Monday, September 24, 2007

INTERESTING WEEKEND.... (a LONG post)

This past weekend was an interesting one for me. First of all, I had a rare Friday night off. So I took advantage of it and made it an easy night for myself. I didn't go crazy or anything because I knew I had to do a lot of things on Saturday.

One thing I did come across on Friday was an old cartoon that reminded me of my early childhood. Back in the day, one of my favorite cartoons was ASTRO BOY, a Japanese import which was a big hit back in the 70's.

So when I came across the show, I found myself watching it intently; Almost immediately, a rush of memories came back to me and I couldn't help but to smile. I could remember vividly, coming home from Kindergarten and the first thing I would do was to run into the living room and turn on the TV. And there would be my favorite show, ASTRO BOY. My siblings and I would be glued to the set and sing along with the opening intro:



What a rush.

Afterwards, I hit the sack pretty early because as I said before, I had a long day ahead of me. For starters, we needed to replace a projector lamp for our big screen TV. This turned out to be a pain in the ass project because it took some time to find a replacement lamp. Normally a lamp bulb of this type lasts about a year, but because it's a specific type of bulb for a specific make/model of projector, there are a limited number of places in NYC that carries this type of lamp. One such place is B & H Photo, a HUGE electronics superstore here in Manhattan. We've always dealt with this place because I know that if I need to replace this type of bulb, they will always have it. Add to the fact that it's a rather expensive item (approx. $400.00), it's good to deal with a reputable place.

So when our bulb burned out the other day, I felt fairly confident that I'd be able to replace said bulb in no time and have it up and running by the weekend, just in time for the football rush. HOWEVER, I didn't take into consideration, YOM KIPPUR, the Jewish holiday. A lot of shops owned by Jewish proprietors usually close on holidays such as YON KIPPUR and as it turns out, B & H was one of those places that was closed on said holiday. This put us in a serious bind. Not only was B & H closed on Friday for the holiday, it was closed on Saturday as well (it's normally closed on Saturdays). This put us behind the 8-ball big time. FIRE MARSHALL ED and myself frantically scoured the Yellow Pages and the internet for another place that might have the item we were looking for. Most places pointed us right back to B & H, and after an hour of dead ends, I was clearly vexed.

I finally located a place online that not only carried replacement projection lamp bulbs, but the specific model number that we had. I was excited! There was only one problem: The place was located in Philadelphia, PA. WTF????

So after doing some brief research on the place (to make sure it was reputable), I contacted the shop and spoke with the manager. He indeed had the bulb in stock and after deciding to take the leap of faith, we made arrangements to have it shipped to the bar, Fed Ex overnight delivery (which cost me an extra $60 bucks!). And sure enough, by 11am Saturday morning, the replacement part arrived, right on time. Major headache eliminated.

So while FIRE MARSHALL ED and I were dealing with replacing the lamp on the big screen projector, we also had to deal with setting up for our Blood Drive. The Blood Center bus arrived earlier than I expected and parked itself right in front of the bar. The Blood Drive coordinator (a cute brunette from New Orleans) arrived shortly after. We talked about how to set up the bar for the drive and then I helped to set everything up for the blood drive, while FIRE MARSHALL ED dealt with the big screen projector.

Once we got everything done (big screen bulb replaced, tables and booths set up for the blood drive), we hung out and waited for the donors to arrive. The first to arrive was NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. He's always one of the first ones to get involved in such causes, so it was nice to see him do his part for the cause. Unfortunately, as soon as he arrived, a few minutes later it began to rain. And rain.... and rain. I didn't get a memo regarding rain in the weather forecast, so you can imagine my surprise when it began to rain buckets outside. Of course, the rain lasted long enough to kill any momentum that our blood drive had, so as a result, I wasn't able to reach my goal of 40 pints of donated blood. I was thankful for the pints we did get and I'm sure the NY Blood Center was pretty appreciative as well.

By the time the Blood Drive ended, it was almost 6pm. I had just enough time to run back to the Swan Pad and take a quick nap before doing the evening shift change. I also had a party to supervise- a going-away party for a recent NYU grad who was about to embark on a trip to Spain to teach English in a small town there. The party itself went smoothly and also brought in a nice crowd, which was good for the early part of the night. After the party "officially" ended at 11pm, I left shortly after because I knew I had a long day ahead of me.

Sunday was a bright, beautiful day; it was also the official start of the Fall weather season. I was also working solo for the first time this season as BLONDE CHATTERBOX was celebrating at her college homecoming over the weekend.

The games were pretty good; a few "fantastic finishes", some heartbreaking defeats (like my Browns getting the shaft from the referees and suffering a crushing lost to the Oakland Raiders, or watching the Washington Redskins blow a lead and losing to the NY Giants), and a lot of cheering, jeering and Gentlemen's Drinks along the way.

A few things I've begun to notice over the course of the past few weeks:

1) There have been an influx of hot tail coming by the bar to watch games on Sunday. I'm not quite sure if they are moving into the neighborhood or if they've decided to swing by to enjoy my wit and charm; in any case, they are much appreciated by the testosterone-packed members of the Sunday Brew Crew.

2) Gentlemen's Drinks (Maker's Mark and Lime Juice) seem to be moving at a faster clip than this time last year. On the other hand, the other drink of choice, The Clarett (Grey Goose Gimlet, named after ex-Ohio State football star and current jail bird, Maurice Clarett) hasn't been nearly as popular (kinda like the ex-football star).

3) MR. CHIPS is truly a diehard Giants fan. It's almost scary.

4) With the influx of chicks coming by the bar for FAN-tasy Football Sundays, the cheezy pickup lines used by individuals such as AFRIKA BAMBATTA, HORNY GOATWEED, TURBO and some of the other guys are simply hysterical. Some of the things overheard include the following:

*"You might not recognize me from your window....."

*"You aren't going to believe how many pig anuses are in an average hot dog...."

*"These look like lice, right? The doc said they're just chiggers...."

*"Bianca Blast?"

*"Can you see my junk through these jeans? No? Okay, how about now?"

*"Tell me honestly: Do I look like a rapist?"

*"May I crack your back?"

*"Do my palms smell weird?"

*(Applying hand sanitizer)"Nothing Personal"

*"True Story- Joey Fatone dated my cousin!"

*Were those earrings given to you by a pimp because you're his favorite baby doll?"

(okay, these were really made up by a few guys from Razor magazine, but you get my drift...)


Yours truly keeping things under control....

T-BILL and SILENT BOB, trying to rock the NY TIMES PUZZLE....

S-U-C-C-E-S-S!

TERRY FROM DERRY, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE and MR. CHIPS enjoying a couple of cold ones...




Yours truly, trying to navigate the satellite dishes.... football fans sure are a demanding lot!

A couple of San Francisco 49ers fans...

AMERICAN PSYCHO and his lovely mom... MRS. PSYCHO.

I didn't know that Pittsburgh Steeler females came like this. And they make great cookies too!


We don't discriminate against armpit stains...

REDSKINS GIRL is back! And of course, leave it up to her to get served this season's first Cosmo! What for? For having the audacity to ask for the removal of ice cubes from her Gentleman's Drink! A Gentleman's Drink is not a Gentleman's Drink without the ice cubes!





tsk, tsk....

Not long after, the SECOND Cosmo was served up; this time to MR. CHIPS for having the nerve to wear sunglasses indoors. He says he was trying to bring some mojo to his beloved NY Giants. Um, yep.






A couple of more cuties...

By the end of the night, most of the BREW CREW MEMBERS were long gone after a long day of debauchery. HOWEVER, imagine my surprise when DOUBLE S. turned out to be the last man standing. Normally on the quiet, reserved side, he let loose his inner-wild child and to say he got shit-faced would be an understatement. Celebrating the Giants victory, he was feeling so good that he actually paid me $20 bucks to play "Don't Stop Belivin'" by JOURNEY. Yes, $20 bucks. God bless him.

Another fun Sunday in the books!


More updates later- I'm starting to develop Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

BTW- Remember that warning I gave you guys about the U.N Traffic Gridlock hell? Well it all begins today. Plan accordingly- especially if you are traveling on the East Side of Manhattan. It's going to be a clusterf***!


NUFF said