Tag Archives: Padron

When the Whip Comes Down

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Well yesterday seems to have been a better day than today. And the fiction I published yesterday seems to have struck quite a chord what with all the comments, all the ‘what the fuck was that?’. Really!

Last night was pretty much quiet, Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, with the Senate vote broadcast live during Rachel’s show. The bailout bill was passed 74-25, now it goes to the house.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were spot on, Colbert had James Taylor on his show, promoting his new album which is all cover versions of songs he really likes. I worked with James Taylor years ago, really nice guy, no star trip and the people around him were very nice too.

James was enjoyable, saw him sing (I’m A) Roadrunner, originally by Jr. Walker. There was another song following the commercial break, but the DVR didn’t catch it. Caught the news and then I snoozed.

Slept really well, woke up it was dark out. Bill kissing me goodbye, telling me he can’t wait for Sarah Palin to go down in flames.

I was wary even while lying in bed and told Bill, ‘Don’t be cocky’. Ran into Casey on the bus. Mr. Animated he is. We talked about the tonight’s debate, how gosh darned inept Sarah Palin is. Lucky Casey is going out of town with the missus this weekend. I’m staying put of course. He was off on his way to work via the subway, I walked through midtown, past the Tai Chi people in Bryant Park.

Stopped in Smilers on Fifth Avenue, West Indian Tony is still out. Been out a month I think. He’s got a bum knee and staying on his feet behind a grill all day is not the way for it to heal. Hopefully he has insurance, but being a short order cook in a deli, it doesn’t seem likely.

Heard from another old friend from my old neighborhood, Donna who has custody of her late sister’s son. Apparently Donna’s sister was married to an abusive guy, who abused her and their son. So now Donna has custody, but she and her husband are getting ready for a court battle over who the son should be with.

A family that loves the kid, or an abusive father who never really cared for the kid in the first place. I used to play with Donna until she got all girly.

Work was quiet and awfully slow. At one point this morning, Greg Stevens and Vivek sat me down to have a talk with me. It was about how things aren’t going so well, and if it continues to be this way, they may have to cut my hours, from a five day work week to a four day work week.

They wanted to keep me in the loop, and also said if I had any other offers I should seriously consider those offers. Unfortunately I have no other offers. That did my head in somewhat. I spent most of the day walking around in a daze.

It’s not necessarily the end, but the writing seems to be on the wall unless Greg and Vivek’s plans go through. If they don’t then the ship is going under. I left at 4:00 rather than 4:30. Nothing was going on and I had nothing to do. Didn’t feel like staying much longer.

Walked across town listening to Mambo’s from the 1940’s and 50’s and enjoying a Padron. Caught the bus and ran into Casey again, this time I was the animated one and he was not so much.

I walked over to the library and picked up The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Blurbs by Howard Zinn and Studs Turkel on the back cover, so she’s in good company. That’s it for now. Just anticipating the debate tonight and hoping it goes well for Joe Biden.

(Gloryhallastoopid) Pin the Tail on the Funky

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“$700 billion dollars, a staggering number, but only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies to our country, policies that were built on budget recklessness. When President Bush took office, he inherited President Clinton’s surpluses. Four years in a row — budget surpluses, on a trajectory of $5.6 trillion dollars in surplus. And with his reckless economic policies, within two years, he had turned that around. And now, eight years later, the foundation of that fiscal irresponsibility, combined with an “anything goes” economic policy, has taken us to where we are today.” That is basically what Nancy Pelosi said that upset the oh so delicate republicants.

As expected Olbermann and Rachel Maddow said all the things that Bill and I agree with. I did have a plan to go to McSwells and meet up with Thaler Pekar and give her, or lend her Naomi Klein’s book No Logo. But with my general mood yesterday all I wanted to do was go home. I’m sure she would understand. I requested Naomi Klein’s latest book The Shock Doctrine from the library so I should get that in a day or two.

Since the economic miasma yesterday it seems to be quite a popular book. After the Olbermann/Maddow shows Bill and I watched Heroes which was excellent once again. Bill went to bed and I soon followed. Woke up at 6:30 with Bill asking if I was going to work today. Apparently I didn’t hear the alarm clock and slept right through it. It felt good though.

I lumbered around the apartment, trying to avoid Bill. Two big guys weighing over 200 pounds can be troublesome. I jumped in the shower, Bill made some coffee for me then he was out the door. I once again soon followed. He caught an earlier bus, I was on a later bus. No Casey on this bus.

Finished the New Yorker from last week and since I finished Alan Bennett’s Untold Stories I knew I wouldn’t have anything to read on my ride back. I made a mental note to have something to read, but misplaced it somewhere on my mental desk.

Got to the office, the auditor was sitting on the floor with her lap top. She was nice, asked me a lot of questions about Hoboken. She too is also a bit nervous on the economy right now, and she’s more entrenched in the financial world than I am. She works for a government department that audits investment banks, as does her husband.

She was enjoyable to talk to, a definite change from the average auditor who generally lack personality and don’t talk to anyone. Perhaps with my being warm and outgoing, it could lend itself to a favorable rating from the audit. Who knows? Perhaps she and her husband will find an apartment in Hoboken and we’ll cross paths again.

Today was payday and with the dire warnings yesterday about small businesses not able to meet their payroll, I checked my account online. My heart stopped when I saw the same amount as yesterday. It seemed that the direct deposit did not go through.

I checked with Tom Chin who said that the payroll had gone through with no problem, he showed me my account as well as everyone else’s, and it’s true the payroll did go through and I do make a lot less than everyone else. I’m not complaining. I’m comfortable with my salary.

I checked again online with my bank and sure enough, there was my direct deposit. The bank had some glitch with it’s online services. Talk about bad timing.

The morning was going by smoothly when the bell rang. I went to see who it was and there was a guy in a nice suit with two other people. A real estate agent, asking for Jonathan. I told him the name was John and I didn’t have any record of an appointment to see the space. He also mentioned Vivek’s name and I went and asked Vivek to see if he knew anything about it.

Vivek said he didn’t and gave me the go ahead to brush the guy off. I went back to the now flustered agent and told him it was a bad time and gave him my card to make an appointment. He checked his iPhone and he was visibly nervous, with shaking hands. His clients were understanding and perhaps a little bit miffed but they left.

Vivek then walked up to me to ask how it went and that was when he remembered that they did have an appointment. I gave him the agents card and hopefully he apologized but he more than likely blamed the whole thing on me. I hate dealing with the real estate office space situation.

Had a nice Padron on my walk across town, no change for the homeless guy who nonetheless said my suit looked sharp. I’ll take a compliment from anyone, no proof of residency required.

Happy birthdays to Rita, Thaler and my nephew Earl who is now 18!!! Yikes!