She called to let me know that there may be a problem on Friday. She said she was still working on it but wanted to know how much extra cash I had on hand. Cash on hand lately hasn't been in large quantities. I asked what the problem was but she wouldn't tell me. I asked how much she needed but she wouldn't tell me that either so I told her the amount of cash I could part with by Friday. She said she would let me know later if she would need it or not.

Yesterday, she called to let me know that there would indeed be a problem of Friday and she would need twenty one hundred dollars and she told me why. The 'why' turned out to be something very important. The amount of cash I told her I could part with was four hundred; a mortgage, a car payment, car insurance and a credit card bill all come due near the first of the month and money from the second job has been slow to nonexistent, so the end of the month usually leaves me cash poor.

In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid there is a scene where the two of them are in Mexico looking for a job guarding the payroll and the guy doing the interview wants to know how good with a gun Sundance is, so the guy tosses a coin a few yards away and asks Sundance to shoot it. Sundance then asks "Can I move?" and the guy with a perturbed attitude says "No!” Sundance draws his weapon and standing straight aims at the coin and misses. I forget what the guy then said but he conveyed a message that Sundance can't hit the side of a barn which causes Sundance to shoot at the coin again only this time he 'moves' and shoots the coin a couple times.

The point of that movie recap is if the guy didn't put unnecessary limits on Sundance, Sundance would have been able to show the guy what he wanted to see. And the reason I bring that up is because even though sometimes I'm cash poor doesn't mean I cannot obtain cash.

After I hung up the phone, I walked down to my credit union and requested a loan and twelve minutes later had a check in hand for two thousand dollars, and it only took that long because the lady helping me had made a mistake so she had to do the whole process over again.

A cool thing about getting a loan from the credit union is that they take the money right from your paycheck, you can make as many extra payments as you wish but the minimum payment automatically gets deducted which in this case is nine dollars a week.

I'll get the money back but even if I don't, I'm not going to miss nine dollars a week.

When I called her back twenty minutes later and told her I was holding a check for two grand she started crying. She cried for a couple minutes and I couldn't understand most of what she was saying which only made me more uncomfortable.

If she had just told me what she had needed we could have saved some drama.

nine bucks:

what I probably toss into tip jars a week - like at Dunkin Donuts
sometimes, what I pass out to the homeless in a week
often, give to the street performers a month
occasionally, what I spend on coffee drinks a day*
frequently spend three times that on lunch a day
Most often, more than three times less than my average solo bar tab.


*Grande White Chocolate Mochas don't grow on trees, they are quite nice iced.


...

I'm a popular guy and folks will ask me how I'm doing all the time. My pat answer: pretty good. And sometimes I'll get the response: "Just pretty good," which usually gets the reply "Better than not so good."

Pretty good to me, although grammatically incorrect in answering that question, is better than good. Pretty damn good is better than very good. Pretty good to me is just moderately less than pretty damn good. But I can see how some folks hear 'pretty good' as 'mostly good' which is just shy of plain old good.

I work with thieves and scoundrels that is why I hide my things.

I'm not certain they propose to be of such character. I just think they have succumbed to it. A lack of caring is what I think it is.

...

It's constant or so I would think but then I'm certain I don't notice it's missing when it's not there.

They are nice rubber bands

Changes are in order

Changes have been ordered

...

What a difference a day makes.

A certain Senator from my home state was speaking at the same place he spoke while running for President. Back then there were news trucks everywhere and the place was in virtual lockdown but yesterday I saw just one news truck and just the usual tourist crowd.

But it was early

...

I purchased a thumb drive and after the ten dollar easy rebate the price was $9.94. As the sales assistant was walking my item up to the front of the store he asked if I wanted to buy the extended warrantee for $4.95.

"For half the price of the device? I don't think so."

He told me that he is required to ask. I thought about telling him that I'm required to be an ass.


...

So dude was getting a message that his mailbox was over the limit.

So dude called me and in the course of our conversation he said he stores his old emails in the 'deleted items' folder. I was like 'Holy cow dude. Why would you save anything in something that says delete right on it?' The question that got to his head though was "Why would you save old emails?"

"No! I'm not questioning why you would save old emails. I'm questioning why you would do it in the deleted items folder."

"Because if someone says they never received an email, I'll have a record of it."

I held up the small bin for holding paper that is to be recycled. "Why wouldn't you save papers in here?"

"Because I would loss them"

"And that's exactly why you don't want to save things in the deleted items folder. I'm not saying don't save them. I'm saying don't save them there. Eventually, the computer will empty out that folder."


...

I'll buy my own office supplies at times mainly because I'm rather particular in certain things and I don't think the company should have to pay for my neurosis but other times it's just easier to walk across the street and spend eighty seven cents on my very own package of rubber bands. I have a bent paper clip that hangs over my pencil holder that holds my rubber bands at the ready.

I've had the same bag of rubber bands for some time now, over two years. They came in a nice re-closable bag, which keeps them nice and fresh. The bag proudly states 'premium' rubber bands. I was just wondering who sells the cut rate rubber bands and how much they cost because mine were pretty cheap.

I don't know if the rubber is premium or the whole rubber band is premium.

They are nice rubber bands.

I felt he screwed me over and in screwing me over he was screwing my family over as well. I weathered the storm but felt that retribution was in order and uncharacteristic of me I spoke of my plans.

The listener was quiet at first which slightly perplexed me because even though he was a mutual friend he should have known that I was in the right. He broke the silence by saying "He may be having personal problems."

What he said wasn't much but he knocked me off my tract. I thought that first guy was just being an ass but now I knew possibly he was doing the best he could. Our mutual friend knew I could have wreaked havoc but he also knew that the time wasn't right.

My friend knew the guy in question was absolutely having personal problems. He also knew he would betray a trust in speaking such problems. He also knew that I would do he proper thing.

I saw the guy today, that I thought was screwing me over on purpose. We have a better history together than the events that are most current. Today I remembered the good times, the bad times have past.

I was staring into the second refrigerator at the second half of a package of ground beef. The first half had already been grilled and consumed in the form of hamburgers. This second half had started to change its color to that brownish gray. I had been busier than expected and had mostly forgotten about my plans for cooking.

My cell phone rang.

"Hey! What's ya doing?" Lady G asked.

"Ah...nothing."

"You're always doing nothing."

"I always say I'm doing nothing so that you won't not ask me for things." I slightly cringed that I even thought that sentence up never mind actually spoke it but then my mind was not too focused on the conversation but rather the beef about to turn.

"Well then I need a million dollars and a new fur and new Gucci shoes."

I offered no reply; I merely made a mental note.

"What I really need is my screen back up."

"The one on the door?" I asked

"Yeah, it fell off again. Are you at work?"

"No. I just came from there though."

"What did you do?"

"Updated the webpage and did some bookkeeping."

"Did you get a raise yetDid you give yourself a raise?"

"No."

"Why?

"Because there is no money."

"There is money for other people"

"Not really."

"So, you're not doing anything" she said after a pause.

"Well I'm thinking about cooking something before it goes bad."

"Okay. Well if you get a chance, I need that screen up because the bugs are getting us."

I closed the door to the frig, which I really should have closed early. "Alright, I head over right now."

"Thank you, baby."

I drove over to her house, let myself in and put the screen back in; this time I noticed that one of the wheels was broken. It would work but it was probably the reason it keeps popping off its track.

I drove back home. It was eight thirty. I took the ground beef out, all the while debating how much I wanted to handle it or rather how much I didn't want to handle it. I decided on hamburgers because they would be easier to reheat.

So if you noticed some donkey grilling burgers at close to nine o'clock at night with one of those halogen construction site work lights piercing the dead of night, it was me.

There are sometimes I just can not any longer sit at that desk without going crazy.

I spelled it can not as opposed to cannot because in my internal dialog I said it as two words mainly for greater emphasis.

I don't mind crazy from time to time but sometimes I don't care for it and to keep from going crazy I'll leave the desk. I'll leave the office. I'll leave the office but I'll still want to get things done but I can't do things without certain digital information from the office which leads to certain frustration.

I have a laptop but I don't like hauling it from place to place and swapping files from here to there so I bought the 200GB external hard drive and I'll tote that around. Hopefully, I'll do more stuff at home, sitting at the kitchen table, sipping tea, listening to my iPod, snaking on crumpets.

I actually don't know what a crumpet is precisely. It's some baked good, ain't it? Usually, consumed while sipping tea? Tea and crumpets, no?

Crumpet recipe

I first noticed the ambulances responding to the scene. The scene was practically between me and my destination so I crossed the street to investigate. I noticed the EMT's tending to a man lying in the grass; his left leg was propped up on the foot high fence made of black chain. The victim appeared to be homeless. Another man was softly pleading with the EMT's saying "He's my brother."

I did not notice any blood and the guy was just lying there moving little if any. He appeared to have fallen; it looked similar to an overdose which isn't too common a scene but a scene that isn't unfamiliar. I kept walking to my destination unaware and hence uncaring that he was an assault victim who twenty minute later would be a murder victim.


Wild fatal knifing shocks Hub tourists from the Boston Herald

The city’s season of violence reached into the heart of Boston’s tourism mecca today when a homeless man was stabbed to death just steps from Faneuil Hall, as sun-drenched tourists and downtown workers walked by.

The man, who is in his 40s, was knifed in the back at 4 p.m. in a small park at Congress and North streets, just feet from the gleaming Holocaust Memorial. His name was not released.

"He stuck a shiv in his back. Blood was pouring out of his back,” said Michael Lindsey, 23, who was in Boston sightseeing when he witnessed the brutal assault near two well-known statues of former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley.

Yellow police tape stretched around the park as workers streamed out of their offices, confused tourists walked by and Duck Tour amphibious vehicles chugged past filled with kids.

Leann Thomson, clutching a map of Boston, came upon the hectic scene just minutes after the stabbing. She was in town from Vermont with her 12-year-old son, Ben, to see the six-towered Holocaust Memorial.

This is not something you want to see when you come visit,” she said.

Lindsey, visiting from Salem, said about six homeless people were sitting on benches when a man dragged another man over a park bench, onto the ground and knifed him with a homemade weapon. One other person familiar with the victim said he was homeless.

Lindsey said the suspect fled wearing khaki pants and a white tank top and returned 15 minutes later in jeans, a black T-shirt and hat and was promptly arrested. Moments later a woman who knew the suspect had to be pulled away by police as she screamed obscenities at another witness. The suspect’s name was not immediately released by police.

The 200GB external hard drives were on sale so I bought one. In my second office, I hooked everything up as the instruction told me and then double clicked on the 'my computer' icon, other icons appeared and showed me my local drives and my networked drives but not a new external drive.

I may have cursed a little. I rebooted my machine and still no external hard drive was showed up. I searched the documents. The documents state that it will show up just like any other drive but for some reason mine wasn't.

It should have been G:. I have two hard drives (C: and F:) and two DVD drives (D: and E:). And that's exactly what I told myself when it hit me that someone set up the network so that there is a shared G:.

I renamed the network G: to P: and renamed myself dumbass.

Please leave

I don't think she understands that I come in late because I don't want to be bothered by people

you have had all day to putz around

please

please leave

"Timmy, you're not very talkative today."

I just shrugged.

She called me and wished my a happy father's day and then told me I was becoming a white boy which was some sort of disparaging remark.

I was too uninterested to find out what the problem was over my cell phone, so I did not say much. I wanted to tell her that sometimes I have problems too, sometimes things do not go well for me, sometimes I get busy with things, sometimes I need to worry about me but she did not call to hear my excuses.

People talk to me to listen to their complaints, not so they can listen to mine.

I know the words that will bring her back
but I don't say nothing as I watch her pack

...

It always seems to surprise me at how quickly people will throw their hands up with a situation when they encounter a problem.

"Tim, the printer's not working."

"What's the problem?" I have given up any expectations of actually getting a valid reply to this question, I merely ask it to try to get people to think but that never works.

"It says 'feed paper long edge first', or something. I don't know."

The message was 'LOAD MP TRAY - FEED PAPER LONG EGDE FIRST' so I placed paper on the manual paper tray tall-wise and the thing worked and I explained such to person with the problem.

"Oh, I didn't know"

Yeah, I didn't know either until I read the message.

...

I was standing on the middle island of the busy street waiting for a break in the traffic when my cell phone rang.

"Tim, does the AC in your office work?"

I know this is not the question she really wants answered. She really wants to know if the AC works on the second floor so I answer that question.

"It cools the second floor down but it leaks a bit." The condensation water is not draining like it is supposed to.

"Oh, because Sandy said she was up there and it was like a sauna."

"Well, that's because someone shut the thing off. I made a special trip in there to turn it on and when I got back at four it was off."

"So it does work?"

"Well, yes and no. It cools the place but it leaks."

"So it does cool the place?"

"Yes. It takes awhile because hot air rises, all the hot air from downstairs goes up, so you have to let it run a bit."

"So we don't need anyone to look at it?"

"Except for the leak."



I would think I was some sort of super genius if I didn't think a lot of people have lazy minds.

...

I had Friday off. It was a paid holiday for me. I would name the holiday but I fear it being googled by someone who knows me in the flesh and blood. Anyway, I was around the house on Friday and I pulled out from the shed the chipper shredder mainly just to make certain I could get the thing started.

I pulled the worked the levels to the appropriate choke and throttle levels and pulled the start rope. I got nothing but that was to be expected, it's an old machine and it has been started in over two years. I pulled it again and got a slight hint of the engine wanting to turn over so I pulled the rope a third time and heard a thunk.

Thunks are not good sounds. I could not longer pull the rope. I then went to the basement for my wrenches. I have wanted to take the thing apart for awhile, to sharpen things and routine maintenance but I really didn't wish to do it that day.

It turns out that a chuck of wood got wedged somewhere because of some rusted part. I fixed the problem, sharpened some things and worked the rusted parts free and in the process received skinned knuckled, cuts and scratches.

A couple days later and I still have the marks of work on my hands. I've missed those marks.


...

There are two local supermarkets that I frequent, one of which I do not like and I think I figured it out the other day as to why I don't like the one I don't like. I don't like it because the people there shop in groups, you don't get individuals pushing a cart you get three or four people creating a gathering around a shopping cart clogging up the narrow isles and they act like it's your fault that the isle gets backed up.

Just step aside.

some of my playlist is two year old approved

Sometimes I embarrass myself with my taste in music; one of the songs will play and I'll wonder why in the world I ever put it on the iPod or why I bought the CD. Usually, I'll just let the offending song play.

I was in the kitchen my iPod was in that little speaker system, playing my twenty three hundred songs in a shuffled order when my youngest niece walked in.

She started dancing.

I was going to complain that someone at the second office shut off the AC to the second floor on the hottest day of the year after I had made a special trip in early to turn it on but it was a sucky story.

…

After the yard sale I decided I needed to cook that chicken that had been in the frig for a couple days. I cut the boneless breasts into strips, breaded them and deep fried them. After they were cooked, I tossed them in a bowl with hot sauce of the buffalo wing variety.

I sat at my kitchen table, the plate in front of me had some blue cheese dressing in a small ramekin dish, julienne carrots and the boneless buffalo pieces. I was hit by a bit of guilt. I had just invested a bit of time to cook a seemingly excess of meat just to feed my face. I was bothered by the thought of those who do without while I seemed to be demonstrating an excess of time, food and cooking equipment.

When the guilt passed, I was irritated it put a damper on things.

Normally, I don't talk about it

Few people catch me sitting at any of the desks on the main floor, I’m usually only there if there is a problem with on of the computers. I was there this time because I was taking a phone call from the owner; she called as I was walking out the door.

While I was on the phone a friend of the owner’s mother came in. She was there looking for her friend and also to say hello. I was the only one she knew but then other than her there were only two of us.

After I hung up the phone and made introductions, she started some small talk. I forget what proceeded it but she said matter of factly “You can put that in the book you’re going to some day write.”

I smiled. “You know there is this organization that has people write a book in a month. I actually tried it last November but I didn’t finish it. They basically only care whether or not it’s fifty thousand words. They say don’t worry about the plot or spelling just get fifty thousand words.”

“What was it about?”

“Well, I don’t know much so there was a lot of me in it but it was fiction, but then I started to develop the characters and then I thought they deserved a better story.”

“You should just write and things will come. I keep a journal, I have for a long time and I’ll just start to write and the words just come.”

I smiled. “I sort of keep a journal too but I do it on the internet. I figure it’s easier to hide on the web than a notebook is.”

“People ask me where I keep mine and it’s right in my nightstand drawer. I’ll want my children to read it when I’m gone. I’ve no regrets for anything I’ve written.”

I was thinking who I would like to find my journal after I’m gone and not coming up with any names when she changed the subject.

“I thought Marie would be here at least. Is Marie still around?”

“Yep. She was here Friday. I know that because Clara called me about something she found in my office and she said that it scared both her and Marie.”

“Should she have been scared?”

I grinned as I said “Maybe, I’ll get it.” I returned from my upstairs office with a small paper bag. “When we used to go to Vermont we would bring the cats and they would drop off little animals from time to time-“

“I imagine”

“Yeah, and when my father was a live he used to mention this book he read where this boy skinned mice and things and tired to sell the furs back in the olden days. Well, anyway, I dared him to skin one and he did.”

“And Clara found the skin?”

“Well not the one my father did. It sort of fell to me to skin one.”

“And she found that one.”

“Yes.” I then pulled out from the lunch bad the pelt of a mole and a vole.

“And what did you learn from doing that?”

I was surprised by her question because mainly I was just being a goofball at the time but I did actually learn something.

“I learned that I could never be a butcher. I actually didn’t want to eat meat for awhile after that.”

I'm different in real life

I'm real in a different life

Do it until it breaks - that how I find limits.

I've broken a lot of things.

She saw me three days later and smiled. It wasn't a happy to see you smile it was a oh my God you were a wreck the other day smile. I was worse than I thought I would have been but I didn't think I was all that bad.

"How were you Wednesday?"

"I was tired but other than that I was okay. I was a little surprised that beer got me to that condition though."

"Don't you remember? You were doing shots."

"No" I said. I did remember one Tequila shot but that didn't count.

"You said you had to go to work but we offered you a shot but you said no and then we said we would flip for it and you lost three times in a row."

"I do remember that now." I actually thought that was a different day.

I thought I became a light weight for a moment there

maybe she's right

maybe I don't love all those individuals

maybe it's playing the two bit hero that I love

maybe I need the drama of strangers to keep me from my private paltry pit

sometimes I think she's a butterfly trying to morph back into a caterpillar

I never buy anything there

He looked like he was three hundred pounds of greasy sweaty man child. He was working the cash register of some collection of assorted processed food items that were shoved into some cranny of the subway station.

He had a sign taped next to the register that said 'If you don't eat here we both starve"

Sometimes I'm like "You owe me, Bitch!" and other times I'm like "Hey, thanks for the ride. It was more than I deserved" and I'm not certain what precipitates each phrase.

...

"Do you know Excel?"

"Yeah but why?" I knew the real question wasn't about me knowing Excel

"Because the formulas are gone."

I often wonder how much of a delay people notice from when they expect a reply from me and when I actually begin speaking because often my mind gets flooded with too many replies, most of which are smartass remarks and I have to push them all aside before I can give a proper answer.

"The formulas must be on an old one." The formula is probably fifty characters long.

"Nope. I checked and it's not there."

"It has to be" I said but received no reply so I added "There has to be at least one old file of some property in there that has the formula."

"Oh, on a file that is already filled out? I didn't think of that."

I just walked away

...

There are moments I think I'm not bound by time.

There are finished happenings that seem to prove my minutes tick a little different.

But it never was a trick of time.

It was cunning and effort.

It was just a time allusion.

I'm slowly losing my cunning and my effort wanes.

Time is kicking my ass



crackerjack

-slang, probably from crack - first rate + jack


sometimes it's the brevity of a pointed sentence or phrase

but sometimes it's the choice of words


jimdandy

informal Jim(nickname for James) + dandy


...

perfect don't always equal pretty

is how it is heard inside my head

even though I know it ain't correct


...

I don't know why people's self absorption still surprises me.

Maybe I couldn't answer the phone in four rings because I was in the other room faxing something.

Maybe I've got my own shit going on.

Maybe I needed to attend to something for the boss of your boss's boss.

She was troubled that much I could tell.

"Oh, I've heard all about it: how I'm screwing over everyone. All the while she has people waiting for beers."

"Who told you?" I was naturally inquisitive, because I was there for some of it and I thought the person in question was just mostly blowing off steam.

"A couple people" who she then named.

"When I heard her, she really wasn't complaining about you so much as the situation and she only mentioned something to me when I brought up that I didn't like the new schedule because now I have to remember a new one."

"It should be great when she comes in tonight. I'm tired of being nice to everyone."

She then asked about her next course of action. I said it would not be as enjoyable right at the moment but taking the high road is usually the best. I then had to leave but later I returned. She was still working things over in her mind. The other bartender came in for her shift, so I wasn't going to openly talk about her still pressing issue but I did talk about my own issue.

"I just had to deal with some bullshit and I had promised over the phone that I was going to go ape shit but, ya know when I got there, I realized it just wasn't worth it."

"Yeah, I hear ya."

I then assisted someone from Green Bay work on their Boston accent.

a hoss and buggy (I actually say horse but my mom always says hoss)
a baseball eh-rah
the summah season
pahk the cah

We're having trouble with the projector." They were in the small conference room.

"Like what?" I asked as I pulled over my truck because I don't like having involved cell phone conversations while driving.

"Well, one thing is that the picture is too small."

I was a bit flabbergasted so there was a pause before I suggested that they move the projector back from the wall.

"Okay, I'm moving it back and the picture is getting larger."

No shit.

...

I try to be not so controlling. I try to let others do things. I try to take a step back.

I try.

I haven't really been hands on with the network at the second office. The office manager contacted someone else to set-up the five new machines and I let her. I can network but I'm hardly an expert. The network consists of fourteen computers and their occasional printers and one stand alone color laser printer.

I have my computer, in my office, password protected and off limits to everyone else. It's the only computer that I have been really caring about. Things have changed since one important hard drive fried. I had to become more hands on with things.

"So they did it wrong."

"Well, I don't know about wrong but it's not the way I would have done it but then I'm old school."

Folks have been asking if I have been going crazy. I can understand their question because I have had to install a new hard drive, fix some problems with the network that had became evident, deal with people who were putting on a presentation who both planned it poorly and where just plan ignorant to certain things, and show someone how to produce a brochure all while still working my day job, all while still doing what I normally do at my second job, all since Sunday.

No, I haven't been going crazy. Stuff happens and you deal with it. Going crazy just gets in the way of getting things done.


I have no empathy of the human race as a whole, only when I see them as individuals.

The faceless masses, I don't care for but sometimes a face stands out from the crowd and touches my soul.


It was just my buddy, Jen and myself, just like the old days when my buddy and me would come in during the slow times. Jen mentioned I slipped out last Friday without saying goodbye. Last Friday I had to meet a friend somewhere and then do a favor; I did leave early and I didn't say goodbye. I told her why.

"Who? Lady G? Is that her name?"

"Yep and Lady G is her name."

"Whatever"

Later we were talking about the times when we probably had too many.

"Out of everyone, you have the most tolerance" Jen said as she turned to look at me. I know they drinkers they get in that place; her statement worried me a bit.

"Just out of our crew." I said nervously making a circular motion that included my friend and me which also means the five other folks that join us at times. "Not out of everybody" I added spreading my arms to include the whole establishment.

"Oh. No. Not out of everyone, just you guys" she thought for a moment and then said with a laugh "Especially not Lauren"

It was a small comfort.

I like them all, all the ones that have been there awhile so I try not to play favorites and I try to keep the peace; like keeping my mouth shut the next day when someone has been just shooting off some steam about some other bartender.

Anyway, I was sitting there when Danielle gave me a nod that asked "Do you want another?"

"No, I gotta go. Right now I'm screwing them but if I stay any longer I'm screwing me."

So, I seem to be some sort of attraction at the bar. I'm 'Tim from Boston' to the tourists and just plan Tim to the regular patrons. I have strangers calling me by name. When they go to the toilet I asked the bartenders if they know any first names.

"Who? That guy? I thought you knew him."

I don't really know him; I just nod when I think it's appropriate when he's talking to me.

They just use me to get better service. There is a slight spill over effect to the left and to the right.

The other day I bought everyone sitting at the bar a round. There were two tourists to my right and when I was ordering one of them said "Don't forget your friends to your right"

"I got them coming for you too don't worry. I checked to make certain everyone was drinking drafts 'cause I ain't crazy."

It cost me just twelve bucks but Lauren had something to say.

"I was going to pick up your bill until you did that."

Such is life.

The next day I was sitting there with one of my buddies and mentioned that he missed out because he left early.

"Why'd you buy everybody a round?"

"It's was twelve bucks! Why not? And I knew most of he people and most everyone had gotten me a beer in the past so I figured to bring it even in one shot."


It's quite a legacy

It is a day off but I was in the second office for the whole morning trying to make the office whole again after a hard disk crashed. I was working on that and other things till midnight last night, just like the night before. I lot of information disappeared and it turns out the guy they had set up the network took a short cut in hooking up the color laser printer so when the hard disk went so did the ability to print. The company also has a big presentation due for tonight. Things are interesting at the moment.

Someone walked into my office.

"Can we print yet?"

"Did you try to print?"

"We tried yesterday."

"Try today and let me know if it still doesn't work."

I left to pick up another hard drive, the third one in two days, one 200GB and two 120GB. I have big plans.

My cell phone rang while I was heading to sneak in a quick hair cut before I made it back to the office .

"Tim? How are you. It's K from the office. Are you going crazy?"

"No."

"Are you in the area?" she asked after a slight pause.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well, it's just that I want to try out the projector and I didn't know how hard it is to hook-up."

"It's not that hard to hook-up. It's no harder than hooking up a monitor to a computer." I sort of trailed off a bit and paused slightly before I added "Which isn't too difficult for most folks" I had checked it make sure everything was working the night before.

"Well, maybe I'll have K2 help me." I said nothing. "Are you going to be around, later?'

"I am around now, it's just that I'm in the middle of something"

"Can I call you if we have a problem?"

"Yeah – actually don't call me, just grab me when I get back into the office."

When I got back into the office there looked like there were problems so I hopped right in. One of the problems was that the cable from the computer was connected to the output connection on the projector. So with the aid of hand gestures I explained that the information is traveling out of the computer and into the projector and that into equals input.

"So this projector is worth about $9000?"

"Well closer to $10,000."

She had called me the other day and mentioned that the office might be interested in purchasing a projector. I stated that a projector would cost between $3500 and $8000. She then told me that someone told her that you can buy a projector for $600. After I got control of my flabbergasting, because she knows nothing about technology, I said "Yeah, if they're junk" so when she had me check the projector for compatability last night I also printed out a spec sheet for the projector which retailed for $9,995.98.

I said I would be there. I was going to save the day. I had a high sense of urgency. I wasn't going to screw around.

But then I got the phone call. I made certain that there was a mean to an end if someone chose to take it but they felt inconvenienced that they would have to use one computer over another. There was actually two computers they could use but none of them fancied her. She wanted to use the one that she used before. She still didn't seem to realize that the damn thing was broken. I figured if someone could be so particular then things really weren't that pressing.

"When are you going to work?"

"I don't know yet. I figure if"

"What about the presentation?"

"It'll get done. It's just that if I go in sober I won't say anything but if I go in drunk something will be said"

"Is that a good thing?"

"I think the truth should be told."

"Is she any relation to the owner?"

"No."

"Who's been there longer?"

"I've been there for twenty years. Part of the problem is that she thinks she knows more about computer than me."

She smiled a patronizing smile and asked "Is that even possible?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. It is possible that many people know more about computers than I do but just not her.

"And the owner likes you?" she asked

"Other employees have called me the golden child."

Usually, I will take things in stride.
Smoothly is how I like to ride

I will give warnings when I think they maybe needed.
Sometimes, though, they go unheeded.

If things look off - I'll ask about it
I rather not have folks all in a fit

I'll hear "Things are fine, yes and amen"
But that is most always some bad omen

I'll do what they asked while biting my tongue
All the while thinking "That's not what I would have done"

Then I'll hear "Oh no, that's not what was desired"
Then they will fear being fired.

I tried to help, they should have listened
Now, soon, they won't have a pot to piss in

So, there I was, I needed to have my truck inspected for safety, it's something that the state requires. There were four vehicles in front of me and each state inspection takes about twenty minute. I don't mind waiting so much if I have the time and it just so happened that I had the time and a book, so there were no worries. There were no worries other than where to sit all the chairs were taken with people or people's stuff except for two chairs. One chair was vacant between two people and the other was a chair at the end next to some rather large fellow. I choose the chair at the end. I moved it a little bit away from the large man who actually helped move it a bit. The chairs where just too close for straight guys to be sitting in.

I read my book and while reading I could hear the slow slightly labored breathing of someone sleeping coming from next to me.

After the guy woke up he asked "I wasn't snoring was I?"

"No. I didn't hear any snoring."

Then we where buddies until they were finished with his car.

"So where's your girlfriend?" When ever I'm asked that by the bartenders they don't actually mean my girlfriend, that's just how they refer to someone I was sucking face with once.

"She actually doesn't bother me much. If there is a seat next to me she'll sit there but otherwise she stays down the other end of the bar."

"That's because she feels you rejected her. So she's playing hard to get. She thinks she can get anyone. She's a fine piece of ass."

"A well traveled ass."

"That's not always bad. She'd probably be the best blow job you would ever have. It would be worth the aids."