Weehawken | johnozed

Using the old school Open Office docs which is what I used to use daily. Then it wouldn’t behave like I wanted it to, and in a fit of artistic pique I moved over to Google docs. But here I am using this again. It just seemed so forlorn on my desktop, pleading for me to use it, see if there’s a spark, rekindle whatever it was that we used to have.

Well so far so good. I’m trying to clean up the desktop which has many things on it, effectively grabbing a lot of memory. So I’m moving things to disc to free up some space as well as deleting a whole bunch of stuff I haven’t used in a while, if ever.

Last night I met up with Bill and his friend Fred and his lady friend Lila. We met in front of the movie theater and caught the 8:15 showing of The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3. It’s a remake of the classic 1970’s movie starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw and Martin Balsam.

Not a very good remake.

For some reason it got some good reviews but I couldn’t see why. I was hoping to see John Travolta meet his fate the same way that Robert Shaw met his. Really it was THE main reason.

No Travolta fan here and his performance as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray: the Musical alienated me further from the former Boy in the Plastic Bubble.

The audience applauded but trainspotters like Bill and myself wondered how the action can go from 33rd Street to the Waldorf Astoria at 49th Street. A car chase scene that involves a cop car going off the overpass at Tudor City was bewildering.

I used to eat lunch in Tudor City years and years ago and it has not changed one bit, except for the flying, crashing cars. So many plot holes you could drive a subway car through them.

Despite all that it was a brilliant night to be out and about. Just wandering around Chelsea, so many interesting monsters.

I remember when people were considered tough to get tattoos, nowadays everyone and their Aunt Ditty has one. And such ornate designs, that you know will just get better looking as they age.

Much like the brawny former Marines that were in the VFW with my father. Those dark aqua blue splotches on their arms really told a story. What that story might have been I couldn’t tell you and neither could the splotches.

Cheers to those hardy souls with their entire arms covered in ink. I’m not putting tattoos mind you. Just the ones who go overboard.

Today was a gray overcast day. I decided to take a chance and make an attempt at my big ride up to the George Washington Bridge and over into Manhattan. As I stretched before riding the sun came out for a moment and I decided I was doing the right thing.

I rode over to the light rail station at Ninth Street and got on the elevator to Congress Street. As I rode over to Palisades Avenue the clouds were foreboding. Still I pedaled on up to Shippen Street where I stopped and thought for a while.

Shippen would get me back to Hoboken, but did I want to do that? The clouds were getting darker and I decided to ride down Hackensack Plank Road, towards Hoboken. But I didn’t feel like going back home so I rode around Weehawken on the waterfront. No one was around except for maybe 3 joggers.

It really sucks that New Jersey can’t get it together to create the river walk that they’ve been talking about for years, from Bayonne to Fort Lee.

If that was ever completed, or even started in some spots I would be doing that ride a lot more often. Manhattan has an excellent bike path. A little dodgy is some areas but nothing too bad.

But New Jersey? Fuggedaboutit.

Lame lame lame.

Bill figured out last night that I am taking him to see Paul McCartney at the new Mets Stadium. When we were watching TV at home after the dreadful movie, a commercial came up for the Macca concerts in July.

I think I showed too much restraint with my interest in the concerts. ‘Oh really? Interesting.’ Bill saw right through it, my showing of enthusiasm. It was the date that gave it away anyhow.

Weehawken Tree, Hudson River Sky

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A view of Hoboken from Weehawken that I had never seen before

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OK, so I only stretched before cycling yesterday, not so much afterwards but climbing 5 flights of stairs makes for some stretching doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? I was pretty tired though. Casey Chasm called while I was showering. He and the missus were going to Margarita’s for dinner but I was too tired to make it.

Plus I had food here that I had bought that needed to be cooked and eaten before it all started to go bad.

I was content with a few hot dogs last night and I settled in and watched Tennessee Williams ‘Suddenly Last Summer’ starring Maggie Smith, Natasha Richardson and Rob Lowe. It was a BBC production from the 1990’s I believe.

I had it in my Netflix queue, added it when I was mourning Natasha Richardson’s untimely death.

It was good, Maggie Smith and Natasha Richardson were excellent. Rob Lowe was passable as Dr. Sugar. No flashbacks like in the Joseph Mankewicz version with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. I suspect Tennessee would have been happy with this classy version.

After that I forget what I watched. I do have A Matter of Life and Death by Michael Powell on DVD via Netflix and threw that in the player but I wanted Bill to see it too and since he was doing a reading at the Theater for the New City last night I decided to hold off. I was a zombie anyhow and staying awake to watch the whole thing would have been a bit of a chore.

I did toy with the idea of a trip to the supermarket but it looked like it was about to start pouring any minute. By the time I figured out that it wasn’t going to rain it was too late, the supermarket was closed.

Asleep in bed by midnight. Bill was with his theater friends and didn’t get home until 3:00 in the morning.

I woke up around 8:00 this morning, glad not to have to go to work again. I roused myself from bed and shuffled about doing those morning things that I do most mornings when I don’t have to work.

Still plenty of parking spaces in Hoboken and it should be like this until Labor Day so come on down to Hoboken on weekends and park wherever you damn well please. I got some bagels for myself as well as Julio & Stine.

Donuts for Bill and the newspapers which weren’t as depressing as yesterday. Or maybe they were as depressing as yesterday but my outlook had improved so the stories didn’t affect me as much.

I planned to take a walk around Hoboken early this afternoon when Bill had awoken. He wanted to come but only after the Lawn hors d’œuvre SUV episode had finished. Oddly enough it was an episode that neither of us had seen before, from the early years with Olivia having a short spiky haircut.

The other night was a good one with Alan Dale who plays Charles Widmore on Lost as well as the late Meade patriarch on Ugly Betty. This time he played a judge who’s young son was murdered years before. A few twists that were too convoluted to write about here, but it was one of the best episodes of Lawn hors d’œuvre SUV that I had seen in a while. Bill missed it since he was tired and went to bed before it was broadcast.

So this afternoon after Lawn hors d’œuvre SUV we headed out. I arranged to meet Mr & Mrs Chasm outside their building and the four of us walked up to 14th street and proceeded to walk down the riverside, enjoying each others company as well as the sunshine and a lot of sunbathers. I applied sunblock again and I was quite glad that I did.

We walked over to Pier A and found a bench where we sat for an hour in the shade chatting each other up. We parted ways, Bill and I off to CVS and the Mr & Mrs off to wherever it was they were headed off to.

Bill and I ran into Roger Johansen and his wife Dina. on Washington Street. Always good to see Roger, he’s a prince. It was also the first time I had met Dina and she seemed really nice. Bill and I egged her on to get her MBA and perhaps she heeded our advice, that having an MBA would be a leg up in the search for a good job.

He invited us to his new place in Weehawken which is near his old place. He always had the best houses. I told him that Bill and I would love to visit, all he needed to do is let us know when.

Bill and I came home. He cooked for himself, I napped. Nothing like an afternoon nap. More people should do it. We can call them Siestas. I think it would catch on.

As I drifted off to sleep I remembered a nap that I took about 35 years ago in Framingham MA. Then I thought it odd that I was thinking about a nap from so long ago. It was a comfortable nap back then and I slept wearing my glasses. Then I drifted off to sleep in this day and age.

Woke up made dinner and now Bill naps.

I told him that when I wake him up at 9:00 we’re watching A Matter of Life & Death starring David Niven and Kim Hunter. It used to be titled Stairway to Heaven in this country, now it’s back to it’s original title.

Here’s some snappy snaps from this afternoon.