8-31-04 So, there was no diary yesterday. My server (Computer lingo - I don't know what it is either) crashed for some reason, I think they forgot to turn on the switch, ha ha. But that's something I like to call a 'happy accident' because now you get to read a full diary on Tuesday and since nothing good happened to me on Monday, nothing at all, I can rest and think of great things for Wednesday -- make sense? We both win. Enjoy yesterday's diary: Hello and welcome to my very first wireless update. My old G4 desktop is gone, my new powerbook life begins. I have to say, I love it. It's all I need in a very small package. The wireless part of it may be the only silly thing because I live in such a small space. I can touch the wireless unit from almost anywhere, ha ha. It's just nice to know that I have it, I guess. My weekend was pretty good. It all started off Friday night. I set up the wireless thing and made some adjustments to the powerbook that will make my life a little easier. I tried to add a password to the wireless part so people can't surf on my dime and I ended up locking myself out of the system, ha ha. But all is well now. The ichat part of this whole thing is the best! I talked to Jay and Walter more than once. But I talked about that last week. Saturday I woke up around 9 and decided to get my chores done. The first order of the day was to drive into work. Instead of selling the old G4 for a tiny amount, I decided to use it at work. I was hoping that I wouldn't hit any traffic because of all the security and crazy people but I was able to zip in and zip out. There was no parking so I just put on the flashers and ran up/down very fast. Thankfully, no parking ticket. From there I drove to Nutley to do my laundry. I had a lot of stuff. No more three-wardrobe-change days for me, ha ha. It was HOT on Saturday! I left my apartment around 11 and returned around four hours later and I didn't stop sweating that whole time, ha ha. To beat the heat, I hit every store that even looked like they had air conditioning. That turned out to be a happy accident because I walked away with another pair of New Balance sneakers. The 470 model fits my feet like a glove - like a GLOVE I tells ya! From there I went to Pier 1 Imports, Linens & Things and the A & P. All have great air conditioning, ha ha. I bought a shower curtain at Linens & Things, I guess that would fall under the 'Things' part of their title. I cooked a steak for dinner & watched Casablanca - that's a darn good flick. Sunday I woke up around 9. I had an ichat with Walter and then decided to go to Ikea. I'm not exactly sure why I went to Ikea but it seemed like something. First, I found a spot close to the front Once inside, I realized that 1 PM on Sunday afternoon maybe wasn't the best time to be there Ten minutes later I was eating an Ikea lunch on the hood of my ride (try and look cool doing that, it wasn't easy) Sweet Lord it was crowded! It seemed very dirty also, I don't know, there was just no where to move. Then I got to thinking, I don't really like any of this crap. I said to myself, 'screw this Ikea B.S.' - I picked up a jumbo hot dog, a drink and a cinnamon roll - for $3.75 -- That's good eating! From there I drove to Pier 1 Imports. They had an As-Is armoire. It had a small mark at the bottom, it was nothing. The original price is $500 -- the As Is price was $349. Now we're talking! Armoire I liked it, it would fit all my stuff but I didn't love it. It's more for a bedroom but it could still work in my space. I thought about it and told the girl I'd take it. Then, I changed my mind. I was walking around and saw other people looking at it, I thought to myself, it is a good deal. Should I get it? I checked it out again, tore the tag off and went to the checkout line. I filled out a form for the Pier 1 Import credit card. I was in line with the form - I could see the armoire - something didn't feel right. I folded the form, said I'm not getting it and walked out the store. It wasn't meant to be. I got back to my apartment, looked around and knew I made the right call. While I was driving around I was listening to Hot 97 on the radio. That's the hip-hop station. Every other song, some guy was rapping about d-block. If you're a rapper making millions of bucks, I don't think you can rap about d-block anymore. Something to think about. That's it! My website was down Sunday night so excuse the delay in posting. The internet is only great when it's working. Stay Beautiful, Bob 8-27-04 I'm leaving my Photo of the Day from yesterday up for the whole weekend, it's so beautiful! Walter did a good job on that one. The weekend is here, can I get a witness?! I fell asleep on my sofa two times this week. While not a record, it does stand out. It always stinks waking up at 5/6 AM, you feel like you cheated yourself out of a good nights sleep. Not to mention the air conditioner, TV and lights that were left on. And don't get me started on not doing my nightly routine; floss, brush teeth and wash my face. Ah, what can you do? When I was on vacation I re-watched Lawrence of Arabia. I think I was inspired by Walter and "Sally's" trip to Morocco. I can't afford a trip there but at least I can watch a film with a whole lot of sand in it, ha ha. It's such a wonderful film. I also wanted to watch Casablanca again. I'd seen it in college but don't remember a lot, along with everything else from college, ha ha. Take that higher education! It was on AMC but I was only able to catch a little -- the commercials during such a classic film are a sin -- A SIN I TELLS YA! So I went to the store to buy it. They had it in stock but it was the plain-jane version and they had the price jacked up. I knew I could get the deluxe edition, for the same price, elsewhere. I got it last weekend at Target for $20. I'm going to watch it this weekend. One of the bonus features is the Bugs Bunny cartoon, Carrotblanca, HA HA HA HA HA! Carrotblanca Isn't that great? I can't wait to watch it. I also watched The Royal Tenenbaums and Drugstore Cowboy. I didn't care for The Royal Tenenbaums when it came out but it grows on you. And don't get me started on Drugstore Cowboy -- great film! I think I wrote about watching another of my favorite films, Two-Lane Blacktop, this week. They released a model of the car from that movie a few years back that I really wanted. I saw the car in Wal-Mart before and didn't buy it because I always thought it'd be there. Then one trip, it wasn't there anymore. Damn you retail Gods! Ebay was my answer and I got the car this week. I opened up the box and in with the car was a religious pamphlet. I guess that was a nice thing to do but I don't really get the point. I'm sure any contact with God is good contact. That's a nice thought, isn't it? It's late and that's it! Have a great weekend! Sincerely your internet friend, Bob 8-26-04 [Today's Photo of the Day is from my friend Walter. Walter and "Sally" went to Morocco for vacation. I believe Walter's dentist gave him the idea - Crazy world. Incredible photo, thanks Walter.] I hope you haven't been having problems finding my diaries this week. There's been a fresh one every day. A lot of people at work have been reporting back to me that I've been slacking off (Because they haven't seen new ones) -- I haven't been slacking, off. I think it's the server at work. They've all been new this week and great, if I do say so myself. If you missed one, go back to the archives and check it out. I've been talking about ichat/isight all week but I haven't shared with you what that experience is like -- look at this: Jay and Bob ichat It's a little out of focus (The photo, not ichat) but that's Jay and I having a "face to face" conversation - with sound and full-motion video - there's a slight delay but it's nothing. It's like I'm living in the future! I talked to my boss, Justin, last night. He took me around his apartment and outside -- it was crazy! I had bus problems again last night, sort of. Maybe it's fair to say that I had Bob problems. I was at the bus stop, there was a huge line and I just wanted to get home. I was on the fence about going to the other stop. Then, a woman turned around and said to me, "Nothing like eating your dessert before dinner." My response to that was, 'What?' She went on to explain that she just ate an ice cream cone. That's when I decided to go. I get to the other stop, there's no line but there is a sign saying that the bus line will close September 4th due to not enough passengers. So I said to myself, 'There's no way the bus is going to get here on time - they're all getting fired, I'm sure they're not busting their butts to make the 8:15, ha ha' -- While I was thinking that -- two busses from the other company drove by, damn. So I walked back to the first line and was on my way in minutes. WHEW! If I just would have calmed down in the first place, I could have saved 15/20 minutes. Oh well, I won't have that problem come September 4th. That bus company had dirty busses and didn't always have A/C in the summer. It's a bittersweet ending. I wrote on Tuesday that I was thinking about going to Michigan, Labor Day weekend with my friend Sarah. I respectfully said no yesterday. The flights are a little weird, I'd have had to wake up at 3:30 AM in order to make it to the airport. Sarah's Mom wrote to me yesterday and said, "You never write, you never call, and now you're not coming to see us, either...gosh - we're all disappointed!" Now I feel like a total JERK, ha ha. They're good people. My kind of people. That's it from me - Have a great day. Always, Bob 8-25-04 Today's Photo of the Day is up for the second day because it makes me smile and hey, isn't that what it's all about? And now, Master Storyteller, Bob Borden, gives you today's diary: The last thing that I expected to happen to me yesterday: Was that I'd be on the bus going back to Hoboken and the bus' doors would fail to open at the furthest distance from my home. Bad bus (File photo) I wasn't ready for that one. And I really wasn't ready for the exercise! Good Lord, I'm out of it. My walk started at 8 PM and ended at 8:30 PM but it felt more like 4 AM. What a sad state of affairs. I should sue, right? You know what I did yesterday for the first time this summer? I wore long pants to work. Look, I'm wearing long pants What can I tell you, I woke up and was feeling a little CRAZY. So, I went for it. I have to say, it didn't feel as bad as I thought and the chafing was almost zero, ha ha. This ichat/isight thing for Apple is crazy! I'm starting to plan out my nightly activities around talking to people. I have to expand my base though. I love new things. That's about it for today, I have to ice down my legs after my "workout" tonight, ha ha -- I'm kidding. Stay beautiful, Bob 8-24-04 The old diary got off to a late start tonight. Am I not allowed to live?! First day back thoughts; I have to be honest, it was pretty bad. Everything just kept slipping through my fingers - silly mistakes that had nothing to do with me, it just made it rough going. Computers didn't work, tape machines were on the blink and so on and so on. SIGH! I took delivery of my new computer yesterday, that was a good thing. Holy crap is it sweet! I'll set it up a little better this weekend but the thing is a work of art. I also purchased isight, Apple's web cam. You can talk to people, it's audio and video -- like a video phone. It was so much fun! I talked to two people (friends) and it was really exciting. If you have isight and you're not a freak, let me know and we can chat. But remember, you can't be a freak, ha ha. Back to my bad day -- I had to check out someone's busted office computer, again, and on my way, my shirt got caught on a door knob. Door knob 1, Shirt 0 I was so pissed, my first thought was to rip the door knob off the door but I just calmly took my poor shirt off the door and walked on. It seems like the kind of reaction someone would have right before they lost their mind. Something to watch out for. I was talking my friend Sarah yesterday and was thinking about joining her for a trip back to her home in Michigan, Labor Day weekend. But I'm a little on the fence, so what else is new. It's something I want to do but flying there may be the deal breaker. I wish I didn't have to think about things one thousand times before I made up my mind. OK, I need to chill out after a roller coaster ride of a day. That's it! Have a great day. Always, Bob 8-23-04 Welcome back! It's been a long time since I had to record the events of my life, I'm a little rusty but here it goes: I started off two weeks ago by packing up the Jeep for the drive back to Ohio. I loaded her up with stuff that I don't use anymore, like my bike. As I put the last item in the back, I rolled up the window and it stopped about 6 inches short. It wouldn't go up, wouldn't go down - It didn't do anything. That got me worrying, oh great, another $500 to the Jeep Gods, ha ha. Before I left I ended up talking to a nice guy that let me park in front of his building. George and I talked about all the changes in Hoboken over the years, he's a life-long resident. Usually I want to get the heck out of there but it didn't kill me to talk to someone. And with my window busted, I figured, what's the hurry. The ride back on route 80 was the worst! I hit about 6 or 7 major traffic jams and they all seemed pretty stupid. There was no reason for this Two lanes going into one and each time there was no sign telling people which lane is closed down. So you had two lanes not knowing which is the correct lane right up until it was time to merge. Oh, it was driving me nuts! The third time this happened and traffic wasn't moving, I heard someone say, "Hey, we like your Jeep" -- I looked over and these nice people were looking at my car: Nice people We had a nice little conversation, right there on route 80. I didn't get their names, bad reporting on my part but I really enjoyed talking to them. You can always tell when you're talking to good people. After they told me that they liked my Jeep, I asked them if they wanted to buy it, ha ha. Even in traffic, I still got it. I was trying to get my window to work the whole way back. Finally in Ohio, I hit the switch and the damn thing went up. I told my friend Tim about my window problem and he said, "I'd never use that window again." Ohio was great! I enjoyed the local casino with my Mom and I discovered something new for me - generosity. I don't mean to pat myself on the back but I have to talk about something, ha ha. My nephew needed a bike tire, so I bought him a new bike. My Mom needed a TV for her kitchen, so I paid for half of it (It was an LCD TV, I didn't want to pay for all of it, I'm not Elvis, ha ha). And I threw my Brother $50 so he and my sister-in-law could enjoy a lovely dinner. It felt good doing stuff for the people I love. I drove back to Hoboken a week later to start my second week off. The plan was to go to the Hamptons for a week. That's right, The Hamptons, playground to the rich and famous. My friends Walter and "Sally" were kind enough to let me crash at their place. But first, route 80. WHAT THE HECK!? It was bad coming back too! I had a horrible drive that got me back to Hoboken around 9PM. I unloaded the cats, rested for an hour and then ironmaned it out. I got there around 1:30AM. The next day I went to the supermarket to get some items and I noticed that it was really crowded. Hard to believe that a beach community would be busy in the summertime but that was the case. The people out there freaked me out. I just wanted to kick it and live. I didn't think I'd be dealing with traffic, people and parking spots. So I stayed inside for a lot of that week and ate my meals from the supermarket. Man, that sounds so bad. I blew it, I know. I just didn't want to be the guy in the restaurant, alone, every night. I let my fears get the best of me. I did have a good relaxing time, just too much time with me. It sounded like a good idea a few months back, ha ha. I made a major purchase for myself, I bought a laptop computer from my friend Jay. I love Apple so much and have been thinking about upgrading my used G4. So rather than do what I normally do with money, piss it away, I'm going to buy something I want/need. I'm looking forward to getting this huge desk out of my small apartment. I think that's it. Good to be back! Stay beautiful, Bob 8-05-04 I don't want to lay it on too thick but I only have one thing on my mind. Gerry Mulligan is retiring from Late Show today. He's been with Dave for 25 years - in show business that's nothing short of amazing. I can't say enough great things about the man, simply put, I felt privileged to be in his company. He's going to be a guest on the show tonight (8/5/04), please tune in for a great show. I think I speak for everyone when I say: It was my pleasure to work with you Gerry! In other bobborden.com news, this is my last diary until 8/23/04, I'm taking two weeks off to reflect on my life. Program note: We taped a very special 4 AM show this past May and it's going to be rerun on 8/12/04. I mention this because I'm on that show, enjoy! That's it! Have a good one and hey, be good to each other (Jerry Springer's sign off or something like that, ha ha). All my best, Bob 8-04-04 I discovered a new band [new to me] the other night while surfing itunes. Michael Franti And Spearhead. They were in the hip hop/rap section but I don't think they're hip hop. I like it, great singing, great tunes but they're a little too political for me. As you know, I lean to the right of things but I love music. It seems like most of today's great artists are way on the left. Even my beloved John Mellencamp. But I have to ignore their political views, otherwise I'd end up listening to Pat Boone or the Statler Brothers, ha ha. Republican Rock 'n' Roll Seriously, that can never happen. You know, I haven't seen one summer movie. At this rate, I may not see any -- I didn't even catch Spiderman 2. I can't even remember the last film I saw...it might have been Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, wow, that came out March 19th! It was still cold outside! That was a good movie. I don't have a lot today, I haven't had a lot for the last couple of weeks, such is life. I'm coming up on a two-week break, that should recharge the old idea factory. I'm going to spend part of the two weeks working on my fantasy football team. I'm on a team with a reverend (John) that likes to dish out smack talk. Yesterday, I get an Instant Message out of the blue from him about how great his team is already, ha ha. And so it begins. I have to play hard and smart this year. Hey, I had the wrong date posted yesterday - why didn't anyone tell me? Oh well. That's it! Have a great day. Sincerely, Bob 8-03-04 Sunday night I posted my diary for Monday around 7PM. Later that night I started thinking about my wasted Sunday. The one thing that I easily could have done was; get a haircut. I was thinking about it and thinking about it, then it hit me: I have my own electric razor. I bought one about a month ago. (Have you figured out what happened yet? You should be able to see this one coming down Broadway.) I said to myself, I just need a trim, why not? - It'd be stupid if I didn't, right? I just started off with a trim on the sides but I used the wrong attachment and it was shorter than I thought. When I added another attachment to blend the top and sides, it didn't take. So, I ended up cutting it all off. Bob's new head I was toying around with wearing a hat all day but then I thought, the hair has been this short before and really, who cares? I'm glad I didn't go the hat route, hell, I'm going bald anyway - might as well get comfortable with the future. The number one comment from people was: "That's a great summer cut." With the exception of one writer, who will remain nameless, that said, "Did you get the name of the barber that did that?" He won't be getting a Christmas card this year, that's for sure. I came in extra early to work yesterday due to the increased security in New York. These are crazy times we live in but then again, I think things were always crazy when you look back at history. This is just the new version of being inconvenienced and not knowing what's next. We'll deal, we have no choice. Getting back to coming in early - I wouldn't mind so much but they don't turn on the air conditioning until 9:30, I was there at 8:30! Nothing like starting off your day, bald and sweaty. That's enough for today. Stay cool and safe. God Bless America, Bob 8-02-04 I'm going to talk about my weekend but first, let me mention something from last weekend. Last weekend, I made Chicken Helper. It was so gross that I didn't wash the skillet that night. Skip ahead to Monday, didn't think about it, Tuesday, same -- Wednesday and Thursday, still, not washed. Friday morning, I had to do something, it was ripe. So, I picked it up and tossed it into the trash. It was very liberating, I felt like a rock star. I also threw out my cutting board I used to cut the chicken. Better safe than sorry. Friday night, I didn't have any plans, I walked back to my apartment, had some dinner and fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up at 5 am. I was out of it, cold from the A/C - I felt something underneath me. Even money says it's my remote control but turns out, it was my glasses. Here's what my squashed glasses and I look like at 5am: Bob slept on his glasses I tried to ease them back into shape but there was no use, it was over. I've had those glasses for about 4 or 5 years, they were my face. I may get a new pair but I have to let some time pass, it just hurts too much right now. I like that at 5 am, I was taking photos, I must be out of my mind, ha ha. Saturday I woke up around 10 and listened to music. Then I drove to Nutley to do my laundry. After that I went to the A & P. I wanted to make Saturday my day to do chores. It was crazy hot/humid on Saturday. I went to Pier 1 Imports to look around. I want an armoire but I don't make armoire money. But they had one there marked with my favorite label, 'As Is' - Hot damn, I was in business. But upon closer inspection, the doors didn't close right and a hinge was busted. I'd be better off if I built an armoire myself, well, maybe not. Saturday night I cleaned my apartment and listened to music. Sunday I had plans to go out and explore the world but it didn't end up that way. Here's my Sunday in pictures: Billy having a lazy Sunday Evelyn having a lazy Sunday Bob having a lazy Sunday All I did was chill out in my apartment. I never left once. I leave you today with a note and a question to HBO. First, the note; Enough with Catch Me if You Can! It wasn't a great film at the theater, why play it 5000 more times? Second, the question; Does anyone watch Def Poetry Jam besides the Def Poetry Jam participants and their families? I had to say it, someone had to say it. That's it! It's too hot to sleep! Sincerely your internet friend, Bob

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