2006 Update OK, I haven't posted for awhile,not because I have no news but because I have no time,and I was highly depressed during the holiday period. But enough of that,lets move on to something more topical and interesting k? I would like to relate my Parking Ticket Story at this time OK, here is the background: I have been working most of this week at the south bronx location, as that store is closing. I have been loading tons of stuff into my car and taking it back to my main store. Parking has been a real bitch, so I have been double parking in front of the store. Louis told me to be careful and keep an eye out for the TA's ,but of course I was upstairs and forgot. On a subsequent trip down to the car, I saw the ticket on my windshield and of course I was pissed. The fine listed was....$115.00!!! Thats way out of line. Goddam!! freakin Bloomberg wants to line the city's pockets on the working man. So, I was really pissed, and bitched to Louis all day. When I got home, I read the ticket more carefully and spotted a glaring error. I was doubleparked in front of 2505 Third Ave, in the south Bronx.However, the ticket listed the location as 2505 Morris Avenue. WTF?? I checked on mapquest and Morris ave is in the NORTH Bronx, not the South Bronx, which makes this a ''DEFECTIVE TICKET''. I know that I can beat this, well I was pretty sure anyhow, so this morning I drove to court which is located on Williamsbridge Road by Westchester Square. I brought the ticket, and digital pics of my car in front of work at 2505 third ave whick I printed out and a mapquest printout of the Bronx with both locations marked. I was interviewed by one of the clerical ppl, who offered to reduce my fine to $90, with no questions asked. I declined and opted to go before the judge. The hearing is in one of these little cubicals, quite informal, and somewhat interesting. There were 2 judges working,each with a ''defendant'' and so i waited my turn. Each time a judge finished with a defendant, he would yell ''NEXT'' and then the next person on line would approach. There were 2 judges--one really older guy who looked like that bald old guy on tv commercials who jumps off a bus and dances for a theme park,you kno who I mean, that weird looking guy with glasses.The other judge was younger, late 50s, with salt n pepper hair, and he is the judge lucky enough to draw my case I gave him the ticket and my license and he swore me in. I told him that I was indeed doubleparked in front of 2505 third, but not 2505 morris. so then the judge caught me offguard by asking ''what is your defense for doubleparking in front of 2505 third?'' I told him that the ticket accused me of being on morris, and it was that acusation that i was defending myself against. I could tell the judge was not happy. Partially he was mad cause he checked the summons and he saw that the TA indeed had written a sloppy and defective ticket. I could tell he also did not like the fact that I knew,even though I was guilty of doubleparking, that i was going to skate like Tonya Harding on this one. So there was nothing he could do so he said ''I am dismissing this ticket on a technicality...'' WOOT WOOT!! I just saved $115 yaay!! So I went to Zaro's and got some pink and whites [valentines day version of black and whites] and then back to work. I am going to miss my days on third ave, but I will not miss those stuipis TAs whi cannot tell the north bronx from the south bronx. And that people, is that. Oh wait. uno mas cosa...I have a myspace now, started it last week, 10 friends and counting Stop by and visit it

Bi Weekly Update. OK, I haven't posted for awhile,not because I have no news but because I have no time.Yes yes you read right.No time. I am going to begin todays discurso;a recap of sunday's FNY 23 Tour. The weather in midtown was mostly sunny,about 60 degrees with a rather serious wind. The meet was set for the entrance to the tram which is at the corner of 59th and second, so having little time as usual, I drove down the FDR and parked in a garage at the corner of York and 61st. I arrived at the tram at 11:30,finally not being late   and no one was there yet,so I walked down to the McDonalds on 58th to use the bathroom.By the time I got back,Kevin was waiting and spotted me walking up 2nd. I informed him that he was not the first,that indeed I had arrived first and had split to hit the bathroom scene.He took the news well and I went up the stairs to get a Metrocard so I would not hold up the gang later on. Upon walking back down the stairs, I saw Steve sitting on the ledge,unaware that Kevin was waiting on the other side,so I reeled him in and we waited for the rest to arrive. Turnout was good--40 ppl and alot of new faces. We get alot of ''one timers'' who show up for one tour and then you never see them again.[related fact about this later on] Well anyhow we all got on the tram and headed off to Roosevelt Island. One note about the tram--for those of you who have never taken it before,you often see movies shot on the tram and it depecits the tram going across the river with about 30 ppl all leisurely seated with plenty of space to walk around. That is NOT repeat NOT the way it is! The fact is, the tram was filled to capacity both ways,with ppl packed in like sardines. There was barely enough room to turn around, and you could hear bursts of rapid,stacatto Spanish as tourists [or locals?] described what they were seeing. Luckily, on the way over, I was scrunched against a window and got some awesome pics. I am going to created a new page on my site,dedicated to these FNY forays, as these neat pics should be seen by as many ppl as possible   but to continue... We arrived on RI, which in my opinion, after careful inspection ,is the most boring place in NYC.I mean there is nothing there. I felt like an isolated prison inmate who was confined to ''the rock''. We got to see Al Lewis park and a neat old lighthouse and we walked alot, but no where near the walking we did on the Bay Ridge trip or the one on SI last summer. I also took some neat pics of the Queensboro [59th st] Bridge as the sun was setting behind it.On the way back to the tram, Kevin said to me ''we actually had out first real celebrity forgottoner today'' So I said ''we did? who was it?" and he said ''JAMIE BERNARD''. Now I have no idea who this person is, so I said ''oh cool, is she going to write about us?" I was figuring she was a writer for one of the papers, as they do come with us from time to time and give us neat bylines. Kevin said ''oh no, but maybe she will put us in one of her movies''. Does anyone know who JAMIE BERNARD is??? oooooook I better bring this to a close now but first, lets see some scenes from my next blog entry. Be sure to tune in to read my next entry entitled The Focus Group®; It will be a provocative and somewhat hillarious look at the meeting I went to on Monday 11/14. It is rated PG and starts showing in all Lowes theaters soon. Check your Xanga for more information. ''You don't want to miss this one''--Clive Barnes The New York Times