Another day and this one is my birthday. I wisely took off and slept in for an extra hour. Bill went out and bought birthday sandwiches before I woke up. He also made the coffee. Bill has been exceptional today. Everything that he could do to make sure I had an easy stress-free day, Bill did. He’s generally great year round but on September 12, he steps up.

And once again he hit a home run. I am grateful to benefit from his largesse. We mostly sat around the apartment, except for a stop at the library to pick up a tome which was Michael Palin’s diary from the last 1960s to 1979.

I returned the Edna O’Brien book, ‘Girl’ last week. Despite the blurb from Ian McKellan saying that it was a harrowing, yet inspirational book, I could not deal with the heaviness of it. Perhaps another Edna O’Brien book would be better, so if you know of one, do let me know. Donna, the librarian mentioned how heavy the Michael Palin book was, meaning weight, whereas the subject matter of Edna O’Brien was a slim novel, yet quite heavy.

Some grocery shopping was done at the supermarket where we saw Arti, a delightful woman from India who corrals shoppers to the self-checkout machines. It was a gorgeous day, definitely a good day to not go to work.

We watched various things on TV, I took a nap and we decided to go to Carpe Diem here in Hoboken. It was nice, Bill had Fish & Chips, and I had Shephard’s Pie, which I have to say was a bit lackluster. Two pints of Guinness for me and Bill had one. Those were quite good. Some Oreo Mousse cake was dessert, with no birthday song accompaniment.

We strolled back home, down Washington Street enjoying our time and the nightlife. We hardly ever go out at night so this was definitely out of the ordinary. Despite relieving myself before leaving Carpe Diem, I had to go again and knew I wouldn’t make it home.

So I stepped between two parked cars and did what I had to do while Bill stood watch. It was over in a minute, the only passersby were food delivery guys and they weren’t going to say anything. I’ve never done that before in Hoboken on the street. I have gone outdoors in Hoboken before but not between parked cars. A first for this 62-year-old ruddy gentleman, informally speaking of course.

Now, Bill and I are home, watching the second half of 2001: A Space Odyssey. We’ve seen it before, it’s great and there’s nothing else on at the moment. Plus it’s my birthday and I’ll HAL if I want to. HAL just killed the astronaut that isn’t Dave.

I have only seen 2001 on a small screen, I can only imagine how people felt when they saw it on a big screen when it first came out. It must’ve been overwhelming on so many levels considering nothing like it had ever been done before. And now here we are.

I don’t think I have been to work on 9/11 for a few years, at least not while working in Tribeca. I generally take my birthday off which is 9/12 and the previous years working in Tribeca had 9/11 on a Monday so I took off 9/11-12. Before that, it was on the weekend.

I wasn’t prepared for the scene at the World Trade Center though I figured something was up. I did my usual avoidance of crowds on the escalators, taking me a few minutes out of my way but is enough to salvage a stress-free commute.

As I approached the exit I was asked where I was going. I replied, ‘the street’ only to be told that that exit was not accessible. I told them a sign downstairs might have helped and thanked them for doing a good job.

So I was headed to where I did not want to go but it was not crowded at all. But the street was somewhat different. Yes, I expected crowds and whatnot, and there were a few obstacles just to get 50 yards from the doors of the Oculus to Church Street.

After picking up a cup of brown water at the Dunkin Doughnuts at 250 Broadway, I was at my desk, printing out copies of PDFs that I created the night before. Schlomo added to the queue of PDFs just so he would have something to do.

One or two of the bigwigs made a comment on last night’s debate with Kamala Harris and L’orange Merde. I was surprised that they were favorable to Kamala since these people make six figures I reckon and even in Manhattan they live republican lives.

Perhaps old school republican lives I don’t think they would be maga driven but what do I know? When I am off the clock I try not to think about these people or the job. They agreed with me when I said that Kamala kicked L’orange Merde’s ass.

I was just distracted by a commercial for Gotham Set pots and pans on TV. I was thinking that I should look into that, we do cook in this apartment. It was one of those “but wait…you get this and that for 3 easy installments on $49.99! You would pay $400.00, now it’s only 3 easy payments of $49.99!”

It was a welcome distraction and I was somewhat interested in the product, but after living here for 22 years, where the hell would we put it? I mean, it’s crowded already!

Being that tomorrow is my birthday, I have off and who wants to go back in on Friday the 13th? Not me, so it’s a four day weekend which I need. More of the usual weekend frolics I guess but tomorrow being what it is, Bill will likely take control of the direction that those 24 hours will bring.

Born in 1962, I’m turning 62. Bill mentioned that a few weeks ago and it was on a post-it in the back of my mind.