Thursday, May 17, 2007

THAT KIND OF STUFF NEVER HAPPENS HERE....

I knew something wasn't right when I noticed the myriad of police cars, emergency service units and detectives swarming around the neighborhood last night. When a gentleman wearing a trench coat and a crisp brown suit walked up to me and flashed a badge and began asking questions about video surveillance equipment and looking around the outside of the building, my radar told me "whoa, this must not be a random purse snatching....".

Sure enough, I woke up this morning to see our tony, quaint neighborhood plastered all over the news. It seems that someone was found murdered in their apartment just up the block from here. As I look out my window, there are news crews swarming all over the building, giving reports on what allegedly took place. What I was able to get from the various reports was this: A 70-year-old man was found lying face down dead in the bedroom of his apartment with lacerations on his head. I haven't seen a picture of the victim yet , so I don't know if I know of him or not. I don't know many names in the neighborhood, but I do recognize plenty of faces, so I wonder if it's someone I've seen before. In any case, it's got the neighborhood in a bit of a stir; Stuff like "murder" simply doesn't happen in Murray Hill. It's one of the safest neighborhoods in the city. I'll be interested in seeing how this plays out.

It just goes to show you that even in a neighborhood as safe as Murray Hill, you should never totally let your guard down.

Last night was a pretty wet one in the city as we got slammed with torrential downpours most of the night. That being said, we still had a decent crowd, highlighted by a raunchy group of people, in from Colorado to celebrate the graduation of one of their siblings. Apparently she used to date one of our bartenders. It was weird because while she no longer dates the bartender and aren't really on the best of terms, the rest of the family really wanted to see him and hang out with him. So you have this weird scenario where the ex-girlfriend is sort of off to the side, somewhat pouting and detached from the rest of the group; meanwhile, the rest of the group are belly up at the bar, whoopin' and yelling and doing shots like it was going out of style. Very weird indeed. They kind of remind me of the Beverly Hillbillies. You can't make this stuff up.

Then there was the old woman who was walking with her dogs and asked to use the restroom. Being the nice guy that I am, I obliged and allowed her to do so. So as she is handing over the leash to the dogs, I notice that she has a cat sitting on her shoulders. WTF???

She notices that I am giving her a funny look and starts to laugh. It turns out she also had this cat on a leash. Doll Baby places the cat on the ground and ties the cat's leash to her cat-carrying bag. So picture this: Yours truly standing in front of the bar with two wet dogs on a leash, and a cat tied to a bag. Of course, as luck and timing would dictate, that would be the perfect time for the NYPD detective to stroll up and begin asking questions. I must have really looked official, checking ID's with a bevy of animals tied to me, like Noah and his frickin' ark.

Oh well.

BTW, I find myself being sucked into the fascinating TV drama that is MEERKAT MANOR (currently seen on Animal Planet). Does that make me weird?


And to make matters worse, both of my teams lost last night. Crap.


THURSDAY: "Lite Nite Thursdays" ($4.00, ALL LIGHT BEERS), 4pm-10pm. We also have a Bud Light "HOME RUN DERBY" promo where you compete to have a chance at a trip to the All-Star Game in San Francisco this summer! All the fun begins at 8pm! See ya there!



nuff said