorite. My sister read all three books and said Teacher Man was really good. So it’s on her recommendation that I got it

I did have a plan to go into the city to see how long it would take for me to get to McMann and Tate but it was so cold and rainy that I got as far as Washington Street where I decided to forget about it. Instead, I got a haircut at Mr. L’s on the corner by my apartment. Tony hooked it up.

The usual cut. The same cut that I had at eighteen. I learned the truth at seventeen that love was meant for beauty queens. So I had to get over that real fast. Surprisingly enough, I did. I had some interesting haircuts over the years. Specifically when I decided to cut my own hair and wound up cutting it over a period of two weeks before I was able to put the electric razor down.

Then there was the time I tried to dread my hair. It didn’t take. The only white guy I ever saw with sharp dreads was the singer from the Wolfgang Press. Who knows what he looks like now? Is there a home somewhere in England for former 4AD bands? I can see the pseudo Goth types sitting on rocking chairs in Brighton or Blackpool, blankets covering torn fish netted legs. I’ve melted with you they sing.

Now we are watching Saving Private Ryan, Bill, Julio and I. Each of us seems to have the same attitude towards war, how it’s fucked up. This was a ‘just’ war if there is such a thing. The first part of the movie is harrowing as all hell. Total brutality. Mankind fighting fighting fighting. Not much proof of evolution.

Not much has changed, except for the fact we’re also sending young women off to battle to fight alongside young men. So far Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi have been killed off in Private Ryan so far. We’ve all seen it before and know how it ends. Yet we remain glued to the TV. It’s easy to forget this is a Steven Spielberg film. I guess this was the start of his unease phase rather than the feel good phase the preceded.