1-30-04 I said yesterday that I'd have a diary for Friday night but now I feel like I should save it for Monday. So, that's what I'm going to do. Have a great weekend! Have a Super Sunday! Bob 1-29-04 And now for the most important diary of his life, ladies and gentlemen, Bob Borden: Hey, what's up? It's me, Bob. The opening of today's diary was a new segment to bobborden.com, I call it - overly-dramatic diary opening - tell your friends. In the Journalism trade that opening is what's known as a GRABBER! Because it GRABS your attention. My bosses were kind enough to give me a promotion yesterday. I was a Writers' Assistant, now I'm a Writers' Researcher. Technically I'm still the Writers' Assistant but I'll have more responsibility. It's a good deal for me, very good. I don't like talking about "the biz" on this site but I'm making an exception because I'm pretty excited. If you want to read more about the promotion, I'm sure the story will break on page one of Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood's not going to sit on this one. This is bigger than the Ben and JLo break up. Thanks to Justin and Eric. I got off the bus last night and called my friend Tiffany to tell her the news. She was on her way to meet her brother to celebrate his birthday. So I came along for the fun, it was perfect timing. Here's a photo, pay special attention to how much fun we're having: L to R: Tiffany, Kipley, Karen and Bob I had a great time. Kipley is new to my Links page with his cool site actorslife.com -- If you're an actor or want to be an actor or know someone that wants to act -- checkout this site! While I'm giving out plugs, here's the link to the restaurant we dined in - Karmakafe.com -- Darn good Indian food. And, what the hell, if you're looking for a place to live in Hoboken, let me know. My friend Tiffany can put you in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, HUGE apartment with parking for ONLY $2500 a month. If you split it with someone, it's only $1250 a month per person. Program note: My FRIDAY DIARY will not be posted until Friday night. I should have some good stories at that time. In the Journalism trade, that's what's known as a TEASER. See you LATE FRIDAY. All my best, Bob Bob Borden Fun Fact #39: Bob really likes the Christopher Cross song, 'Sailing' 1-28-04 My Photo of the Day is a photo of what it looked like outside my window at 10:30 last night. I was happy to be indoors, that's for damn sure. This is my first update with my new super-fast DSL connection, can you see the difference? I have to spend some more time surfing the 'net before I give a review. I like the idea of faster information but do I really need it? The jury is out, as they say. Sunday night I'm watching The Inlaws, the original, and at the end of the film the dictator shows off his "fine art" collection. His paintings are really black velvet art. The "tacky" stuff you see people selling out of their cars in strip malls. Now here's where I have to be honest, I kind of like those paintings. So, one thing leads to another and I find myself on Ebay placing a bid. I bid $15 and was secure that I'd win because, let's face it, who's going to buy this stuff other than me. Here's an example of the black velvet painting I bid on: Fine art Pretty cool, right? Come on! It's a monkey playing poker, I know cool and I'm sorry, that's cool. Anyway, I turn on my computer an hour later and was shocked to see that I was outbid! I couldn't believe it! But it turns out that it was a blessing in disguise because I found a site that does custom Black Velvet work! Checkout thevelvetstore.com -- I could be a black velvet painting! Very exciting. I'd look so cool hanging over my bed. That's about it for today. Down for whatever, Bob Bob Borden fun fact #27: Bob likes tea with milk. 1-27-04 I had a mild panic attack yesterday morning on the bus. I put on my headphones, pressed play on the ipod and got nothing. It froze. I pushed every button and still wasn't getting any love. It wouldn't even turn off, it was stuck. It wasn't until an hour into the workday when Walter told me that I had to press "play" and "menu" to reset it. It was fine, just a glitch in the ones and zeros. Whew! Big thanks to Walter! Now it's time for a new segment to bobborden.com, I call it BobBorden.com's Uneventful Story, here we go: I forgot my gloves yesterday but it was OK, it wasn't that cold. That was BobBorden.com's Uneventful Story -- tell your friends. I forgot to mention that on Friday morning I got a haircut. There's a shop in the subway and damn if that guy can't cut a mean head of hair. He was telling me that he had a shop on 42nd Street for 39 years! He moved to the subway 7 years ago when the city "sold" everything to Disney. I shouldn't talk about this because I don't want people to think that I'm "showing off" but I enjoyed the conversation and the cut so much, I gave the guy a 100% tip. I'm only writing about it because it made me feel good. I haven't gone to this barber too much because I was in his shop on 9/11. Not a good memory. I've been going from barber to barber for years, I think I'll stick with this guy for awhile. I have another story from Friday that I forgot about, I need to start taking notes on my life, ha ha. I was on the bus, my knees were jammed up against the seat and along comes this big ox of a dude. He sits down hard and the seat kills my knees. So, there's that. Then he starts talking to his friend, idiot #2, about soft drinks. I mean, this was an extended conversation about power drinks and Mountain Dew. I couldn't take it anymore, I had to put on my headphones. I was listening to sweet music while watching these dorks go on and on. We're getting close to my stop, I take my headphones off and I hear them talking about pagans and the Roman empire! No kidding. How do you get from Mountain Dew to the Roman empire in one bus ride?! I'm glad I didn't have to find out. The bus sucks sometimes. My apartment still smells like lamb chops. I really burnt those suckers Sunday night. I meant to stop off at the candle shop last night to pick up a vanilla scented candle. Isn't it funny that there's a candle shop in this day and age? The mark up on candles must be so huge. I like candles but don't have them lit too much because of the cats. It just seems like a disaster waiting to happen. That's why I don't have any plants either. I'd come home after work and the plant, without fail, would always be knocked over. They loved that plant! That's all I have to talk about today. Wait, nevermind, that's it! Stay beautiful, Bob Bob Borden Fun Fact #26: Bob just deleted 13 photos of butter from his digital camera. 1-26-04 And now, Master Storyteller, Bob Borden, brings you: today's diary. Friday night after work, I was beat, all I wanted to do was rent/buy some video games and relax. I went to Blockbuster, it was too crowded, I walked out. I thought I'd buy one good video game at the game store on the same block. I found a game that contains 20 classic arcade games for $20. That's a buck a game! I'm checking out, show the guy the display box and he tells me I have the last one. The game is brand new but I have to take the display box. I don't want the display box, it has stickers on it and it's all funky from everyone touching it. So, I went back to Blockbuster. By then it wasn't so crowded so I rented a game and a movie. From there I picked up a burrito and soon I was on the old sofa, ah, home. I could have gone out with my friends but I was just too tired. I ended up falling asleep next to the warm glow of the TV. I woke up at 3 am and made my way to my bed. Then around 6 am I woke up out of a deep sleep by a neighbor's alarm clock. It just kept on going and going, unbelievable. I went down (At 6 am!) and banged on the door but no one was home. A note was written that I'll probably have to apologize for later. That's part of apartment life. But I was pretty pissed off. I got back to sleep and woke up around 10. I watched some TV and then walked up the street to do my laundry. It went by pretty quick mostly because there was a Rolling Stone magazine, it was the 500 greatest albums of all time edition. Pretty interesting reading. I had all 500 albums, ha ha. I got home and played the rented video game, True Crime. It's just OK. One of them kill 'em up games. And the soundtrack, oh my -- it's pretty raw. I watched some TV and then talked on the phone. I didn't have any food, so I went out around 8. I picked up a tostada. I watched the Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn flick, Charade. It was really a good, clever film. I woke up Sunday around 9:30. I was SO close to calling Walter to go on a casino run. But I calmed down and thought it out. It wouldn't have timed out too well. So, I drove to Best Buy. I was going to buy that classic arcade game but they didn't have it. I looked around for awhile but didn't buy anything. I was driving to the A & P and then I remembered I was close to a Toys 'R Us. Finally! I found the game. I did some shopping and headed back home. I cooked up some lamb chops for dinner and made my apartment all smokey. I forgot to turn on the air thing. I played my 20 classic games on and off for the rest of the night. Here's what's on the disc: Spy Hunter Defender Defender II Gauntlet Joust Joust 2 Paperboy Rampage Robotron 2084 Smash TV Bubbles Roadblasters Blaster Rampart Sinistar Super Sprint Marble Madness 720 (degrees) Toobin' KLAX SPLAT! Satan's Hollow Vindicators and Root Beer Tapper That's twenty folks -- wait, that's 24! How cool. And that was my weekend! On Friday, I was sad to say goodbye to a nice co-worker/guy, Jonathan. He's moving back to LA to work with his writing partner, Gabe. To Jonathan and Gabe I say this: Good Luck, we'll miss ya! Jemma, Jonathan and Oliver Have a great day. All my best, Bob 1-23-04 There's some stupid show on VH1 about reuniting bands from the 80's. The band they're trying to get back together on the episode I'm watching is Klymaxx. I don't remember them, they must have been on the radar for about a second. Anyway, after a CRAZY day this is just what the doctor ordered. So pointless. I think I'm going to start my day today by getting a haircut. My sideburn accident from earlier in the week still looks a little crazy. I'm about due for a haircut anyway. OK, I have nothing to talk about today -- nothing. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Me and the rest of America. See, I have nothing. I had a very long day. I'll have more on Monday. Have a great weekend. Always, Bob PS Jlo, you're better off with out him. Call me. 1-22-04 I have voicemail for the home and I love it. But I'm not getting any calls, that's getting a little annoying. Who the hell wouldn't want to call me? Where's the love? The only calls I get are sales calls. I don't mean to be a grumpy Gus ('Grumpy Gus,' who the heck says that?) but I just checked my messages and I'm getting tired of hearing the lady say, "You have no new messages." I might as well unplug the phone and go back to the telegraph. I entered the computer race yesterday by purchasing a DSL for the old computer. Excuse me for a second -- YAWN! -- OK, I'm back. In my diary yesterday I had a photo of my ceiling lamp where the dirt looked an awful lot like Richard Nixon. I thought it was a pretty good likeness and I was expecting a lot of hits on the message board. Instead, I got nothing. At first I thought, 'could I have been wrong about the popularity of a likeness of a former President of the UNITED STATES that was found in the dirt of my ceiling lamp? Am I that out of touch with my audience? Maybe it's time I moved on to something else.' It was a hard, soul-searching day. But then I thought, 'screw them, I'm ahead of my time -- A found likeness of Richard Nixon is genius.' On the way to work yesterday, I saw a guy passed out on the sidewalk. Firefighters were trying to revive him. Pretty sad way to start the day. I think he was homeless, that's a tough way to go. Then the night before I had another "experience" with a homeless man on the subway where the train wasn't smelling too wonderful. I felt bad for the guy. I don't know why I'm mentioning these things, sometimes the inhumanities of the world just touch me in a way that I don't think anyone else can understand. Does that make any sense at all? This has been another installment of the hit new feature to bobborden.com: Bob Cares -- Tell Your Friends! I think I have a mild cold. I'm feeling a little run down this week. Just thought I'd mention that so that ten years from now when I look back on my diaries, I'll be able to say, 'hey, I wasn't feeling so great ten years ago, huh.' That's it! Do me a favor, hug someone today, you'll feel better. Stay wonderful, Bob 1-21-04 There was always something going on yesterday, usually something bad. Tough day. I took the edge off after work by going to the record store. They were playing a Foo Fighters CD, I stayed in the store and listened to the whole thing. Yesterday morning I was getting ready for work and I noticed that there was some hair growing over my ears, so I made a little adjustment with the old scissors, perfect. Then I noticed that my sideburns were getting a little crazy. So, I took the scissors to the sideburns -- I messed them up, I cut too much, now I think I need a haircut just to make things somewhat normal. Take a look: Oops! May not seem like much to you, I'm sure they'll grow back but for right now, I feel like a dork. I ran into the girl on the bus shortly after I screwed up my hair (see 1/14/04 diary) and we exchanged pleasantries. She seems like good people. But I still find the bus a hard place to have a conversation. People are in the zone, gearing up for work, not really a great time to break into the old, 'hey, where are you from?' line. I think this is the last time I'll write about running into this woman, I feel like a borderline stalker writing without her knowledge. Whatever happens, happens. Such is life, KAKA*. I had something strange happen to me yesterday also. I was on my bed looking up and I saw the likeness of an "evil" Richard Nixon on the dirt and grime of my ceiling lamp. I know, I know, "Richard Nixon was evil" Blah Blah Blah -- save that commie crap for the upcoming election. Anyway, checkout the lamp: Do you see Richard Nixon in my ceiling lamp? Call me crazy but I see a likeness. That's all I have today. Stay beautiful, Bob *KAKA is Swahili, it means Brother. 1-20-04 I forgot to mention something from my weekend. Saturday I woke up and watched Roustabout, starring Elvis. It was your typical bad Elvis movie from that era but you know what? I watched the whole damn thing. I thought that was a little weird of me. He was a carnival worker. He loved to ride motorcycles, chase the chicks and be an all-around bad ass. I think I liked it because it mirrored my life. Except for the motorcycles, chicks and bad ass thing. But I do love a carnival, Lord knows I love the carnival! So the Super Bowl is set and ready to go but I'm not a fan of either of the teams. I was hoping for a Colts/Eagles match-up. I guess I'll watch for the commercials. I wonder who's playing in the Bud Bowl this year? Budweiser and Bud Lite, I'm guessing. I felt a little off all-day Monday. I think my staying in all day on Sunday due to the weather was a little too much. But I did clean a lot. Maybe all of the cleaning fluid took its toll. I use a lead-based cleaner, that's cool, right? Wait, it was my poor dinner from Sunday night! I bet anything that's what made me feel not right! That and all the pain and suffering in the world. That last sentence was a new feature to bobborden.com, I call it: Bob Cares. Tell your friends. I said it before and I'll say it again, I love my ipod! I have 1034 songs on that tiny thing. 500 of which are Dokken, ha ha! I'm running out of space on the old 5 gig but it's more than enough for me. I can make custom mixes. A mix to go to sleep, a mix to ride the bus, whatever. Technology is grand. I can't believe this but I just remembered another story I should have talked about yesterday. Friday morning I had some time to kill before work, it was cold, I needed a better hat, so I walked over to The Gap. They had this piss-poor selection of hats, it was almost like a joke. Then I looked at the price -- $16.50! For a knit hat, who the heck are they kidding? I looked at the sales person and said, "Hey sweets, I just want to buy this, I don't want to marry it!" OK, I didn't say that but I did think about it. What was I doing in The Gap anyway? The only other thing that would fit me in that place would be the socks. And they were over priced too! I wonder if hats come in Big & Tall sizes? I have to apologize for my Photo's of the Day this year. I haven't had my camera out like I should. For every one photo that ends up on my site, there are 100 that never see the light of day. I'm THAT tough on my work, you have to be, really. So, I haven't been saving them. That is, up until today. I LOVE today's POD! Abstract? You bet, but then, isn't life abstract? Something to think about. Stay gold, Bob PS It was fun bringing you bobborden.com for the past three years but it's time to move on. Tomorrow this site will be dedicated to the lives of Nick and Jessica. Have a good one. 1-19-04 Can you feel it? We're less than 24 hours away from a new season of American Idol! Just kidding. In the Internet trade, that's what's known as a "grabber." Here's what I learned from this weekend: If you don't make plans, chances are, you're going to end up doing nothing. Friday night I picked up a burrito, watched some TV and burned some CDs. I also installed a new battery into my old ipod. It was pretty easy, too easy. (Musical sting) Saturday I woke up around 10 and watched some TV to ease into the day. I had to clean up the apartment, so I started in the living room. I unhooked my DVD, stereo and made things neater and more accessible. Then around 4 I gathered up all the laundry and drove to Nutley. It was 20 degrees outside but after the cold snap we had last week, it felt like spring. My Jeep started up the very first time, did I say "first time?" OK, maybe the second time but that's still pretty good after sitting for a week. My laundry was uneventful and soon enough, I was driving back to Hoboken. After I got my laundry upstairs, I really didn't feel like going out again to get some dinner. Thankfully, I had some frozen pizza and frozen three-cheese ziti. Although, I only counted two cheeses. Those bastards over at Smart Ones owe me one more cheese! The nerve. Sunday I woke up around 8, then went back to sleep and woke up around 10. It was snowing out and I didn't feel like driving or going out. So my cleaning continued. I tackled the bedroom. My CDs were taking up a lot of space so I decided to box them up. I've already put the best of the best on my ipod so there's no point in them collecting dust. I also had some sorting of clothes to do. Around 6 I put on my boots and walked over to the market to buy some kitty litter. I bought my dinner there as well; some frozen White Castle burgers and an eight pack (tiny cans) of Coors Light. I took some vitamins after that meal because White Castle and beer have the nutritional value of dirt. But tasty, oh so tasty. So that's it. I think Mike (Wahoo Gazette) is giving me a plug/shout out today. Too bad because this diary sucks eggs. Tell your friends? Here's what I learned from watching football yesterday: Turnovers will cost you, big. Stay beautiful, Bob 1-16-04 The good news: I got a great night's sleep last night. The bad news: I fell asleep on my sofa at 11:30, then went to bed without doing the diary. Now, at 6:45 am, I'm trying to put something together and I just wasted 30 minutes making my Photo of the Day! I was walking home last night, it was 2 degrees out and I said to myself, come on, it's not that bad. 2 degrees, big deal! Then I turned the corner and faced 8 blocks of ice-cold wind. There's a good chance that my heart stopped during that walk. This morning I see that a lot of area schools are on a 2 hour delay. You ever feel like your life is on a two-hour delay? That was a little piece I'm working on for my stand-up act. Developing. I stole the "Developing" tag from the Drudge Report. It's a "classy" way to say we don't have 100% of the story but we think this is what happened, ha ha. My friend Walter really wants to hit the casino this weekend but I'm not feeling it. I think I'm going to kick around, clean up my apartment and just chill. Going to the casino wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't two hours away. It becomes like a whole day thing. I'm just saying that because I don't have the fever right now. But if I got the urge, I'd be there without question, ha ha. You know, forget you read this paragraph, I made myself out to be a hypocrite. So I think that's all I have for a Friday morning. Here's how the rest of my morning will go: Shower Dress (I WILL be dressing in layers) Walk to the bus stop Get on the bus Get off the bus Walk through the bus station Get on the subway Get off the subway Get something to eat Walk to work That's a nice way to fill out the diary -- now it looks like I actually had time to craft a diary worthy of bobborden.com. That's it! Have a great weekend! Stay beautiful, Bob 1-15-04 It is brick* outside! (*Brick; means super-cold. Phrase used by our receptionist, Linda.) I'm running out of winter clothes. Monday, I had the t-shirt with the button down thing going. Tuesday it was the Old Navy Sweater. And Wednesday I had a green thermal long sleeve with a polo over that. I'm kind of stuck for Thursday. Developing story. I want to say thanks to all the people on my message board, my brother George and all the people I work with for their support about yesterday's diary -- pretty cool to hear from everyone like that. I call that the power of the diary. Thank you. With my recent heating outage, my cats had to bear the worst of it. They were stuck in my 40 degree apartment for 48 hours. To repay them i thought I'd do something nice and buy them a cat bed. They sleep where they want to but it might be nice to see if they'd go for a bed. I went to a cat boutique and looked around and saw a nice little bed. It was round and had that sherpa-like material inside. So I picked it up and the damn thing was $38 bucks! For some foam and some cloth, I couldn't believe it. The bed that I sleep on now isn't worth $38 bucks. I know, I'm living the sweet life. But that's pretty steep for a cat bed. Seriously, I just looked down and one of them (I won't say which one) and they were licking themselves. So I guess they don't really need a bed anyway. It can't be that hard to please them, ha. In an unrelated story I just bought $38 worth of scratch-off tickets. Ha ha -- see what I did?! Sweet Lord, I'm talking about my cats. Somebody stop me! I think that's all I have today. I have to start shopping for the best return policies on big-screen TV's for my annual Superbowl party this year. I'm looking into setting a new size record by "purchasing" a 60-inch set. You have to set goals, otherwise what's the point? Stay gold, Bob 1-14-04 So I'm on the bus yesterday morning, I'm running late and a block away from the bus stop, I see the bus pull up. I hurry to the bus stop and oddly, the bus just seems to be waiting for me. I make the bus and am on my way. What a nice way to start the morning. The bus hits the next stop and the girl that I see all the time on the bus gets on. I have always felt like striking up a conversation but the bus is such an awkward place to break the ice. She sits opposite of me and the only thing I can do is sit there, as usual. Again, I'm running late so I text message my boss that I'll be a few minutes tardy, he says, no problem. We get to the Port Authority, she gets off first and we go our separate ways. I really felt a strong urge to do something. I know from the way she's going that she's going out to the street. So, I said to myself, you HAVE to do this. I turned around and followed her blindly, I think she may have gone out to the street but I'm not sure. I get outside, look around and spot her a block up. I'm stuck at the light and then quickly walk up 8th Avenue. I caught up to her and said, "I just rode with you on the bus from Hoboken, my name is Bob." She introduced herself to me and I said, "I don't know what your deal is, if you have a boyfriend --" And from the look on her face, I could tell she had a boyfriend. I said, "It's fine, I just wanted to say hi. I never do this sort of thing but I HAD to do this." She said, "Good for you Bob." Ha ha. I ended it by saying, "Next time we see each other on the bus we can say hi." She said, "Absolutely." She was genuinely flattered, she told me I made her day. I've NEVER done anything like this before. It was different but not as bad as I thought. I'm really glad I put myself out there. It was kind of exciting. Once a year I get pretty brave, yesterday was that day. Now I can go back to sleep, ha ha! In other news, I'm listening to a sweet playlist I made on my ipod. Check it out: Mike Watt - Red Bluff Bob Marley - Guava Jelly Beck - Lost Cause The Prentenders - Night in my Veins Cracker - Brides of Neptune No Doubt - Simple kind of Life The Lemonheads - Into your Arms Guided by Voices - Wrecking Now Brendan Benson - Tiny Spark New Order - Regret Pretty sweet. The heat in my apartment is back to normal. Just in time too because it's crazy cold outside. The high today is only going to reach twenty degrees. And it's going to snow about three inches tonight. That's it for today, I have to find a decent hat to wear. Stay beautiful, Bob 1-13-04 Before I talk about my building's heating problems, I thought I'd introduce you to one of Bob's People: Picture it -- the beginning of 2003, everyone's time to wash away the bad moments of '02 and start anew... My friend, Jay, decided to try a new way of saving money. But how? Saving pennies, nickels and dimes was so 1990's. Jay wanted to step it up, so he decided to save every five-dollar bill that passed through his hands. This went on all year long and last week, Jay took $1450 to the bank. $1450 in five-dollar bills That's quite the story Jay, enjoy your money and thanks for being one of Bob's People. Tell your friends. When I last wrote, it was Sunday and I was on my way to Tiffany's apartment to crash because my apartment was sans heat. Tiffany was out with friends to enjoy a movie, so I had the place all to myself. I rented two films; Out of Sight and Following. Her apartment is so cool because she has heat, ha ha. It was getting late, I was getting tired and Tiffany wasn't home. With no blankets for the sofa, I thought, I'll just crash in her bed. The combined body heat will benefit both of us. She got home about a half hour later and crashed on her sofa. What the heck, I thought. She told me that she wouldn't get a good night's sleep sharing the bed (and there's nothing implied in that statement). But she's doing me a favor, there's no way I'd let her take the sofa. So I kicked her out and went to sleep. Sort of. Her place is a little louder than mine and I thought I kept hearing an Asian guy from another apartment. All told, I think I got around 4 1/2 hours of sleep. And that's not enough. All day Monday I felt like I took the redeye from LA to NY. I woke up at Tiff's around 6 am. She informed me that I snore, loudly. Damn. In my defense I was sleeping all contorted on the sofa. Bobby needs room to breathe! But it was darn nice of her to hook me up like that. Thanks Tiffany. I walked home Monday morn and it was so cold, I could see my breath. My cats were pissed, I felt/feel really bad. They're toughing it out and I'm living the sweet life over at Tiff's place. I got home from work Monday night around 8:20 and I had heat! It's still cold but heat's coming out. I guess I can't expect it to be boiling in here after 48-hours of nothing. It's good to be back! Have a great day. Always, Bob 1-12-04 No justice, no heat. What a clever title for a diary, it's like Fraser. Let's get to it! When I was leaving work on Friday I was watching the news. They were over-hyping things, as usual. They were talking about record-low temperatures and so on. I said to myself, oh, come on. Walked outside and froze my ass off! Friday night I had plans to kick it with my friend Tiffany. We ordered some Chinese food and watched Bend It Like Beckham, her choice, not mine. The food was great and the film was surprisingly good. I was out of there around 12. Saturday I woke up around 10. I wanted a free weekend so I decided to get my laundry out of the way. I decided to do it up the street, rather than starting my car to drive to Nutley. I have a feeling that if I start my car in these temperatures, something will fall off. I'm not kidding, why risk it, you know? I did my laundry and headed back home to watch TV. Around 4 or 5 o'clock I noticed that it was getting cold in my apartment. I looked out my window and saw some guys going in and out of the building. They must be working on something, I thought. Rather than sit and be cold, I decided to walk around Hoboken, and be cold. I was gone for well over an hour and I came back to the guys bringing in duct work, not a good sign. Up to the apartment and it got colder inside. I have one of those small space heaters so I set it up close to the sofa. It's the equivalent of sitting in front of a hair dryer, that's on the low setting. I had a burrito for dinner and flipped around the tube all night. The guys were still working on the heat. I decided to stay up until the heat came on. Around two am, I looked out the window and saw that the truck was gone. OK, I thought. This won't be so bad. I got every blanket I had, added to the already large amount of clothes that I was wearing and called it a night. Woke up around 9 on Sunday. Still cold, they never fixed the heat. No one called and no one left a note about this problem. I took a hot shower and decided to leave, outside was better than this, at least the sun's out. I found the number to the building manager and left a message. The message was basically this, "What's up!?" I walked outside and ran into my neighbor (can't remember his name to save my life but he's a hell of a nice guy) and he told me that they were here 'til four am. They were either fixing or replacing the boiler, on the coldest day in recent memory, and they didn't have the right part. Great, I told him, great. He told me it was around 40 degrees in his apartment. I walked to the Hoboken A & P and bought some stuff, again, I refuse to start my car. It's funny, I just don't want anything to happen I may not start her until spring, ha ha. I get home and the manager called me back. Turns out, they won't have the part until Monday. Nice. I figure my cats will be fine, there are plenty of blankets and they do have a full coat of fur but I'm not staying here again. Hell no. So, I made arrangements to sleep over Tiffany's house. What a crap weekend. What a cold weekend. The topper of all of this is on Saturday night, I bought some Pringles and every chip was broken, BROKEN! Crazy world. Stay warm, Bob 1-09-04 A letter from Bob: "I've never done this before. But life is about taking risks is it not? I am writing to you because the future I wish for my children is at risk. I know that people seem to pay attention to everything I do. Big or Small. Ridiculous or Sublime. So I am hoping they pay attention to this:" Frito Lay has a new snack food! ROLLITOS! They're just Doritos rolled up and I have to tell you, they're what you want when you want something "snacking" good! The quotes from the start of my diary today were "borrowed" from Madonna's website. She posted a letter yesterday giving her endorsement to General Wesley Clark. WHO CARES! But I guess she's a Mom and a famous pop singer, so she has every right to sit on her pulpit, in London, and tell the common folk who they should vote for -- Get a grip sweets! You're rich, relax. By the way, we caught Saddam. I'm living for this weekend! Nothing major planned -- Just going to live my life and take it as it comes, you know what I'm saying? I'll probably just do my laundry and/or go to a casino. Maybe I should hold off on the casino talk until my Christmas bills come in -- but I do have a blackjack jones right now, Hmmmmmm. The Darkness is on Late Show tonight. They're pretty good but I haven't listened to the whole album yet. At first I thought that they were a joke band, like Spinal Tap. But after closer inspection, they seem to be the real thing. Metal's back! I may have said this before but in the 80's, I never thought Metal was going to come to an end. I call that period of my life: The Innocent Years. When I think about those days, all the tapes and all the concerts, I always think about a quote I read, in some Heavy Metal magazine, from Ronnie James Dio: "It's not how big your pencil is but how big you write your name." HA HA HA! Oh sweet 80's. That's it for today. I think '04 is off to a pretty good start. Tell your friends about BobBorden.com! Stay Sweet, Bob Good Luck to a hell of a nice guy! Nice to know you Tim Mann. 1-08-04 It's SO cold out there, man! The most important thing I forgot yesterday was earmuffs. That was painfully obvious while walking home last night. Did you see the story yesterday about the kid that got caught in one of those claw/crane prize machines? You know, you put in your money, the claw comes down and pulls up a prize for you. Well, the kid, somehow, climbed inside this thing. I don't know how he did it but it was all over the news! I mean with all that's going on in the world, is this really a story? I think this is just another case of the media over-hyping things. He's a kid, kids like toys -- BIG DEAL! Oops! Boy, what an inopportune time to put that photo on my website. Kid, wherever you are tonight, Godspeed, you're going to need it, ha ha. Sweet Lord I had fun making that photo! I haven't had a photo in the old diary for a while due to my 'newness' with Apple. I have to get on the stick for '04. I didn't do anything except for work yesterday so I don't have any fun stories to share. Hopefully I made you laugh today, hopefully that's enough. So until Friday, Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. Much love, Bob 1-07-04 OK, get ready: Geek Alert. Did you see that Apple introduced a new mini ipod yesterday? It's 4 gigs and $249. Now, their 'regular' ipod has been upgraded from 10 gigs to 15 gigs but the price, $299, will remain the same. Now my question to the world is why would you buy the 4 gig when for just $50 more, you could have the 15 gig? WHY?! OK, Geek Alert has passed. I have to say that I love my used ipod, it's darn good technology, darn good. But I'd never get the new 4 gig thing, too expensive. Did you see the story yesterday about the woman from Cleveland that said she lost he winning lottery ticket. What a lame thing to do! You could say that about anything! And it taints the real winners 'glory'. However, I'm sure they don't mind because they just won 162 million dollars, ha ha. That's some sweet money ladies and gentlemen. If I won that much, I'd get one of those new mini, 4 gig ipods. (What!?) Last night I was walking home and my jeans felt a little askew. It kind of felt like I ripped them in the obvious place. But after a quick feel, everything was cool. I get home, take off my pants and my underwear is torn all along the seam straight down the front. They're pretty new too! I think I have a case of faulty drawers. Isn't that a British Television show, Faulty Drawers? But I just thought of something else. It could be the Lord getting back at me for yesterday's "attack" on that woman wearing leather pants. If that's the case, excuse me for a second -- OH sweet vengeful Lord, will thoust please forgive thee, 't was in poor taste, I know that now. I need all my drawers Lord, I need all of them Lord. Lord? LORD!!!!! OK, I'm back. I don't think I have anything else to say today. That One Hour Photo is one creepy film. Yep, that's all I have. Stay Beautiful, Bob 1-06-04 If anyone can tell me why my AOL was in Spanish yesterday, that'd be wonderful. I flunked Spanish 3 times in college and I never want to see that language again. First days back are usually rough but yesterday was pretty good. OK, I take that back, the bus ride in was a rude awaking, it was still gray outside and I don't know, it was just the thought of it all. I really didn't hit my stride until about 12:00. I was doing a lot of multitasking as we break in the new intern. Things got better as I let reality take over instead of dreaming about the lottery. But I did end up playing the lottery at the end of the day. I'm not stupid. I got off the bus last night and I saw a woman wearing leather pants and she was the type of person that really shouldn't be wearing leather pants. I said to myself: "Oh, hell no!" And what kills me is she was with a friend! Some friend, tell the girl to leave those chaps at home! And yes, I know the glass houses thing. But I'm not going around in leather pants either. Have some sense! That's what's wrong with the world. I was really tired Sunday night after driving all day. I lost three hours due to falling asleep on my sofa. I hate when that happens. Mostly because my sofa is so small I have to crash with my legs up on the arm. I wake up sore and confused. I could get a new sofa but I know my cats would dig into it. Anyway, that's my problem. That's it for today. Good to be back. Always, Bob PS Britney, he wasn't the one for you. Keep your head up and the right one will come along soon enough. 1-05-04 Welcome back. I hope the holidays were as kind to you as they were to me. I had a week off and spent all my time with family. I didn't spend any time writing my diary/taking notes, which is unfortunate, because it's all a blur. My nights were spent watching TV, mornings were spent sleeping in and the days were spent playing video games with my nephews. The game of choice: Halo. It's a first-person shoot 'em up game. I grew up on video games and fancy myself quite the game player but these kids, 7 and 6 (I think), kicked my butt every time. I'm not exaggerating. I was really impressed with their skills. A few days into the vacation my brother, the nephews and I had a lovely lunch at Benihana. That's the place where you sit in front of a grill and the chef chops a shrimp down your throat. Very good eating, the things that guy did with beef, brought a tear to my eye. Shout out to Brother George for a good experience. Christmas was really good, it's mostly for the kids now, as I'm 34 and know that Santa really didn't get me squat! That's still a bitter pill. My Aunt, Uncle and cousin stopped by for a few days. I was relocated from my usual spot but I adapted nicely. I haven't seen my cousin Paul in a few years, always nice to hang with him. He kicked my butt on Game Cube football. I really shouldn't play games anymore; I'm so tired of getting beat! New Year's Eve it was my Mom, the kids and I. After entertaining them for most of the night I was tired come midnight. Luke and Jake stayed up but they had no idea why. Come to think of it, neither did I. I'm not a New Year's Eve kind of guy. It's 2004, who gives a crap. One day was spent trying to fix my windshield wiper fluid problem. The problem? You push the button for fluid and get nothing. I put in a new motor and it worked on the driver's side only. After studying the problem for a while, I decided to take the passenger hose off, I mean, who cares if the passenger can't see? A day later I noticed that all of the fluid was on the garage floor. Turns out, the fluid bottle has a slow leak. I sprayed some foam sealant where it was leaking, reinstalled everything and noticed later in the day that it was still leaking. Very frustrating. Reminder to self: You drive a car that was made in 1982. Darn. I worry about this stuff with good reason; When I installed a radio, I thought that was causing my engine not to start, turns out, I just needed a $2400 transmission job. So, Lord only knows what a leak in the washer fluid bottle means! Mom and I hit the old local casino for some fun. Those nickel slots are very addictive! They have bonus screens when you hit the right combination and when you finally do get a bonus, it's gold. But I really wish they had table games. My last Saturday in Steubenville I woke up around 7. The car was packed up and I was ready to go. But while I was eating breakfast, I just didn't feel like driving 8 hours. So I stayed another day. I watched Lucas play in a basketball game, they lost, again. But he was pretty good. I'm glad I stayed another day. However, the rainy drive back on Sunday was the worst. Nothing but rain, for 8 hours. OK, that's it. I leave you today with the last words my niece, Emma, said to me as I walked out the door: "Goodbye Mr. Pickles."

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