Another day, this one is a Wednesday. As I hoped today would be alright, it was so far, so good this morning. I was in the office a half hour early. I knew Yancy was going to arrive, and I certainly did not want to arrive and see him sitting on the couch doing those Yancy-type things that only Yancy could do. I went to bed at around 10:30 last night and that was a deciding factor.

And it was decided by Morpheus that I should wake up a bit earlier than usual. I looked at the alarm clock, saw it was 5:10 AM, and said, ‘I’ll take it’ and fell back asleep for another 45 minutes. Then another 10 minutes, and then I decided that it was time to get out of bed.

Things were in such a fraught state for me yesterday at work and I had words of encouragement from Bill and Mike’s ear. I need to remember Mike’s employment situation and how I would feel when I was out of work and listened to various employed friends complain about their jobs. I just sent him a post about jobs out in the Meadowlands at the American Dream whatchamacallit.

He is going to have to find a job soon. I hope he knows this. It was not an easy time for Mike last time, last summer. And that is why I am hesitant to assist this time. As Bill (& Mike) will profess, the Gemini thing, you never know which twin you’re going to get. Most of the time lately it’s been the good twin, but man, that bad twin is just a pain in the tuchis to deal with and I would rather not.

Bill is on the road, from the Bronx to Pennsylvania. Right now, Cornershop is playing a song, ‘Good to be on the Road Back Home Again’. They played Maxwell’s back in the day. I missed it. Julio was working that night and let me know I would have enjoyed seeing Cornershop. C’est La Vie.

Done with coffee for the day. Trying to figure out what to have for lunch. Should I have anything? Should I have salad today? I tried yesterday and that didn’t work out too well. And there is more than one salad bar in the area, anyhow.

Salad it is. It is supposed to be ready in a little over an hour. If you want to eat healthy, you will pay for it, one way or another. This is the lesson that is learned. Like I wrote yesterday the deli at 11 Park Place, Elim Deli, was very good despite the clientele of my coworkers who were less than human. I had lunch from there 4 out of 5 days a week. I would more than likely be getting my lunch from them again today, then go out fo a cigar walk an hour or so later. Today it is too cold for that, foolish April 8, 2026. When the weather warms up, that is what my spring and summer lunches will look like.

Lodi Vinny, 40 years
I was thinking of Vinny, who lived on Church Street in Lodi. He was a good kid, a few years younger than me. I didn’t know him from Lodi. We met when we both worked for HBJ. He was an assistant some days when I was driving into Manhattan.

He had a great body and was strong enough to pick me up and throw me into the piles of bagged styrofoam peanuts. I loved it when he did that. We never hung out, but one particular time, after the HBJ holiday party, we all piled into my car and went to the Soap Factory Disco in Leonia.

I was in a new wave look, blazer, skinny tie, black trousers and with that look I was turned away at the door. I was all set to just go home and offered Vinny a ride but he decided to walk from Leonia to Lodi which was a bit of a hike for a few miles on Route 46.

I’m sure he made it home safely, though I don’t think I saw much of Vinny after that. I hope he’s doing well.

It is a spring day, this April 7, 2026. It is a Tuesday and battle stations are being prepped in anticipation of Yancy’s visit tomorrow. He is due, it is scheduled. I have butted heads with Yancy and he was right and I was right but he refused to recognize my side of the story and appeared to resent my speaking up on my own behalf.

It’s simple really. At the fruit stand I receive requests alongside Janis and Kimberly and of course, Yancy. There is a two hour window to fill these requests but when nothing else is going on, you might as well fill those requests. Now last week, I had a problem with hot links in my emails and so I copied a response from Kimberly or Janis and pasted it as my own.

In doing that, I overlooked a date that was in the copied text that was not the requested time. The email went out but at the bottom of the email was another line that I had copied from my entry in the system, Monday Apr 6 8AM – Friday Apr 10 11:59PM which seems like it was not read by the person who requested and was confused.

This is where Yancy stepped in, annoyed at this mistake, saying that I had rushed through and did not read the request carefully. I did read the request carefully, it was the response that was not read carefully, having taken it for granted that the copied text was the same as it had been previously.

Yes there was a mistake, and there was the correct answer at the end but the correct answer was unread. Yancy stepped in and set this bloke up for today’s request and I took it upon myself to answer the request for the rest of the days of the week. I am certain this issue is not settled and it’s an irritant for me at this moment.

I spoke with Marcus about it and he recommended emailing the counselor that set me up at the fruit stand, knowing that Yancy is doing exactly that, contacting my counselor to complain. With Marcus looking out for me, I did just that.

So a feeling of apprehension hovers over my head. On top of that I was going to order a salad for lunch, but the menu changed since my last order leaving me wondering what shold I do. I do try to eat healthier but an $18.00 salad leaves one wanting. I am remeninded of when I was working for Barry McGarry and a salad was no more than $12.00, $14.00 with tip.

But that was then, this is now and Wendy’s looks affordable and appetizing. ANd it was affordable and appetizing. Not necessarily the healthiest but it was something. Before I went to pick up my food, I was working on a list of requests, numbering around 65 people. Halfway through I decided to get my food, thinking I would just pick it back up when I returned, only to have forgotten that the page would refresh and without me being there, all my work would be lost.

And it was lost. I worked through my lunch, adding and checking names and times, and after an hour or so of doing that, I could not make sense of it anymore. I should have taken an actual break; I should have stepped away from the desk for my lunch hour, but I was trying to prove that I am a team player.

Kimberly was out today. Lex Luthor will never return. Janis and Yancy held down the fort at the main fruit stand and I felt I should do more than my fair share, but at the cost of my sanity. I came home and had the idea, a hope that Yancy will let today be today and tomorrow be a new day.

I guess I will find out tomorrow morning, 8:00 AM.