Hoboken | johnozed

Well I just finished having a nice dinner of Penne, Pesto and chicken. I used to eat it frequently but with my schedule of getting home too late for a home cooked meal it simply hasn’t happened in the past few months. I made a bunch yesterday and reheated it today. It was better tonight than it was yesterday. It’s all about the Goya Adobe seasoning I guess. I didn’t have any yesterday but on one of my visits to the supermarket I made sure to pick some up.

Last night I sent an email to Joe Monaco. The useless recruiter who calls once a year with a job offer and when I express interest he says he will go through with it. Then I never hear from him again for another year. I’ve been sending him emails, a few a week, just checking in and saying hello and asking if there was any word regarding the last position he mentioned, a job in Hoboken with an occasional day in Manhattan. Sounded good to me yet all the emails I send are never responded to. So last night I wrote asking him to please reply to said email. Almost 24 hours later there is still no response.

I also touched base with my cousin, saying hello and reminding them of my ongoing job search. Not looking for anything big, something in the bowels of the company, away from people, just doing my job, Monday through Friday. That’s basically it, I want a straight Monday through Friday job, 9 to 5 or thereabouts. Not looking for big bucks just something to help pay the bills that don’t entail standing in dress shoes on a cement floor for 9 hours a day. Last I heard they were in London last month and would get back to me when they returned. That was in May. Tomorrow is the middle of June. I am holding back, not wanting to be pushy.

Today was a busy day again, just not as busy as yesterday. Not much shredding, just laundry, more cleaning the apartment and picking up dry cleaning. Bill came home after having a headache all day. It was diminished by the time he got home and his plan to go right to bed was somewhat fulfilled, meaning he slept for a couple of hours. He asked me to wake him up at 9:00 which I did after dropping off some CD’s at the bibliothèque. Yesterday I took out Led Zeppelin III and a collection of the Chemical Brothers called Brotherhood, as well as a DVD of Dinner at Eight, which was reviewed on YouTube by the Tired Old Queen At The Movies.

Today I went back and took out the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced, Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Volume 9, the Witmark Demos, the latest Scissor Sisters’ cd, Night Work and the movie soundtrack to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Now the pots and pans are cleaned as well as the dishes. Clothes are hanging on hangers and clothing racks in the kitchen and the bathroom. Bill took off from the day job to drive to Atlantic City to attend a bus safety seminar. There have been several bus accidents since the beginning of the year and just the other day, a bus hit a motorcyclist which ended in the motorcyclist being killed at the Lincoln Tunnel helix.

I also responded to James Dolan, the archbishop of the NY diocese who came out against NY State’s upcoming vote on same sex marriage, saying it was for procreation (tough shit sterile couples and older folks) and the right for children to grow up with a mom and dad. Yeah that’s going really well since so many opposite sex couples get divorced or have their marriages annulled by that stupid ass holy roman catholic church. My comments are awaiting moderation and I have my doubts that they will be published, so here they are.

If you want to read Dolan’s missive, you’ll have to search it out for yourself since I will not provide a link from the protector of child molesters.

It’s a civil rights issue, certainly not a religious issue. What about the right for a child to be raised by a mom and dad? Clearly this ignores annulments and divorce. How come you do not speak up about that? What will this ‘intrusion’ do to your ‘common good’? Perhaps it will help you recognize that same sex couples deserve the equal protections under the law, that are afforded to opposite sex couples. But I expect too much.
The NY State same sex marriage bill has a provision that religious groups will NOT be forced to perform or bless same sex marriages.

It’s time to get a fresher horse, since the dead horse you have been beating with that lie is decomposing quite rapidly.

And what is true & correct- is the fact that your stance defies logic and common sense. Opposite sex couples who cannot procreate should not be able to get married with your logic. It’s a civil rights issue, certainly not a religious issue.
Who’s side would your savior be on? The side denying fairness and basic civil rights or the side that accepts and supports the same?

Well it’s been a good Friday and a very interesting Friday at that. It seemed ordinary enough when I woke up around 9:30. A shower was needed to wake up, since there was no coffee to be made. I salvaged what was left of yesterday’s coffee, knowing that I’ve had worse.

It was only half a cup and it was going to have to get me to Washington Street and deal with ‘people’. I slowly drank the day old coffee and read some emails when there was a buzzer at the door. I asked on the intercom who it was and there was no response.

I wasn’t expecting anyone and if it were a delivery they’d usually say loud and clear who they were and what they were doing. I went back to the email and ignored the repeated buzzing. I got my shirts and a suit together to bring to the dry cleaners and also grabbed some canvas bags for a trip to the grocery store.

Knee brace on, I made it down the four flights of stairs. There was a young man standing on the other side of the door. I asked ‘Could I help you?’ and he said he was there to fix the cable on the second floor.

That seemed fishy since Antonia passed away last weekend and she lived on the second floor and I don’t much about the other apartment on the same floor. I asked him if he had some ID and he said he left it in the truck parked up the street. I told him I wasn’t going to let him in and closed the door behind me.

While I walked down the street I turned around and saw that he was still there. It was an odd feeling that I had, odd enough that I decided to call the Hoboken police department. I told them that there was a young man standing outside my building, trying to get in, saying that he worked for the cable company. They took my information and said they would look into it after I described what he looked like and what he was wearing.

I went to the dry cleaners, to Dunkin Donuts for 2 lbs. of coffee, the newsstand and the bagel shop before looping around and heading to the supermarket. I passed by my street, this time walking on the southern part. I looked to see if the young man was still on my stoop but did not see him.

Went to the supermarket and spent money, everything adds up to being about $10.00 more these days and I buy the stuff on sale mostly. In the supermarket I got a phone call from Hoboken PD and they asked for my name and birthdate. I gave them the info and headed home.

No one in front of my building again as I climbed the four flights of stairs with 2 canvas bags of groceries and one bum knee. Sat around and watched TV, made breakfast and the oh so important coffee. About an hour or so later, I got another call from Hoboken PD.

They were letting me know they caught the young man. Apparently he was trying the same thing up the street and they started asking him questions. False name, false ID, with a story rife with holes. And he had an accomplice. The Hoboken PD thanked me and what else could I say but ‘you’re welcome’?

A while after that I decided to head out and walk around. As I was leaving the building a detective approached. He was going next door to my neighbor Chris’ house and gave me a look as he was identifying himself.

I stated who I was and that I made the call. Chris had come outside and apparently one of the things the two crooks do is get some personal info from a victim and order computers and whatnot in the victim’s name, then they wait for the stuff to arrive so they could rip it off.

The detective took my info once again, checked my ID and then stated that I hit a home run. Apparently most people ignore this type of thing and they were glad that I at least did something. He shook my hand and I headed off enjoying a cigar, feeling good.

I’m glad I did what I did. If Antonia was still alive, she might have buzzed them in and then who knows what might have happened? Or Stine and Alexander? I took a chance and could have erred on the side of caution, but it turns out my hunch was correct. Much like Igor I suppose.
An interesting day, no?