Tag Archives: Padron

I’m Waiting for the Man

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Bill is laughing. He’s on the couch, we’re watching Scrubs, from the first season. Turk just used a defibrillator on a patient who was actually sleeping and woke up screaming from the electric current. Bill loves it when someone screams in a comedy. He screams in kind. A happy scream.

Last night I watched Rachel Maddow on the Keith Olbermann show. She’s great, we love her. After that I watched Dan Abrams. Just got caught in the political maelstrom I guess.

Then came Weeds which was the best episode of the season so far. Really funny and a cliff hanger at the end and good bye Albert Brooks. I can’t wait for Juan to see it.

Soon after that it was bedtime. Bill ably portrayed the lump on the left side of the bed. It was a good night’s sleep. I wound up hugging Bill at various moments in the night which was very nice. He was off to work bright and early, leaving me with a pot of coffee just waiting for me.

I was up and showered, shaved and out on the street before 7:00. Rode the bus, started the New Yorker and walked across town in the morning heat. Didn’t sweat as much as yesterday but still needed to change my t-shirt when I got to the office.

Set things up, machines running, me drying off in front of a fan. No autographs this time. The office is now occupied by 5 different companies. I am supposed to only support my company but being the office manager, everyone comes to me.

Most of the time it’s fine, they’re generally nice people. 5 companies with a total of 20 people. Not too demanding. I don’t mind helping them when asked, but I find it annoying when certain companies just expect me to be there for them, when I don’t work for them.

That was laid out last year by my boss Greg Stevens who told me, that I only work for one company. I try to help out when I can. Niva, who was let go at the end of May, called and asked if I could print out some reports that we subscribe to. It was all very hush hush.

But I printed them on a color printer and left them on my desk when the managing director saw the copies and told me to print them out in black and white, that the color copies cost a dollor a sheet. They don’t really, but he was making a point.

I told Niva when I saw her, that next time they’ll be in black and white. She didn’t care, just needed to be on top of things in the bio-technology world while she goes job hunting. She looked good with a new hair do though.

After work, a Padron 5000 and a visit to see Jesse, my Rasta buddy. Of course Jesse was late. I waited and finished my cigar and headed to the Path train where I sat in an air conditioned car and read Tweak.

Almost done with it, still harrowing, waiting for Nic Sheff to fall off the wagon. Not wanting him to, but sort of expecting it. About 100 pages left so there is plenty of time.

As we were about to enter the Hoboken station, they announced that there was a problem with a train in the station and that we were being diverted to Journal Square. That sucked.

I got off at Pavonia/Newport and waited with a crowd for the light rail back to Hoboken. Could have used another cigar but didn’t.

Walked to my building where there was another hole in the street where they were working on the water line. My building was fine, still have strong pressure.

Now I’m chillin with Bill laughing on the couch. Life is good. Time to get jazzy.

Here are some snaps from today.

Picture of tourists

Public art on Park Avenue

(your title here)

Outside my building

Big hole in the ground

This just in:
JESSE JACKSON. WHAT THE FUCK??????

Sorry about the source material. But WTF?

Candela

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A day off. Didn’t want to back to work with a bunch of people, miserable from a holiday weekend. Plenty of time for that tomorrow. It was an authorized day off, but still an occasional feeling of guilt and apprehension. It passed. Today was a scorcher though and since they’ve been working in the street on the water pipe coming into my building, I had no water.

I did ask Bill to wake me up when he was leaving so that I’d be able to take a shower before they shut off the water. The No Parking sign was posted in front of my building over the weekend and the hours posted were from 8AM to 4PM. That’s when I figured they’d be shutting off the water, but it was actually 11AM.

I did my thing, went out for the papers, fed the birds. Did some work on my computer. The wireless connection kept kicking me off. It was easier than I thought it would be, all I had to do was tighten the antenna on the back of the tower. I was surprised and happy and sweaty.

Last night Juan came over before he headed back to Trenton. We watched Weeds and then watched Buena Vista Social Club, which I hadn’t seen in a few years. Juan had never seen it before. He has the advantage of not needing the subtitles. I explained that I saw it 5 times in the theaters, getting misty at the end with the late Ibrahim Ferrer walking around midtown Manhattan.

I saw it with Annemarie, Julio and Bill on separate occasions and twice on my own. That was when living was cheap in Weehawken and movie going was cheaper, cheap enough to see the same movie 5 times. I think while I was in the throes of Buena Vista Social Club mania, that’s when I started wearing suits.

I explained to Juan that I guess I usually dressed like the musicians I’ve been listening to. Wearing the red, gold and green when I was deep into reggae, and generally indie rock throughout most of my adult life. The musicians from Buena Vista Social Club were generally snazzy dressers, and since that was basically all I listened to for a while that is how I started to dress. Couldn’t get the Cuban cigars though but I prefer Padron cigars from Nicaragua anyhow.

I also started looking for a job with benefits and figured wearing a suit and tie would get me those benefits and a better job. It worked. It also helps that I have a fetish for wearing a suit and tie. I prefer men in suits and ties too. Some guys are leather queens, I’m a pinstripe queen I guess. What can I say?

I dragged Julio to a few shows back then when the various members of BVSC were touring in Manhattan. We saw Compay Segundo at Town Hall, Ibrahim Ferrer and Ruben Gonzales at the Beacon Theater and Orlando Cachaito Lopez at BB King’s Nightclub.

Cachaito was originally scheduled to play a sold out show on September 14, 2001, but things being what they were then it rescheduled for a later date and Julio, Bill and I saw the sold out show with about 15 other people in attendance.

Each time I went to those shows, I was dressed to the nines. Julio, jeans and t-shirt, and a terribly loud orange down vest. Go figure.

Juan said he enjoyed BVSC and for me it flew by faster than I remembered. Juan left a little while after that. Now Bill and I have water again, and it’s at the same pressure it was a few months ago which is quite good.

Back to work tomorrow, which according to the weather soothsayers, will be a scorcher again.

Outside my building today

The ditch at the foot of my stoop

The tools

Columbus Park, Hoboken 2:00PM