Before I talk about my weekend, I'd like to wish everybody a Happy Halloween. But more important than that, I'd like to wish myself congratulations for 5 great years of bobborden.com! Big thanks as always to webmaster/friend Walter, to my web provider/brother George and to all the bobborden.com readers (all three of you). Here's to 5 more (5?) years of bulls#@t!

Now, the weekend: Friday. The only note I have for Friday is that the bus to work left me hanging for 45 minutes! I got to the stop a little later than normal because I didn't have to be in at 10 sharp. By my calculations, I'd just get there in time for the last bus. Well, the last bus never came, so I had to walk up to Washington Street (Main Street, if you will) to catch the bus there. The waiting continued to the point where people were talking to each other. Then this woman starts talking to me, 'the bus this, the bus that.' I just want to do my time alone! She was sucking down coffee and eating a raisin bagel with butter like they were going out of style. How do I know this? She likes to talk and chew at the same time and there was a glob of butter on her cheek, gross. Note to self: Must wear headphones and sunglasses at all times to avoid all human contact, ha ha.

Sunday I woke up at 9:15...except it was really 8:15! I didn't set my clock back. That screwed me up for the rest of the day! I did my laundry and then drove to Kohl's. I was just looking but they had a crazy sale on shoes! I bought some sneakers, some boots and some socks. Nothing like a good old practical purchase. From there I hit Target and then the A & P. I wanted to take care of everything and get back to my apartment. Based on past Halloween experience (getting hit in the head with an egg), it's not good for me to be out after dark this time of year. Such is life.

Why aren't there any good Halloween movies on?! I thought the Discovery channel came through for me but it turns out, 200-pound Tumor, wasn't a horror movie. Live and learn.

Have a good one -- remember, Halloween is for kids!

Best,

Bob

YESTERDAY, YESTERDAY, YESTERDAY...ha ha. Last night was the Hoboken movie event of the season! As you may have read all week long, The Hoboken Digital Film Society and bobborden.com joined forces for one night of great food and great film. Also, all week long, I said I wasn't going to go, well, check this out:

[L to R] Bob, Kipley

I went after all! Now, the big question, why would I sponsor an event that I said I couldn't attend and then show up anyway? I can answer that question with one word: Paparazzi. You see, when you're as famous as I am, announcing when and where you'll be, is just about the worst thing you can do. Thankfully, I was able to press the flesh and then be on my way, without incident. Bob 1 - Paparazzi 0.

Kipley was showing his favorite 'Halloween' (hint, hint) movie but I couldn't stay because I've seen it already. But it looked like a nice crowd of folks. I just sponsored it to get the bobborden.com name out there a little more. Why? I don't know, ha ha. I'd like to think of this experience as an impulse sponsorship (I didn't really think about it). If I get one more reader, then it was worth it (I don't really mean that, it just sounds good, ha ha).

OK, it's Friday, the weekend starts now!

Best,

Bob

TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT!!! The Hoboken Digital Film Society and bobborden.com have joined forces to give you one hell of a scary/tasty evening! And it will only cost you five bucks! See a scary movie, eat some tasty food (courtesy of me) and bring a friend! To find out more details, click the 'Hoboken Digital' link to your left. (Bob will not be in attendance)

The rain stopped but now it's Fing cold! I woke up yesterday morning in my heated apartment, under my comforter with the sun shining through the window. I said to myself, 'finally, the sun will warm things up!' I get outside (in my thin jacket) and I'm freezing my ass off! Live and learn, at least I wasn't wearing shorts. Excuse me for a second...YAWN! OK, I'm back.

Time for a new feature to bobborden.com, I call it, "LET'S CHECK IN ON CHRIS & COLLEEN IN NEBRASKA TO SEE IF I BOUGHT A GIFT FOR THEIR SON YET (The kid has been on this earth for about 4 months)."

[L to R] Campbell & Dad

OK, let's check in:

Chris: "Nope, nothing yet."

Colleen: "Haven't seen anything."

OK, thanks guys! I'll check in again in a few months. That was "LET'S CHECK IN ON CHRIS & COLLEEN IN NEBRASKA TO SEE IF I BOUGHT A GIFT FOR THEIR SON YET" Tell your friends!

(I'm not proud)

That's it! Have a great day.

Best,

Bob

I got a flu shot yesterday. To the flu, I say this; BRING IT ON! Ha ha, I just remembered, I have to give a shoutout to coworker Mike McIntee. He, among other things, puts the show script together. His cover was about getting a flu shot, he needed a photo, went to Google and searched on 'flu shot' -- you know what's coming next:

I made the script cover!

Thanks Mike! That photo was from a few years back when I was making a joke about the flu shot needle being left in my arm for a few days -- *classic bobborden.com* Don't forget to read Mike's great, 'The Wahoo Gazette' (click 'Late Show' link to your left).

I got a jury duty certificate in the mail yesterday.

Good for me?

What the hell am I supposed to do with it?! I'm going to hang it on my wall to remind me of all the stupid people in society? I think not. If I ever get another jury summons, I'm just going to leave it in my mailbox.

THURSDAY, THURSDAY, THURSDAY!!! Do you live in Hoboken/tristate area? If so, you HAVE to come out this Thursday, the Hoboken Digital Film Society and bobborden.com have joined forces to give you one hell of a scary/tasty evening! And it will only cost you five bucks! See a scary movie, eat some tasty food (courtesy of me) and bring a friend! To find out when and where, click the 'Hoboken Digital' link to your left. (Bob will not be in attendance)

Hey, they turned on the heat in my apartment yesterday, now, for the first time this season I can finally say, IT'S TOO HOT TO SLEEP!, and have it mean something. I'm glad to have the heat, I just wish there was a way to turn it down!

That's it!

Have something nice to say? LEAVE A COMMENT!

Best,

Bob

I have to say, it was great to be back at work! I'm sure that feeling is going to last forever. Right?

I forgot to post a photo to Monday's diary. I took a photo that is the very definition of 'lazy Sunday afternoon' -- check this out:

:)

What a life they have -- must be nice!

I also forgot about going to Tom Yang's going-away party! Damn, damn, damn! Tom's a great guy that works at the show, he also happened to restore his own Ferrari.

Tom's ride

His Ferrari buddies threw him a nice send off on Sunday. He's going to travel to Australia with his family (how cool is that?). It totally slipped my mind. Sorry Tom, I'll remember next year.

I can't get a decent shave these days to save my life! I'm sick of the multi-blade razors, all show and no go, you know what I'm saying? I have an old school razor that uses a real double sided blade but that cut the heck out of me yesterday morning. I even tried double blades but now I can't figure out what kind of razor to use with them -- it's driving me nuts! I used to shave, wait a day and then shave again. But jury duty got me in the habit of shaving everyday...I had to look nice for the judge, ha ha. And I DO know how to shave...I wait 'til I'm out of the shower, so my beard's soft.

That may be the most pointless paragraph I've ever put in print.

But this next paragraph is anything but pointless:

THURSDAY, THURSDAY, THURSDAY!!! Do you live in Hoboken/tristate area? If so, you HAVE to come out this Thursday, the Hoboken Digital Film Society and bobborden.com have joined forces to give you one hell of a scary/tasty evening! And it will only cost you five bucks! See a scary movie, eat some tasty food (courtesy of me) and bring a friend! To find out when and where, click the 'Hoboken Digital' link to your left. (Bob will not be in attendance)

And on that note -- that's it!

Have a nice day.

Best,

Bob

Jury Duty: fin

It's over! I have to say I really enjoyed the process up until the last two days, that's when we (the jury) deliberated. OH MY! IT WAS SO PAINFUL!!! There were three people that weren't watching what I was watching. It was a drug case with assault on a police officer and a dangerous car chase thrown in for fun. According to the three jurors: the expert witness was biased and therefore not credible, the drugs found on the defendant were planted by the police and they didn't want to see the defendant go to jail (for an extended period of time). It was just SO sad. We came to a decision on 7 out of 14 charges. I can't give you every detail because I just can't go through it again. But, if you're going to lead police on a dangerous car chase, punch a female officer in the face, have a bottle of PCP (Phencyclidine) and 8 bags of heroin (to distribute) within 500 feet of a school and a housing project, COME TO JERSEY CITY!!! -- you won't do hard time because the odds are with you that you'll get some total idiots on the jury.

Saturday I woke up around 11. A little late but I was so tired from yelling at people the day before, I needed the sleep. I gathered my laundry and walked to the laundry mat. I went earlier than normal, it was almost empty - nice. Hey, are you familiar with Lance Armstrong's Live Strong Foundation? They make the yellow bracelets that are very popular with people and the money goes to cancer research. This is a photo of a gumball machine in the laundry mat:

LIVE BOLD?

Who gave the OK on that?! I hate society. Some jerk is trying to make a buck on Lance Armstrong's idea/charity. Disgusting.

I walked home and cleaned up my apartment a bit. They didn't kick on the heat in my apartment yet, that's what led to a major new discovery for me, that's right, I'm talking about my weekend pants!

Bob's new weekend pants

Weekend pants are pants that are comfortable enough for indoors, yet, fashionable enough for outdoors (or the laundry mat). I said it before and I'll say it again, it's the little things.

Sunday I woke up around 10:30. I thought I'd go see a movie but the roads were crazy by the time I left my apartment. I think everybody was going to the Giants game. I had a lazy day (very lazy!) of looking around Target, Pier 1 Imports and the A & P. Oh, while I was in the A & P, I ran into one of the cool jurors! How crazy is that?! That makes two jurors I ran into out of the courtroom. We started to reminisce about the case/idiot jurors but we both just stopped because we were getting upset. Crazy world.

Do you live in Hoboken/tristate area? If so, you HAVE to come out this Thursday, the Hoboken Digital Film Society and bobborden.com have joined forces to give you one hell of a scary/tasty evening! And it will only cost you five bucks! See a scary movie, eat some tasty food (courtesy of me) and bring a friend! To find out when and where, click the 'Hoboken Digital' link to your left. (Bob will not be in attendance)

That's it! I can't wait to actually work today! Have a great week!

Best,

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY EIGHT (!!!)

Nothing to report, I go back again today (no, I'm not kidding). Remember when I wrote in capital letters that 'I want my life back' the other day? Well, I still feel that way. Sorry for the lack of witticisms this week -- I have nothing else to say until I get this experience out of the way.

Have a great weekend! Hopefully I'll be able to talk on Monday.

Best,

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY SEVEN (!!)

And it ain't over yet! I can't talk about it, of course. But I will tomorrow.

Best,

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY SIX (!)

I have nothing to say on that topic, I'm under oath people! But on my way to court, I overheard an officer on the PATH train talking to a friend. He said, "Yeah, I'm on my way over to 'The Square' and then I'm coming back." Did you pick up on that? He said 'The Square,' as in JOURNAL SQUARE! I've been calling it Journal Square all this time -- I feel like such a sucker but now I'm in the know! If I ever have to go undercover (because I do that a lot working in TV(?) ), I'll be armed with the slang of the region. I don't know what I'm talking about, I hit the wall yesterday, I just want this to be over!

Random photo to make
today's diary look better

For lunch yesterday I hit Quiznos again. That's a damn good business, a little pricey but good. It's weird for me to have a lunch hour, I usually work from 10 to 8 without leaving the building. It's different to watch the rest of the world do their thing. It's nice. I think I'd go nuts if I had a 'regular' job. And that's why I need to hit the lotto! If not the lotto, I need my own TV show.

OK, that's it! I WANT MY LIFE BACK AND I WANT IT NOW!

Best,

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY FIVE

Nothing to report as that would be against the rules. But I can talk about my journey to court and I will. Our call yesterday was at 11 AM. I figure, I'll get up around 8:30, grab a shower, have a relaxing breakfast at a diner and then slowly make my way to court. I did get up at 8:30, then I got online, then a shower with music that I enjoy (Faith No More in this case) and by the time I knew it...it was 9:50! Not only do I not have time for breakfast, I may be late to court (the worst possible scenario)!

I get dressed, run (OK, walk fast) out the door and I make it to the PATH train by 10:15. It's panic time because I don't know how fast these trains run at that time of day. I get on the first train and I'm at my first stop by 10:25. Waiting, waiting...it comes and I'm on my way to Journal Square by 10:36 -- whew! I'm going to make it! I was so happy, I took this photo:

Pretty

The light beaming through the windows seemed almost heavenly. When I got to court, I grabbed a Drake's cake and a Coke for breakfast -- I made it with ten minutes to spare. I know the coke sounds awful that early in the day but due to the uncomfortable temperature in the courtroom, I need something to give my system a jolt.

I had lunch with 3 fellow jurors at McDonald's, it was a good time. On my way home, I stopped off to get my new glasses adjusted (I bought them earlier this year but never wore them). Then I went to the Hoboken A & P to buy some dinner. On my way home, I ran into one of the jurors I had lunch with -- how crazy is that?! She's so nice (she's married, so please, no 'you should ask her out' comments on my message board), she thinks I'm nuts for not taking her up on her offer(s) to give me a ride back to Hoboken. I'm just so proud of myself for being able to take the PATH to an area of Jersey City I've never been to, I made a promise to myself that this is how I was getting to court, come hell or high water.

I really like seeing our judicial process in action, surprisingly so, but I do want to get back to work and I hope this ends soon.

Hey, did you see the new addition to bobborden.com? Look to your left, I have ads now! These ads are slick too, they change with topics that I mention in my diary. I noticed the other day all the ads had to do with 'jury duty' and yesterday they all were 'ironing board' ads, ha ha. So, that got me to thinking...Time for a new feature to bobborden.com, I call it; Let's Try to Influence the Google Ads! Are you ready, here we go: Hemorrhoid Cream! Ha ha, man it'd be great if all the ads were about hemorrhoid cream, ha ha ha! (Yes, I'm 36 now and very proud) Check back often to see if they change -- tell your friends!

OK, that's all I got.

Stay beautiful,

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY FOUR (Friday)

Nothing to report, of course, but before I went to court, I stopped off at a Quiznos.

Damn good subs

I was sitting in there, the rain was coming down hard and I was eating a toasty sub -- I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's the little things -- I felt like a million bucks! I forgot to mention this: Before I left my apartment, I put on a shirt but the, I'm not sure how to describe it, the button holes on this particular shirt are always creased down the middle. Usually, I say screw it and walk out the door but going to court and all, I had to bust out the iron, it's probably more common to see a humming bird make love to a goat, than to see me ironing my own clothes, ha ha. So, I'm ironing on my dresser as my ironing board never works right, I lift up my shirt and see this:

Oops!

I burned my damn dresser! Its been in my family longer than I've been in my family! I tried to Pledge it out but no dice. Thank goodness this happened the day before my birthday because this isn't something a thirty-six year old should do. Thirty five, it's understandable. Around 8 PM, Carl was the first person to wish me a happy birthday, he's in England, so he was REALLY the first. We had a nice ichat, he's a good guy.

[L to R] Carl (he's behind his dog Minnie), Bob

Ichatting is incredibly fun! I heard from a lot of people that night, which was nice. Shoutout to Justin, Eric, Walter, "Sally", Jay and others.

Saturday (My birthday!). I woke up around 11 and watched TV. OK, let's stop right here, before I go on, I didn't do anything special for my birthday, I did my laundry, I went to the A & P and for a special treat to myself, I bought an ipod alarm clock from Bed, Bath & Beyond. This is how I wanted my day to go...around 8 PM, I started to think, damn, this kind of sucks, ha ha! I'm such a dumb ass sometimes. But it turned out to be a lovely evening anyway.

Sunday I woke up at 10 AM to the sound of the building's fire alarm. Very annoying. I dealt with it but not doing a damn thing. It went off three more times, the fire department came once -- I just don't care about that crap anymore. Around 2 PM, I went for a drive around the area, got a full tank of gas. When you go out, it's always good to have some sort of plan. I didn't know where I was going and I ended up at a very crowded Target. While I was walking past the musical instrument isle I heard THIS, and at that moment, I decided to never leave my apartment again.

But then I realized that's just silly. I drove back to my apartment and moved some furniture around. I moved my burned dresser to my living room. I figured I can't fix the burn, so I'll put my TV on top of it.

I don't mind this

I was using an Ikea metal desk (huge & ugly) as a TV stand and hated it every time I looked at it. This will work for now but I'm not so sure how having my underwear in my living room is going to work, ha ha. Hello neighbor!

That's it! Shoutout to my brother George, he's 38 today!

Have a good one George!
(file photo)

Have a great week!

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY THREE

I don't want to talk about anything, again, because I want to be a good juror but I can say that the case has started. I'm going to be involved until the middle of next week. I'm enjoying this experience, it's pretty interesting. I'm not enjoying the temperature of the courtroom, it's right on the line of being uncomfortable. I will wear lighter clothing from now on. And I'm really not enjoying breathing the air from a male juror that really likes to wear perfume. He smells like the bastard child of Polo and Aqua Velva. On their own, they're very enjoyable scents but team them up and it smells like a drag-queen's wet dream. You get my point.

Holy crap, I'm having a birthday tomorrow!

Thirty-F@#king-six!
(file photo)

This feels like a big one to me (hello Mr. Roper). But I'm not the type to really care about age -- thirty six is the new twenty six, thank God because my 20's sucked. I won't be celebrating my birthday with friends this year, I just don't feel like it. Instead, I think I'll just get drunk in a dark room while scanning the 'escort services' section of the yellow pages -- but not calling. To each his own.

I'm down on The Apprentice this time around. I think they did themselves a disservice by franchising out the show to Martha. Too much "reality" on TV. Have you ever caught, and I can't believe I even have to write this on my site, Breaking Bonaduce? Here's my problem with that show: THEY ALL KNOW THEY'RE ON TV! You DO NOT act the same when you know you're being taped, it's total horses*%t! But maybe there's some sort of scripted reality that I'm not aware of -- whatever.

Before I go, I wanted to send a shoutout to my coworkers for picking up the slack while I'm performing my civic duty. Thank you: Justin, Eric, Rob, Amy, Linda, Paul and Daniel!

OK, that's it! Have a great weekend!

All my best,

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY TWO:

Holy crap, it didn't stop raining yesterday for a second!

Relentless

On my walk to the PATH, I got soaked. I made it to court around 9:00 for our 9:30 call. Man, the jury selection process is slow! From 10:00 to 12:00 I just sat in the courtroom listening to people getting interviewed by the judge. We broke for lunch. I wanted to eat in the cafeteria because I didn't want to get soaked again but everyone else had the same idea. So, I hit the pavement in search of food. Rather than eat at a mom & pop place, I opted for some Mickey D's. Now, this next part of the story is genius, so get ready...instead of eating in McDonald's or going back to the courthouse, I got my food to go and walked over to a laundry mat. I dried my soaked jacket/socks while eating lunch!

Bob ate lunch here

Oh, I thought I was so clever. My jacket felt amazing, my socks felt great until I put them back in my shoes (the shoes were soaked). We came back from lunch for more interviews, slowly but surely, I was called. I'm on a jury now. I HATE missing work (I'm serious) but I have to be there (darn laws!). I have to be back there again today, I'm still not sure when it starts (the trial), they're STILL picking the jury. The only good thing about being called in for a 3rd day? My pay goes from $5 (a day) to $40 (a day)! That's some sweet loot!

Some of that money is already spent as the record store is on my walk home. Yesterday's purchase? I'm not 100% proud, they have a few good songs, the price was right, I haven't heard them in a long time...I bought:

Alcatrazz!

I know, I know but look at the arrow in that photo, that dude is ready to rock! That's what you want. Thank goodness for used records. OK, that's it.

Stay beautiful,

Bob

Jury Duty: DAY ONE.

I woke up around 7:35 AM for what was sure to be a day of new experiences. New experience numero uno? Take the PATH train from Hoboken to Journal Square in Jersey City. The PATH train map couldn't be easier to understand...but I asked a PATH employee just to be on the safe side. I was on the train for one stop and got off to switch trains. Unbeknownst to me, when I got off, Amy (she's taking over my job while I'm at jury duty) was across the platform waving and yelling at me. But I wasn't sure I got off at the right stop, I was in mild-panic mode - I didn't even see/hear her. Mild-panic mode goes something like this, "Was it this stop or the next stop? Is it really, really hot in here or is it just me? Oh my God, why do I always get lost!? Did I leave my iron on?"

Happily, the Journal Square train arrived about 8 minutes later, whew! I've driven past Journal Square before but never had reason to stop. To be honest, Jersey City is a little rough around the edges for my taste. I can handle the A & P but that's about it. On my walk to the courthouse, I stopped to ask a guy (an officer of the law) if I was headed in the right direction. He pointed to the building and gave me one piece of advice: "Remember, they don't arrest innocent people." Ha ha, wow. As I got closer to the courthouse, I overheard a nice man talking on his cellphone to his Mom or perhaps it was his girlfriend...that went something like this, 'Damn, Bitch, you didn't call the mother f#%king lawyer yet?! What the f%$k am I doing here?!' I carefully walked around him.

After going through the metal detector (They do a much better job than at the airport), I reported for duty! Here's the jury waiting area:

Bob sat here
for many hours

They gave us a booklet and asked us to watch an informative video. From the video, I learned that as a juror, I WOULD NOT be able to investigate the case I was assigned to...now they tell me?! After they signed everyone in, they called a bunch of people to go to a courtroom for jury selection (I didn't get called at that time). I sat there from 10 to 12:15, then we got an hour for lunch. The lunch options outside were plentiful. Kentucky has KFC, Jersey City has DFC:

Dancing Fried Chicken!

I'm happy to report that I did not eat there, I found something as simple as possible. When lunch was over, my name (and a bunch of other people) was called to a courtroom, hot damn I'm fulfilling my civic duty!

They were still picking people for the jury at the end of the day, so I have to go back tomorrow. I may get picked, I may not and no, I will not talk about what kind of case it is.

I got back to Hoboken around 5 and I was crazy tired, then it hit me, I fell asleep on the sofa the night before. I really have to stop doing that. For dinner I just picked up a chicken at the supermarket. But before that, I stopped off at Target. I wanted to buy one of those ipod alarm clocks. My alarm clock is on the blink and my friend Walter says the ipod alarm clock sounds pretty good. It's a little pricey but it would be an early birthday present to myself (my birthday is this Saturday). So, I pick up the box and the damn thing is $130! It's $99 everywhere else! To Target I say this: HORSES*#T! And on that note, I'm going to end today's diary.

Thanks for all the positive comments on my new banner -- it was a lot of work and I'm very happy with it. And for those negative comments, turn up your hearing aid grandpa! This is Bob '05! (I don't know what that means)

Have a good day!

Best,

Bob

Yesterday was Columbus Day. In NYC they have a parade...so you know it's a real holiday. I was thinking my Monday morning commute was going to take longer because the buses would probably be on a holiday schedule. So, I got up extra early, walked to the bus and to my surprise, it came right away. As the bus kept making stops, more people got on -- it's like a normal day! Except, I'm an hour and twenty minutes early for work...and that's on an early day (9:00) to begin with! So, you can't win.

But as with everything in life, it all balances out; I have jury duty today. I'm not looking forward to it but what the hell. I was called a few years back but didn't have to go. For some reason, I have to go to Jersey City -- I don't know Jersey City, I hate that I HAVE to go over there. But maybe I'll meet my future wife in the courthouse, so I'm going into this with an open mind.

OK, I'm tired, you probably had yesterday off so please read yesterday's diary, I thought it was pretty good considering I didn't do anything. I'll be back tomorrow with a full report on my day in court -- hey, if I get a case, I'll share that with you too (kidding, that's going to play huge tomorrow with my fellow jurors).

Have an awesome day!

Best,

Bob

Before I say anything, I just want you to know that I know, that my weekends are in a rut and have been for some time. Now, on with the show!

Friday night I got back to Hoboken around 7 PM and decided to walk around for a bit. I hit the record store, picked up some food and called it a night.

Saturday I woke up around 11. It was VERY gloomy/rainy outside, very depressing. Not knowing what to do, I just fell into making a new logo for the top of this page. It took me about three hours, my fingers were starting to hurt towards the end but it was worth it. Walter (friend/webmaster) will have it up soon (if it's not up already). All of those photos are from the last 5 years of bobborden.com. Crazy. I'm coming up on five years at the end of the month. I was going to put a new catch phrase in the logo that read, "Five Years of Bulls$#t!" (ha ha) but I thought I'd get sick of that pretty quick.

After that, I needed to get out, I headed up the street to do my laundry. I played a few games of Ms. Pac Man/Galaga and was out of there by 6:15. I had to wear a jacket to keep the rain off of me but as it was humid, this was very uncomfortable. When I got home I was close to calling Domino's for dinner but I decided not to be THAT lazy. I walked up the street, picked up some dinner and walked home. I watched the Family Guy movie on DVD, it was very funny. After that I bought a few songs on itunes. I picked up the new Nine Inch Nails record, it's very good. That purchase led me to the NIN website and to an amazing discovery. Trent Reznor (he's NIN) put up his latest single, Only, in the Garageband format -- amazing for an artist to do! He's saying, here's my music, edit it, play with it and be inspired by it. Crazy. I was in geek heaven for a few hours. My mix of his song was pretty stripped down, I did most of the changes to the first half and left the second half alone. Thanks Trent!

Sunday I woke up around 10:30, the fan was blowing right into my mouth (I hate that), I walked to the bathroom, smacking my lips together, trying to make them un-dry, I turn on the faucet and...nothing. No water! What the F, I said to myself. I talked to my neighbor and he told me that a water main broke. So, what can you do? With zero water in the house, I entered into full survival mode. I had about 16 bottles of beer (I bought a case of beer months ago because the bottles are aluminum but the beer wasn't so hot, thus the excessive amount of beer on hand), so I emptied them into a bucket. I was surprised how much beer is in 5 bottles, that explains why I have to go to the bathroom every thirty seconds -- anyway, I washed my hands in beer and I have to say, except for the strong smell of beer, it worked. My hands felt clean. Full survival mode ended right there if you keep track of that sort of thing. I sat on the sofa for a while listening to guys with machines dig up the street.

I also watched CBS Sunday Morning, damn good show. Around 2 PM, I had to get out of my apartment. I got in the car and drove to Nutley to get some lunch. CBS Sunday Morning had a story about the 100 year anniversary of pizza, so guess what I was having for lunch -- ha ha. I get there and I couldn't believe it -- the place where I always did my laundry went out of business!

Goodbye Wash 'N Shop!
(file photo 2-11-2002)

I haven't been there for a few months due to my latest car change -- damn, I didn't even get to say goodbye.

I had some pizza and headed to Jersey City to checkout Target. Thanks to CBS Sunday Morning, for the second weekend, I bought a book.

The Colorado Kid

I like buying books, now all I have to do is read them. This book may be up my alley, it's a crime novel, aka; pulp fiction. For more info, checkout hardcasecrime.com.

I bought some stuff at the A & P, when checking out, the lines were packed, people were 4/5 deep. There was a cashier whose light wasn't working. She finished with a customer but because her light wasn't on, there was no one in line. I wasn't sure if the cashier was coming or going, so I didn't take my eye off of her (I was 5 people back of the line in another lane). We made eye contact and she gave me the nod. Oh my goodness, it was like hitting the lottery! If I thanked her once, I thanked her ten times.

It's the little things. When I got back home the water was on and I got a shower!

That's it! Have a great day/week.

Best,

Bob

Man, I had a MESSED UP morning yesterday. I woke up at 8:46 and I had to be at work at 10:00! That doesn't leave much time for me to get pretty, I wondered, 'How did I sleep in with three alarms?!' I got a quick shower, put on my clothes, fed the cats and walked out the door at 9:07. That's some sweet getting-ready time! On my way out, I looked at the time and it was 8:07...HUH?! When I was fumbling around/turning off my alarm clocks, I accidentaly changed the time! Relieved, I took a breath and sat in front of the fan to cool off. But good Lord, not a fun way to start the day. Then, I get to the Port Authority, stop off at the ATM, I hit the wrong button and I'm doing my transaction in Korean! The rest of the day wasn't any better -- I was always just slightly off.

Time for a Billboard Across the Street Update! This billboard...

Rod

This has been up for well over a year -- well past the advertised concert date! If you're one of the lucky few that owns a time machine, this information may be useful to you but for the rest of us, it's F#%King annoying! I like Rod as much as the next guy but THIS HAS TO END NOW! This has been a Billboard Across the Street Update -- tell your friends!

I have nothing else to say. I spent the last ten minutes staring at a flashing cursor -- very tired, must go bed now.

Have a great weekend!

Best,

Bob

Random thoughts:

I thought I had this great opening about floss. I was flossing my teeth yesterday and I bought the wrong kind of floss. I wanted the regular floss but I got this super-glide floss, which is thicker. I was confused because there were hundreds of floss choices! And floss comes in flavors now too – flavors! Anyway, at the end of the day, there’s nothing funny about floss.

I could have had drinks with my friend Laura last night but I got busy at work and didn’t plan it out properly. HOLY CRAP, I forgot to water my plant, Phil. PHIL I’M COMING! Be right back…
Whew! I just got Phil, I don’t want him to die on me. Getting back to drinks, I called Laura and she was cool – I’m not a good planner when it comes to hanging with friends. I just like to do last minute things.

Random photo

You ever feel like opening up your own business? How about a barber shop/tattoo parlor? It would have to be something different, yet, accessible for the common man. When I was in high school my band director thought I was going to work at a gas station, ha ha. I laugh at that now because back then, to look at me, that’s exactly the path I was on (I did not do well in high school). My friend Jay had a GREAT idea for a business a few years back, I won’t even talk about it to this day because it’s such a great idea. Damn, I just did a search on it and someone’s doing it. Oh well, he doesn’t have time anyway.

I thought it was remarkable that some of the Hurricane Katrina victims, with nothing, are working in other locations, basically starting over again. Human resolve. Yes, the hurricane forced people to “move” but to go from Louisiana to Texas, look around and say, I’ll make a go of it here – that’s something.

Why do they sell five-hundred dollar vacuum cleaners at Target?!

Feel free to talk about these topics and more, in my ‘comments’ section. Keep it clean or I’ll ban you for life!

Stay Beautiful,

Bob

It's no secret that when I listen to music, I like it LOUD and I like it HEAVY (what up!). I was on the bus last night listening to Velvet Revolver and I couldn't help to notice that it was pretty good. Then that got me thinking about the history of the band, if Guns 'N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots wouldn't have happened/crashed and burned, Velvet Revolver would not exist. Mind-blowing thoughts, right?

Rock 'n' Roll!

Guns 'N' Roses/Stone Temple Pilots, their glory days are gone. What are the odds that the remaining members would find success AGAIN in their careers?! This is what I think about on the bus. The bus is a dream now, thanks to my new headphones. I picked a cheap pair at Best Buy for $20...they're different because the part that goes in your ear is silicone. You squash it up, it expands, making a seal that cuts out 40% of the room noise. That means I don't have to turn up the music crazy loud--they're sweet.

Speaking of loud music, I just picked up Motley Crue's video collection. The price was right, $9.99:

CRUE!

Now, I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not a fan of video collections -- there's only so much you can take and Motley Crue have some pretty bad videos, so why buy it? Well, for the video, 'Girls, Girls, Girls' they put in a bonus cut that's rated XXX. XXX, you know what that means! So I'm thinking, wow, this should be something and again, it's only ten bucks! It was SUCH a rip off! It was not XXX and I'm not embarrassed to tell you, I was pretty pissed! I've seen more boobs at the A & P (not sure what that means)! MOTLEY CRUE! You've done it to me again!

All music talk for a Wednesday diary, that's something, right? Well, that stupid photo of GNR, STP and VR took too long! I'm a victim of my own artistry.

That's it! Have a great day!

Best,

Bob

You know what I forgot to do yesterday?  Wish my Sister-in-Law a Happy Birthday!  Shame on me but in my defense, no one called me to give me a head's up!  Here's a candid photo of Liz (that she probably won't like):

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!

Remember yesterday's diary?  I talked about a Bob double roaming the streets of Hoboken...Well how's this for a coincidence...At the time of that post, a guy from England (I'm huge in the UK, by the way) sends me an e-mail to tell me about his friend who looks exactly like me!  How cool is that? "The Padster" sent in this photo of his friend, Robert Bramwell:

Robert Bramwell
(Bob look-alike)

Ha ha, wow -- that's pretty close. I'd say that's me circa 1989, ha ha. The Padster also wanted me to pass this on to my readers; "Could you also mention 'Constables - Uppingham, UK' who were integral in spotting the unique look-alike" -- I have no idea what that means but 'post first, ask questions later' is my motto. Thanks guys! Tell your friends about bobborden.com!

Did you see the new photos at the top of this page?  I did that on Sunday to mix things up a bit.  Some people have pointed out that it looks like I'm giving Iggy Pop the finger but it's really just the end of the white line from my name -- I guess the mind sees what it wants to see...it was not intentional as Iggy Pop is the s$#t!  That aside, I'm going to redo it this week (if not today), I'm not happy with it either.  I was going for a grown up, professional type of thing.  Developing.

And finally today, eh, I got nothing else.  Oh, wait...I'm going to thin out my links (to the left of the screen) very soon.  I think they need to be freshened up.

Have a great day!

Best,

Bob

"How was your weekend?" Well, let me tell you...

Friday night after work I helped my friends Walter & "Sally" move a sofa. This was an uncomplicated move as a cart was involved. They almost didn't need me but I was glad to help. I got home around 8:30 and just chilled out, I was tired. So tired, you guessed it, I fell asleep on my sofa. I woke up to a taxi honking its horn at 4 AM! Sometimes city living gets to me but it's the only game in town. I walked to bed and woke up around 11:30.

Saturday. I wonder if there's any way I can make doing my laundry sound exciting? YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS CRAZY LOAD OF WHITES I WASHED! I didn't think so. Ms. Pac Man was fun though.

Saturday night I picked up some dinner and locked myself in my apartment. I can't even remember what I watched. It should be noted that up to this point I have had no human interaction. Wait, I take that back, when I was walking to get my dinner, a woman walking some kind of super-poodle stopped me and said, "Wow, you finished all your laundry!" She had the wrong guy and I was very confused because I did do my laundry but I did not see or talk to her. Then I thought, holy crap, there's another poor S.O.B. walking around Hoboken that looks like me? Poor bastard.

Sunday I woke up at 5:30 AM on my sofa, went to bed and woke up at 10:30. I watched CBS Sunday Morning, took a shower and decided to drive to Ikea. But first, my car was filthy! This would be the first time I took my car through the wash, I was a little nervous. It turned out great, they missed a few spots but what can you do? Nine bucks for an inside/outside job -- nothing's cheap around here. I took off to Ikea and was happy to be on the road -- I love everything about driving! I'm still not sure why I went to Ikea, I guess I was half-heartly looking for a TV stand.

I have a big Ikea desk that I no longer use as a desk, so I made that my TV stand. I hate it.

Yuk!

Anyway, Ikea was crazy with people and I got there and decided I wasn't in the mood to be part of a mob of furniture hunters. I looked at a few TV stands and the need didn't seem so urgent. Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. I drove back to my neck of the woods and went to Target. On CBS Sunday Morning, they gave a good review of this book:

The Tender Bar

So, I bought it and I'm really going to try to read it. After Target, I walked over to the A & P. I was walking around/shopping and I ran into some new friends of mine:


[L to R] Bryan, Eileen
(file photo)

I ran into them, I should say, they ran into me in the frozen food isle. Again, I had no human contact and I was OUT OF IT! Eileen said, "Bob!" Bryan said, "It's me, Bryan!" I didn't recognize them and I DID NOT play it off well, ha ha! It probably took two minutes before I said something that made sense. Wow - scary.

I got home, cleaned things up, watched this, watched that and called it a weekend. The good thing about having a bad weekend is there's another one in five days -- I'll redeem myself then.

That's it! Have a great day!

Best,

Bob