Memorial Weekend Part 1

Memorial weekend starts at 0430 on Thursday morning. I'm sure you are wondering how that works. I can tell you that my weekend began Thursday afternoon, late, but not at 0430.

No, the reason for that is the squad... I began riding with the Wednesday night crew, Steve Tissot, Danny Weber, and a big tall guy named Adam... Adam... uh-oh. I know his name but of course now that I want to think of it, I can't. Oh, wait! Adam Scher. I always liked Adam, even though he ended up not liking me. (Nice guy, but could hold a grudge for years... over a stupid thing, too.) Steve and Danny still ride on Wednesday, Adam went on to become a nurse at St. Clares Dover. I haven't seen him in well over a year. He doesn't ride (where would he find the time?) but he is no longer at St. Clares Denville, so I never see him. I don't know that any of us. He has moved on completely.

I think he is getting married, too. That's nice. He was really fun to ride with prior to the whole grudge thing, and I wish him well.

Anyway, I heard stories of the first Indy trip that Danny went on, in 2002. Many, many stories, many, many times. They loved to tell them and I loved to hear them. Steve has been going to Indy for years - very close to two decades. I guess he finally finished building up FlxCake enough to take her there and he and Danny went - so did some others, but now, after hearing four years of Indy stories (with a fresh batch to come on Monday and Wednesday nights), I have forgotten who the original participants were.

So I stopped by this Wednesday night to send off Danny, Steve, Andy Sadowski, one of our local constabulary (he is mentioned in another posting, the one about my accident), and another member on school leave, Mikey Paserstien (I think that this is the correct spelling of his last name). All nice guys, but I was really there to see Steve and Danny off. I like the other guys, but I rode with Steve and Danny for two and a half years. They are more than just any friends to me. (I don't mean like that, get your mind out of the gutter - mine's there, anyway!) Steve even more so. I think Danny is not as happy to have me as a friend as I am him. I think very highly of him. But Steve has been a true friend from my start there. He's also always been very helpful to me in the squad and dealing with some of the bullshit that goes on there. He's great.

At some point Danny said to me that if I really wanted to see them off, come here at 0430. I looked a little horrified at that point, but realised that I am up at 0420 for work, so why not? At 0425 I threw on some pants and shoes and a sweater (it was quite cool in the morning), and went over with my camera. I took a couple of pictures, and chatted with Steve a bit and then Danny showed up. So wasn't he surprised when I showed up! I gave Danny a hug and a kiss on the cheek (I'm not looking to do anything with him! I like his wife too much to consider it), and off they went.

Thursday was another long work day, although it was interesting. Normally I adamantly hate stuff like this, but this is not one to put up with time-wasting meetings. I lived through too many boring, awful meetings with pompous people who should have become politicians - they really loved these meetings just to hear the sounds of their own voices. I have struggled through staying awake at meetings like this. Never once have I been to a meeting at this or the last job where I was bored or falling asleep. Not once. And yes, it's true, I have not had to go to many meetings - I'm not require me to attend any meetings that don't pertain to me or my bailiwick directly. But the ones I've gone to have all been interesting, highly satisfying, and not stuffy or run by a bigwig that doesn't want any questions or input from the attendees.

Thursday night we had two calls - both cancellations. They happened right in the early part of the night, so it was light out for both and we were done after that. As I was off the next day, I did not really care. But I was still tired enough to be greatfu not to have to do more.

Friday was an easy day. Luis took the day off and we went to the MVC to renew my drivers license - I'd only five days left to do it. (In June I need to get my car inspected... yeesh.) We were there about forty-five minutes... I guess the Morristown DMV is not the better kept secret it used to be. Of course it was the Friday preceding a three day weekend and the end of the month, so clearly had I gone on a Tuesday or some rediculous day like that, during the normal operational hours, I'd've been in and out of there in minutes. But how often does anyone get to do that? The process wasn't too bad, other than being a little more time consuming. I had my millions of points for ID and address verification so I could renew. The photo is not great, but I can live with it. The hair is not as bad as it used to be, but the Jay Leno ten-pound chin seems to follow me into every photo.

We went to the Rockaway Mall after, to go to Luis' bank but also to run an errand or two and grab a bite to eat. Something amusing - Luis' grandmother sent him a check for six thousand dollars. She's really nice and she is slowly divesting her money to the kids that survived Don Kimball's death in December. Since Luis' mother (Don's daughter) died in 2002, Luis and Anna are the survivors. So she periodically sends enough money to stay under the taxation radar. The funny thing was that Luis handed me the check, maye just to see my reaction, and I was surprised - the box with the number read $6,000... but the line for the text amount read "sixty thuosand dollars and no/100"... Hmmm. As far as I understand checks, the banks are required to go off of the line of text that is written on the line. Sure enough, when Luis got off of his cell phone from speaking with his grandmother, she asked if he could get the check submitted for $6,000. If not, make sure it is shredded. OK. Well, the bank confirmed what I'd thought - they go off of the written out line. So Luis watched the bank teller shred the check.

That was amusing.

We had a quick bite to eat and then went home. We also managed to get Luis' birthday gifts picked up and also one for Alayna for her 41st birthday, which is on Thursday. We also found something for Luis' father for Father's Day. I just need to find something for both of my fathers now for Father's Day... no easy task. We'll see - I'm sure I can find something for each that he'll like.

I finally took the time to go to the salon, Gracias Salon, to have my nails done. I had a gift card from Tom and Alayna for a mani/pedi and I finally made the appointment. It was a strange thing. I was struck by the fact that the place had not one single Asian woman there. Usually these salons are owned and run by Vietnamese people and they are good at this. Well, this one had all Americans. Funny thing is that the Koreans all have very modern chairs made specifically for giving pedicures, whereas this place had make-shift tubs and chairs and weren't well equipped for this. They did an OK job on my nails. I doubt highly that I will go to them again.

I went to my parents' house after and hung out with Ray until 2200, then headed home, got gas and got into the house and ready for my journey to Pennsylvania. That saga will continue tomorrow...