Monday, Monday

It’s been a Monday for the most part. There’s lots to get to and even more to ponder, so I won’t waste time with the usual gettin’-to-know-you bullshit that pervades most of the entries herein, but I will say this: life, for the most part, could not be better.

It started with a long morning commute that culminated in me at my desk.

I retrieved my voicemail – a message or two – and returned the calls, then headed downtown to get some errands accomplished. I had stuck around the office a little longer than I normally would have to make sure the server, which I’d fixed up with a friend (a new RAID drive and we were good to go) on Sunday morning, was up and running. More background on Sunday: problems arose but – despite taking a bit longer than anticipated – I got out of there in time to hang with a friend for a couple hours at Brother Jimmy's.

Back to Monday. I got downtown and did what I needed to – some drop-offs, some filings, and a whole lot of research at a City agency I frequent. On my way back to the train I stopped by J&R Music World to pick up a Palm WiFi card I’d ordered. It did the trick – I can now surf with the Palm – but the card, when used, eats batteries like termites going through a pile of popsicle sticks. So I’m guessing I won’t be doing anything beyond checking quickie e-mail and scores when/if necessary. Incidentally, for those few of you – and you know who you are – who swing by the HoB via portable devices – ‘Net phones, PDA’s, mini PC’s, etc. – do not fear. I plan to get a mobile version of the site up and running at some point (when there’s nothing else to do and the TV’s broken).

In any case…I returned to the office to find my sister opening a somewhat large box and a couple of things on a small credenza/table in her office. My other half had mentioned she wanted to get something for Ozzie, my sister’s shitzu, and went ahead and ordered a combo dog treat jar and a food dish for him. Both are fire-engine red each with a silver bone. I’d seen the pictures online (go here if you want to see them – doggie not included) and thought they looked great, but they were even nicer in person. My sister was on the phone (with who I thought was my other half) but it turned out to be my father. We all talked a little business and then she finished unwrapping the goodies and asked me for Kaia’s contact info to call and thank her. In the meantime, as she was moving around to get something by her desk, I went to pet Ozzie on the head and he let out a high-pitched yelp. We both stopped completely and looked at him, thinking “What the hell was that?” Ozzie is almost completely silent – for the most part, aside from the doorbell ringing, the only time he growls or makes any noise whatsoever is when I play rough with him (in which case he and I have conversations in growl, although he’s far more fluent therein than me). So hearing him yelp instantly worried us both. I pet him again behind his ears and, sho’ nuff, El Pooch let out another high-pitched yelp and we knew something was amiss. So within 20 minutes, she had already contacted the vet, gotten him packed up (he comes to work with us every day) and left to go to the vet’s office. I figured it was nothing serious, but when a relatively silent dog yelps, you listen, and you worry.

In either case, the news wasn’t bad – he just had an ear infection. As it’s pretty common in dogs with lots of fur/hair, this isn’t that much of a shock, but it’s still sad to hear a friendly, easy-going pooch express anything remotely akin to pain.

In the meantime, I had a few other things to handle, so while she made her way across town to the vet, I put the icing on a few other deals I’m handling, and then made my way over to Home Depot on 3rd Avenue. A bracket in my closet cracked (under the weight of all my spider-man pajamas – with feet and the butt-flap – I have hanging in there).

Yes, I’m kidding (about the spider-man pajamas).

The bracket was a specific design and I’d hit every hardware store of which I knew in Manhattan trying to replace it; Home Depot, of course, had the exact item I needed – in fact, they sell them in packages of two – for the hefty sum of $1.62. I paid and made my way over to meet my mother and the two of us, together with a co-worker of hers, headed uptown to my building. Before we made it, however, we stopped so she and her colleague could grab some Tasti-Delite, which is low-calorie, low-fat, low-taste ice cream substitute. Okay, the low-taste part isn’t really accurate, but it’s not quite my speed, so I passed. It just so happens that the store where we stopped for the non-ice cream is a block away from Lenox Hill Hospital, and this was the first time I’d spent any amount of time – 10 minutes or so waiting for them to get their stuff so we could continue on our uptown journey – near the hospital. And as I stood and saw the hospital, I kept being reminded of last summer and the three-month ICU stay that my father endured. Strangely, and happily, it wasn’t as much an awful memory as it was a relief to know that he is, day by day, putting himself farther and farther away from that experience and getting better and better.

What also helps is the continued support and caring friends who repeatedly ask how he’s doing. Even Kaia’s father, with whom I’m exchanging almost daily e-mails, regularly asks and never forgets to pass along his good wishes. So while seeing the hospital brings back some shitty memories, it also reminds me how many people, along with me, love and respect my father and know this world is a better place with him in it. And no, I didn’t have any Tasti-Delite.

The rest of the night was spent on laundry, cleaning up and getting myself ready for Thursday and my other half in NYC. If I wasn’t so beat and devoid of nutrition (I didn’t eat lunch and I still haven’t had dinner) I’d be jumping off the walls. And while that may sound like I’m not quite excited, I’m really looking forward to us doing absolutely nothing together. We’ve made some plans with friends, as well as reservations, tickets and goals – seeing the “Time Warner TV: At Home in New York” at the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle is the newest item on our list – but the truth is, none of it really matters as much as us getting to spend some much-needed time together.

And I have a feeling, as per usual, we'll somehow manage to accomplish the task at hand.