I Learned the Hard Way

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Well well well. Where to begin? I’ll start at the end. As I was walking from the cigar shop to the bus terminal, listening to Pet Shop Boys singles collection, by cellphone rings. It’s Bill. My first thought was that Bill was nearby and saw me stomping down the avenue.

No, it wasn’t anything pleasant like that. Bill told me, he was washing his hands in the bathroom and heard some water running behind him and walked into the kitchen to find water spewing forth from the hot water heater that was installed 2 years ago.

Peter our absentee landlord decided to save money and bought a General Electric hot water heater from Home Depot. I told Bill to turn off the spigot (tighty righty, lefty Lucy) and then I called Julio. A hint of panic in my face as I asked him to do me a favor, to go up to our apartment and check to see if Bill was able to turn off the water.

He moaned but did come upstairs. I then called Peter and let him know what was going on. He was on the line with Bill and got off the phone with me as soon as he could. I trudged to the gate and chatted with Hyman Gross.

He asked how I was doing, what kind of day did I have. I told him I was glad the work was done and also told him about what happened with the hot water heater. He assumed the hot water heater was in the basement like other places have. Not us. Our hot water heater is between the stove and the kitchen sink.

He asked how big the hot water heater was and I told him it was as big as he was, which made him remark that it was probably shrinking like he is. Hyman is in his 80’s in case you didn’t know. His remark made me laugh somewhat.

But as the minutes moved on I realized how much of a hassle this was going to be. I have a job interview tomorrow morning, with a recruiter. It’s for a Monday through Friday job and that’s what I was looking for.

The hours are unlike any hours I’ve worked before. 5:30PM to 1:00AM. It’s a law firm and my job would be to make sure all the lawyers and others will get their town cars home. It’s also supposed to be an immediate hire.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I came home and trudged up the four flights to the fifth floor where U heard voices. I was hoping it would be Peter but he’s an absentee landlord after all. It was Bill and Julio in the kitchen.

The blue bucket underneath the spigot collecting a steady stream of water, wads of paper towels on the floor, some puddles as well. Julio took off a pipe from the water heater since it was difficult to use the bucket with the pipe there, and with the hot water heater now defunct, the pipe in question was redundant.

Julio stayed for a little while as I threw out the paper towels and laid down newspapers, remembering the method used when the cellar in our house in Lodi would sometimes flood. Super absorbent and cheaper than paper towels.

Also threw down some rags to sop up the water. Julio split and went back to his life, Bill and I discussed Bill taking off tomorrow for the installation of a new water heater. Peter’s flunky Robert is supposed to get one and deliver and install it.

Robert is an idiot and I don’t trust him so I will have to tell Bill to keep an eye on everything Robert does. So that is where I’m at right now. Very tired too.

I Can Be Cool

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Well let’s see. I’m writing this right now, but unable to post it, or at least, unable to access any browser. The browsers I use are mainly Firefox and Chrome. Neither is allowing me access to the internet. Bill isn’t getting action on his Mac-book.

Now it’s working but we were seriously offline for a while there. For a while means about 15 minutes. I tried my usual tricks. Turn that off. Turn this on. Look the the south while itching to the north. I blame the goddamned GOP.

They’ve won a few seats today, but what brings me satisfaction is that Linda McMahon, Christine O’Donnell and Carl Paladino all lost the races they were running in, and Brown & Boxer are predicted to have won their races. That brought a smile to my face.

This morning was all about going back to work. And the fear that I had done something wrong, was warranted. Apparently I overcharged a phone order. Not the end of the world and easier than undercharging a customer.

So I started out with negative sales. If I was really concerned with the 1/3 of 1% commission I would be bothered, but I’m not, so I wasn’t. It was Don and Bradley today featuring the Marcus who just would not leave.

It’s been fairly cold, too cold to go out and smoke, making me a prisoner. Not that I minded. I had my music playing, and the company in the backroom wasn’t so bad. Answered many questions about the music I was playing.

It wasn’t so bad, but I do prefer the chance to sit on a bench near the park and read and watch people go by, as well as not having to look at the same walls all day long. Both scenarios involve the smoking of cigars, which is the perk of working in the cigar shop.

Bradley is prone to saying the most absurd things without any wit or irony attached. He reminds me of me when I was 16, but I used wit & irony to my advantage. Or so I thought. Here I am, 32 years later and reluctantly happy to be working. Still the resumes go out.

I was surprised when I checked my Google Analytics that one of the most visits to this here blog was through a search for that investment bank’s personnel whom I named. So that left me feeling a bit queasy so I went and changed the names of Malcolm McConnell and Mary O’Shaughnessy who worked for the Whitney Partners Investment Group.

If I had gotten the job I would have more than likely written about Malcolm and Mary, after changing their names. For now the names will be changed, if only to protect myself.

If you do a search for those names, they will not appear. There were 37 searches for Malcolm McConnell and Whitney for the month of October. Perhaps I’ve edited things a bit late, maybe I shot myself in the foot.

The scenario that springs to mind is Malcolm and Mary or someone they know did a search and saw what I wrote which really wasn’t so bad when you look at it. And whomever it was, they did not have the cojones to leave a comment.

The scenario continues where Malcolm and Mary get in touch with the recruiter and ask where did I get the nerve to write their names on an obscure blog like this?

Juan made an appearance last night for a few hours. Surprised him when I said I really don’t drink anymore. That didn’t stop him from having some wine and a shot of bourbon I have laying around. It was great to see him for the few hours that I had.

We picked up like we only saw each other last week. We’re BFFF Best Fuckin’ Friends Forever. He may be moving back up here when his lease expires in January. That would be nice.

We shall see I guess.

My BFFF