RKMBs Forums SEPTEMBER 2003

yes. the rabbits. all three of them.

so, i hate the autumn. fall. whatever. i hate it. hardcore. with various intensities.

september is a great representative of the season, and i hate it. despite the fact that fall doesn't officially begin until sept 21st, the egg-balancing day, it really begins on or around september first. today.

and this year was no exception.

it was cold. rainy. hazy. humid. reached a high of 65. a high!

miserable.

tonight? i saw my breath.

sickening.

lemme jot this down before i forget. plus, tomorrow morning, i'm gonna be all sortsa busy. getting a new computer at work, which'll actually be pretty cool. we'll see, tho.

yeah.

i wanted to have a buncha people over this weekend, for a barbq. its been something i've tried to plan off and on for weeks. never seems to work out tho.

for starters, i have no grill. secondly, i have no yard. i've got the friends and i... have access to the food. but the rest gets complicated.

for my bday, my lex got me a grill. that took care of one problem.

and, technically, i do have a back yard. granted, its not right behind my apartment, nor even behind my building (!!), but i have access to one 2 doors down.

lex and i scoped it out. didn't work. access was too weird for a large group coming at different times, grill couldn't really make it... just too much hassle. at that point, i didn't even know if i wanted to have one any more. just too many problems atop other problems. plus, i still had to call everyone and see who was available.

noitch.

but then, i just said fuck it.

"fuck it."

imma have me an indoor barbq. roboken will never be the same.

well... alright, yes it will, but...

...

nih.

so i call up some folks. we get in touch. i make the plans for saturday, during the day. in my apartment.

truthfully, they dont really care. they're just looking for food.

and... well... ok, i guess that sounds about right on my ened, too. so i'm all for that.

my apartment is all clean and lookin nice. i got all the food i need. laquanda stayed over the night before for some hardcore three way action.

...

... or... to do some drinkin.

...

both?

...

oh fuck you.

whatever, she left real early in the morning to go pick up stuff for her apartment.

cati got there around 1. thats early for me on a weekend. but, i was up. yankee game was on, so i had to be.

we started drinkin, the three of us. cati started makin some sorta (eventually) really good taco salad. we did s'more drinkin. really anything we could drink, for the sole purpose of drinking. beers. ciders. wine. mixed drinks. even champaigne. whatever.

we had my breathalizer thing out the whoel time, too, so we could see what level we were at... and how much further we had to go. (woo!)

sorry. been busy.

just set up my new computer at work, so i've spent the whole morning workin on that, and not bloggin.

for shame, rob. for shame.

back to the inside barbq.

lex, cati, and i watched the entirity of the yankee game, from lows to (eventual) highs. thankfully, they did win, defeating their arch nemesis boston red sox.

and, of course, we were excited -- assisted by ample portions of booze and junk food and taco salad and cheese squares.

....mmMMMmmmmmmm.... cheese squares....

after a brief while, dave called in with his second excuse of the day. i forget the first. this one had something to do with colleagues ratting him out or something, so that he couldn't take a sick day. but, at this point, he planned on showing up later when he got off work, which would be in a few hours.

mmhmm.

but laquanda and keisha showed up later on. then scottie. jamalet, too. 7 people aint bad for an impossible gathering.

we had a whole buncha fun. everybuddy just sorta cooked whatever the fuck they wanted. scottie busted out all the master chef abilities and prepared everything, short of a turducken. we'll get one of those yet.

mostly, we did drinkin. sure, there was some tv, some taboo, some jay and silent bob strikes back. but the drinkin ruled all. and we were happy bout it.

beer pong and jungle juice pong are always crowd pleasers.

at a lil after midnight, folks started bailin.

dave eventually called with excuse number 3 -- the final adventure. i dont really remember what he said, cuz it was real loud and i was kinda toasted.

'twas good company, them friends. we don't get to hang out in the groups as often as we'd like. maybe now, with lq living in town, it'll be easier, but... more than likely not. oh well. gotta keep on with them "very special roboken" parties.

so, ok. sunday. beautiful day.

it wasn't supposed to be beautiful. it was actually supposed to be pretty crappy. but the sun was shinin and the birds were singin. the whole bit.

i actually had every intention to meet up with cati down the shore -- or at least i had said the last night. didn't work out. in fact, cati didn't even leave by the time i called, which meant she prolly wasn't goin either. cool, im saved!

like i wanted to drive to the jersey shore in the afternoon in the middle of labor day weekend. dudn't sound like fun.

lex and i went to the park. why? cuz we could. it was really frickin nice outside, and we wanted to take full advantage of the nicities.

we grabbed some sammidges at kings, then went to rite aid to grab some drinks.

the rite aid by my apartment is typically the home of every 19th century white hillbilly's ideal latino stereotype: a buncha speak-little-english spanish individuals who don't do any work. sunday, they were in rare form.

there were 5, count'em, 5 employees behind the cashier counter. all of them talking to one another about some photos one of them had brought in.

on the customer side, there were 3 people in line. waiting. standing. staring. no more than 3 feet from the gathering employees.

after a few minutes, some forced coughs, and 2 "excuse me"s, one of the uber intelligent rite aid workers turn towards the cashier, making "i'll help you over here" gestures.

... when she got to the cash register, she pressed some buttons, looked all set to go... then picked up the store intercom and called for backup at the front, because she was, apparently, overloaded.

a 6th employee, currently in another locale, was required to tend to this line.

so, i put down the water bottles exactly where i was standing and left the store.

normally, i wait 4 or 5 hours in there. sunday, i just wasn't about it.

ahh... back logged.

...

get it? logged?

cuz...

...

mm.

after sunday's rite aid experience, we just mosied on out to constitution park and had the nice lil picnic thingie. blanket, sammidges, drinks (not from rite aid). the whole bit. sunday was really a beautiful day. little did i know, at the time, it was gonna be the last nice day of the season.

frickin weather nazis!

after hanging outside for a few hours, we finally kicked it back to the inside.

laquanda called and, apparently, had more issues with her mattress arriving. she was supposed to get it on one day, then called to confirm and they said later on, so she fought and got it for sunday, but found out they weren't coming then either, yadda yadda yadda. whole big mess. basically, its every problem i've ever had with any sorta company that you're relying on.

bottom line, she had no place to sleep, so she was gonna come over to have another threeway with us.

...

just let it go, man.

lex and i hung out for the night, did some walkin around town, some sittin on the porch, all to soak in the good weather while we had it.

later on, we piled back upstairs. lex wasn't in the mood for boozin cuz she was sorta hung over from the gathering on saturday, but... fuckit, i was. so i had me some booze.

logical decision.

once lq showed up (which was pretty late ... mebbe 11?), she and i had some champaigne left over from the party, and we watched a few sopranos repeats on hbow, which i think is the west coast hbo. whatever. its free.

at 2 or 3 am or so, we called it a night.

monday morning, lq was out at sunrise to get her mattress (again). she got it this time.

lex and i got up at... i dunno... noonish, and decided to hit up randolph.

it was lex's panic day, cuz the next day (yesterday) was her first day back at school for teachin. she didn't actually have to teach since the kids don't show up until thursday, but she had to go in.

...oh yes, the dreading you feel when you have a summer!!!!!!

the weather on monday, labor day, september first, was awful. absolutely, 1000% miserable. worst weather you could possibly imagine.

the temperature had already dropped into the 60s and would dip to the 50s that night. you could see your own breath. it was windy. it was hazy. it was muggy and humid. it was cold. it was foggy.

awful.

and you could noticeably see the leaves changing colors.

thuper.

buuuuUUUuuuut.... i got to see my family and my folks and all that good randolph stuff. they always have good food and ... well... a washer and dryer. that can't hurt.

we hung out there until 8 or so. most of the day was just sittin around, complaining about the weather, and telling various randolph, kamphausen family fun stories, which i actually love. its all sortsa tv-land corny, and really the complete opposite of what you'd think my personality is, but i absolutely love it. good family.

but, we leave shortly after dinner. i take lex to her house, where i'm always bombarded with freebie food from her family. she's also gotta good one.

she's sad n'stuff, as she has been for the past 48 years on "the laaaAAAaast day," but she'll be fine. she's justa big baby. but she's mine!

that was that. left her house, went to my apartment, and i passed out.

tuesday morning i get to work and set up my new computer all day. its really a kick ass machine, with this huge flat panel monitor. its a computer nerd's wet dream.

im still amazed at how fast it is and how sleek it is. good deal.

still hate the job, tho. that aint changin. this just equates less hate.

after work, i figured i'd take lex out for a quick meal or somethin, so we hit up hooters.

i was in my horrible work scrub clothes and didn't wanna be all nasty lookin for her, so i ran into the mall quick to grab a replacement shirt.

god bless you gap sized m!

i picked out a quick m sized sweater (fuckin autumn!) lookin thing for like $20, and even some extra wife-beaters, to keep the itch offa me.

slipped'em on, got in the car, drove round the corner back to hooters just in time for her to get there.

we walk right in, stand for like 3 or 4 seconds, then are rushed by this one waitress that loves us. she's pretty cute, tho i wouldn't put her in the "hottest" list, but super super super nice.

i mean, how many eateries can you walk into where you instantly receive a hug from someone that works there?

thats some good ass service.

literally!

she sits with us for a bit and we bull shit about the usual. jobs. school. fake ids. weather. hooters. bigger hooters. etc.

lex tells me all about her day. sounds like it went really well, as i knew it would. she'll love this year.

i down 4 beers in ... i dunno... probably about an hour. however long it takes lex to almost finish 1.

they went down smooth, but man, did i feel it after. it was already heated in the place cuz it was so fuckin nasty and cold outside, [i]then[i] add on the fact that im wearing a fucking sweater (stupid autumn!!!!). then, of course, there's the fact that i get super hot (temperature) when i drink.

im frickin blazing at this point. very uncomfortable. can't wait to get out side.

i leave a big tip, cuz she's all nice n'cute, and we bounce. lex goes her way, i go mine.

soon as i get home, i more or less pass out right away. so frickin tired and all the heat just piled on. took like an hour nap or so.

woke up all disgusting and groggy, but i knew i had a lotta work to do, so i couldn't just sleep.

... regardless, i got nothing done. oh well.

i go to bed at like 1.

i still use the AC, cuz i dont wanna let the summer feeling go, but its pretty clear i dont need it.

...sigh...

i wake up my usual time, take my sleep shower, listen to stern, then get a call from my lex around 8:30.

thats never good.

apparently, one of her sister's friends died, so she was all sad.

she's teaching with her sister this year, so they were both expected to be goin to work in a few minutes, but now things were all weird, of course. dunno how that turned out yet.

i feel bad for'em, tho

geez, one of star's friends just died too.

bad week so far

i'm getting phone emails on and off from lex this morning. she's apparently doin, at least, a little better. thats a good sign. i'll still worry bout'er, tho.

as for me... i really dont have much to do yet!

weird, i finally get this new super machine, and i've yet to get anything to abuse it with.

right before we went on vacation, i went to the mall with my lex and popped in the video game store while she was doing girlie stuff.

anyway, i found this wonderful lil thing i just had to get for my dad.

he's in love with pac-man and ms pac-man. always has been. when we were kids, we used to have tournaments on my atari 400. he was so competitive that once i developed my asian-like ability to rule any game, he'd "secretly" un plug my controller in an effort to keep me from beating his high score.

i've always wanted to get him one of the old stand-up arcade games, but they're frickin expensive. they still sell on ebay for like $1,000, mostly for collector's purposes.

anyway...

i've bought pacman games for him to play on my home system. i bought pacman games for him to play on my gameboy advance. i even gave him my old gameboy advance, complete with pacman game, so that he could play whenever he wanted.

he loved'em all, but always had minor complaints, here and there.

so when i saw this, i knew he'd love it.

its called "namco tv games"

basically, that joystick lookin thing is the whole system -- the controller, the console, and the game, all in one.

you just plug it into your tv via those standard white and yellow audio and video cables and bam, you're done!

its filled with old school goodness!!! all the classic sounds, graphics, high scores -- its a perfect emulation of the original.

this one came with some racing game, dig dug, some space-invaders-like game, but most importantly (and, as far as my dad is concerned, only) pac-man! the original!!

here is the site.

the thing only costs like $25, plus the expense of 4 AA batteries. after that, tho, its all you! classic games with the classic controller, just as you remembered it, and every bit as fun, cuz the replays are free!

definitely worth checking out.

my dad loves it. he played it almost every day on vacation, and almost every day since. he's brougth it to work and has even semi-ignored customers because of it.

however, he has increased his average score by roughly 20,000 points within a month. not bad!

went to best buy last night, after work, to do some digital camera searchin. thinkin bout gettin me a new one.

i really like my current camera, however... its very bulky. carrying it around in vegas was quite frustrating. sure, the 120 weather didn't help, but... still, to have a smaller, pocket sized camera would be a lot better for me, i believe.

lex's first day o'teachin shoulda just ended. hopefully, everything went all sortsa smooth. im sure it did, she's a pro. but man, does she looooove to worry.

hey, i might refinance again!

3rd times a charm!

if i do it, this'll be my fourth mortgage plan in just over 2 years. thats almost sad!

damnit!

refinancing would save me another $100 / month.

and, on the same day i find out about this, i learn that my garage is closing.

after october 31st, i have nowhere to park. im back to street-parking. making matters worse, there are 600 more cars in my 7 street vicinity also looking for spots on the streets. AND, since i've been parking in the lot, they've changed the rules on the streets so that, for the main ones, you can't have yer car there from 8-9 am for street cleaning. ... and i dont leave for work until 8:30.

sun humma bitch!

i quickly went thru some sites, then did a walk around hoboken to a few other locations. the three closest are still further than the one im using now, and all more expensive.

1 of them is a similar lot, but at least a 6 block walk.

2 are big time garages -- 1 of which is even automated (like a gigantic soda vending machine, for cars). but both are the kinda places that would take 10 minutes or so to park in, and 10 minutes (or more) to get your car outta.

lotsa factors here, and i dont like any of'em.

well, i guess the good news is that they're finally going to develop the old maxwell coffee house factory.

that thing has been an enormous eye sore for years -- probably ever since it shut down in the early 90s.

its taking up valuable real estate! its maybe 2 whole city blocks, plus includes like 100 feet of natural beach -- the only bit in this entire region (no idea what they're going to do with that).

last i saw, they had these major plans for this whole beautiful area, complete with a park right on the water, overlooking manhattan. all i know is whatever they build in hoboken always turns out to be beautiful.

and expensive!

me pops came over yesterday. got there around 7, and we started the guy fest right away, commencing with an order to the chicken and rib crib, home of the worlds worst-for-you(-yet-delicious) foods.

we always order too much, but thats ok. better too much than too little.

it was really a good day for my dad. he had someone buy a $16,000 diamond ring, in addition to like $1200 in other bidniz. plus, his stocks did really well. really really well. so well that, when he was talking to me about them yesterday on line, he was swearing!

my dad has maybe said 4 or 5 swears (in front of me) in his life. he never does it. sure, my mom is and was creative as all hell in her vocabulary, putting truck drivers to shame. but not my dad.

before yesterday, anyway.

as of yesterday, my dad was goin nutty with the "holy shit"s and the "fuckin a"s.

i was laughing my ass off at work while reading the IMs cuz i knew he musta been goin crazy to start swearin like that

we beasted our meals. ribs, mozzerella sticks, chicken, chicken fingers, fries, soda... we passed on the pizza this time, tho. we're very health conscious.

yanks won, which was good. jets blew the opener, which was bad.

either way, it was really fun to just watch the game with my pop. we sat on the couch together all clenched up during the many jet fuck ups, just as any jet fan worth his salt should.

my big screen looked nice. if only it could show winning games, as well.

so i can fly now.

yeah, i forgot to mention it, i know.

i got superpowers at one point, last week, if i remember correctly. i dont really have any mental powers, yet. i was promised i'd receive some sorta psionic blast or something. who really knows with that stuff.

really, im just concerned with the flight and the super strength. i haven't noticed much of a difference in speed. i mean, i'm fast, but i'd hardly call it super fast.

thats a little disappointing.

if you've gotta caper, then you know who to call!

...

did the hully gully on the panama canal!