Category Archives: Iron my Shirt

Suffer Little Children

It’s Monday again. Fence mending day as well. First off I called that certain someone who drive me all over Brooklyn as well as driving me crazy on Saturday. I actually started it off, responding to that someones wife’s email.

She explained that a lot of his problem stems from the aphasia he suffers from. It was a good email exchange. As the day progressed I decided to call him and see how he was doing. Immediately we were able to clear that shit out of the air and get an understanding again.

So it was a good talk with himself on the phone and I am happy to report that things are back to normal or what passes for normal in our lives. Spoke with my brother Brian today as well. We talked about what was going on in his life.

The turning of a corner. Not necessarily the easiest thing to do, but it was definitely the best for all concerned.

It was a good day for communication. Exchanged emails with Annemarie as well. She’ll be here in a little over a month. That’s definitely something to look forward to.

Last night Bill and I renewed our Gay cards and watched the Tony awards from start to finish. It was actually a good show. Neil Patrick Harris was funny and entertaining. Sound problems marred some of the show but a highlight was watching Bret Michaels miss his mark and get clocked in the head by some scenery.

A broken nose and a cut lip was the result, nothing worse. Unfortunately he will live to sing another day. Roger Robinson won an acting award for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, after decades of toiling in the theater.

I said to Bill that one day that would be him on stage accepting a Tony award which made Bill’s bladder move that much closer to his eyes. We enjoyed the whole show. I would like to see Billy Elliot, West Side Story and God of Carnage and Exit the King. But prices of Broadway tickets being what they are right now it seems unlikely.

Work was busy today. More with dealing with the nightmare that is Greg Stevens Vonage account. A cheap phone service which is not worth the aggravation.

I was on the phone with Vonage a few times last week, all the time they were apologizing. Apologizing so much that it eventually meant nothing. You know they were trained to say I’m sorry whenever they’re found to be in the wrong.

Tomorrow is the run off election for the Mayor’s office in Hoboken. I’m voting for Dawn Zimmer who is the voice of change in Hoboken.

Running against her is Peter Cammarano who has ties to the present ineffectual Mayor, so much so that he voted for every plan that this present Mayor had.

Which left Hoboken so much in the hole that the New Jersey state government has taken over the finances of Hoboken and is suggesting a 47% tax increase.

Most of the people that were born and raised in Hoboken are voting for Cammarano since most of them have relatives working for the city of Hoboken, not to mention the housing complexes in Hoboken that were designed for the lower middle class residents in town.

Funny thing is a lot of those people living in these subsidized buildings have houses down the shore, so they definitely do not want change.

They would like to have their children get their apartments, not lower middle class people that actually do need the apartments, people that do not have second homes down the shore.

So they’re voting for Cammarano who says he’s for change despite his record and his co-opting of the Obama logo, where Obama had an ‘O’ with some red white and blue stripes, Cammarano yields a ‘C’ with a similar design.

Vote for Dawn Zimmer.

Hoboken, oh Hoboken, So much to answer for…

I’ll Come Running

Just got back after a long day. Not a bad day, but on the long side. It’s almost 10:00 and I just walked through the door about 20 minutes ago. A few beers under my braces, typing is a bit heavy. Or at least my wrists an fingers are. Typos aplenty, though with spell check, you’ll have to take my word on that.

Last night watched most of Conan O’Brien debut on the Tonight Show. In 15 minutes he was funnier than 17 years of Jay Leno. Will Farrel was predictably hilarious and I opted to miss Pearl Jam since I always opt to miss Pearl Jam. After that it was all about being horizontal for me. A kiss on Bill’s shoulder and I was off to slumber-land.

Woke up, knowing I would be going in a little later than usual since I had after work plans. That meant I stayed in bed until 7:30. I got out of bed and showered, had coffee and cereal and I was soon on an air conditioned coach bus reading the New Yorker.

Got to the office, things were humming along. I was immediately busy doing this, doing that. Vivek and Sanjay were in as well as a few of their Indian cohorts. They mainly kept to themselves as I busied myself helping Greg Stevens trying to set up his Vonage phone system.

That was a nightmare that has been ongoing for the past 4 weeks or so. They were supposed to have sent it then but didn’t. For some reason it only arrived yesterday and though the Vonage people said it would be an easy set up, it wasn’t.

The phone call center for their customer service was of no help. We tried to avoid calling in the IT people knowing that it would cost at least $100.00 for them to walk trough the door. Of course they eventually needed to be called. And when the IT guy showed up, even he was having difficulty working out what needed to be worked out.

He was on the phone with Vonage customer service for over an hour. Eventually he succeeded and got the new phone system up and running for Greg Stevens. Still I have work to do tomorrow on Greg’s behalf regarding this phone system.

Scanning documents for Vivek occupied the last hour of my work day. I had plans to see an old friend, Tim Stout after work. Tim is another suit and tie aficionado and has been organizing get togethers for men who like men in suits and ties.

Tim and his partner are moving to Dallas so Tim can be closer to his daughters. I had gone to a couple of Tim’s gatherings at G Lounge in Chelsea but never stayed long, too much house music which for me is bearable in the smallest doses.

Tim always tried getting me back and when I heard this was his last get together I knew I had to make an appearance. Before I did that I decided to go to the Rocking Horse Cafe and had a nice dinner, reading the Brian Eno biography and having a couple of Coronas.

I wandered over to G Lounge and once again felt outside of whatever Gay scene was going on around me. Tim spotted me and made a beeline over. A nice hug and a chat before we were interrupted by a few other suit and tie guys who just loved Tim.

I walked away getting myself another beer and chatting with another suit and tie guy from back in the day, Eric. Eric was quite aloof back in the day, but life taught him some hard lessons and he was quite chatty as we stood on the sidewalk for a few minutes smoking some cigarettes.

I came back inside and Tim found me again and we chatted some more, then he was off again. It was basically his going away party and many suited men wanted a word with him.

I wound up talking to a few guys which is odd for me since hardly anyone talks to me at a gay bar. One of these guys I was talking to, Michael was someone I had chatted with a few years ago online.

I’m always wary when I run into someone I’ve chatted with. I often ask if I was rude to them which I’m not. And I wasn’t. All in all it was a nice gathering for Tim. About 30 guys all dressed up, the majority in pinstripes, all wishing Tim and Stefan the best in their new lives in Texas.

And now I am home with the one I love.

Tim Stout & Me

Tim Stout & Me

Tim, Me & some other gents

Tim, Me & some other gents