7-31-03 As I'm writing today's diary, I'm listening to The Fixx. Why? I had the song, Red Skies, in my mind towards the end of yesterday and I HAD to pick it up at the record store. It's a shame The Fixx aren't still popular. If I had to put my finger on it, I'd say that the extra x in fix probably didn't help matters. In an era where bands worshiped the devil to be extreme, they just added an x to their name. That's not really rebelling against the parents enough. If they were 'The Fixxxxxxxxxxxxxx', maybe they'd have a chance. Or maybe they just needed better songs. I'll leave this issue up to the musical historians. What the hell does Saved by Zero mean anyway? It's a damn good thing this CD was only $3.99. I was walking home the other night and I overheard something funny. A young man is talking to a much older man and you can tell by his demeanor that he's trying to convince the old man of something. Young man to the old man, "Look, I don't hang around with Jimmy anymore, I swear." The old man is silent. The young man starts looking around and catches the eye of a friend riding a bike up the block. The young man yells to the friend on the bike, "Yo G, do I hang around with Jimmy anymore?" Friend on the bike (He doesn't stop pedaling), "No!" Young man to old man, "See?" I enjoyed that. A two-paragraph diary -- can I do that? Hell yes. I'm going to end it here. Have a great day. Down for Whatever, Bob 7-30-03 I'm going to start out the old diary today with some things that I observed on the bus ride home last night. I saw a person in a restaurant with shocking pink hair. After a few more stops, I saw a person walking down the street with stop sign red hair. On the bus, sitting close to me was businessman #1. Businessman #1 was ROCKING OUT to some loud music that everyone around him could hear. Businessman #2, sitting next to businessman #1, was also rocking out to loud music. You'll be happy to know that when businessman #2 gets a call on his cell, he stops the music, takes the call and then goes back to his loud music. In front of them was the 'trying but not really getting it' guy. He made phone calls and covered his mouth to muffle the sound as not to disturb others. Nice but what Mr. 'trying but not really getting it' guy forgot was that talking REALLY LOUD into the phone makes the 'covering your mouth with your paper' part obsolete. It was quite the ride. I wore some new pants yesterday that I purchased for about $19.50. I like them but I didn't know exactly how big they were until my day was well on its way. The bottom of the pants touched the floor, leading to a constant, annoying, adjustment. I sat down at my desk to see the pants damage and then I noticed my shoes. My new shoes that only have a day of wear - they have a "rip" where the rubber meets the leather. New shoes in crisis Can you believe that?! I was so pissed that I stuffed them into an envelope and mailed them back to the company. It's going to take six weeks to get this thing resolved - thank God I have another pair of shoes, ha ha. Damn shoe bastards! I do have some exciting news today. It's really kind of hard to believe that bobborden.com would have two celebrity sightings in one week but what can I say, it's true. On his way to work yesterday my boss, Justin, snapped this photo with his cell phone. Celebrity sighting It's Peter Scolari from Bosom Buddies/Newhart fame, among many other things. Very cool. Thanks Justin for the exclusive -- I should also mention that today's Justin's birthday! Congrats. Back to the cell/camera thing: Those camera/cell phones are pretty cool and yet, I hate them. They're just yet another annoyance in the long line of things invading people's liberties and freedoms these days-unless you're a celebrity, in which case, I probably won't lose any sleep over the issue. That's it for HUMP day! Tell somebody you love 'em today. All my best, Bob 7-29-03 I was riding home on the bus last night, twenty dollars in my pocket and then it hit me; I should get a haircut. So off to SuperCuts I went. I sat down in the chair and the stylist asked me, "What would you like me to do?" I responded, make me look like summer. Five minutes later, I walked out of the shop with a haircut so brilliant, it doesn't even have a name. The other stylists even gathered around and cheered us on; it was incredible! Bob's new cut OK, that first paragraph was a little creative writing. Actually, I sat down in the chair and she asked me, "What would you like me to do?" And I responded, I think the guy used a number 2 blade on me last time. But I still like the haircut. In other style news, my new shoes really were comfortable yesterday. Just thought I'd mention that. When I drove from Ohio to New Jersey last vacation I was listening to some old cassettes from my youth. A stand out in the collection was Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendencies. The song is so intense/funny! It reminded me so much of my musical upbringing that I even called my brother from the road just to play him the song! I was going to mention this in the diary but I didn't think anyone would get it. Then, I'm reading my message board last week and Christina, out of the blue, mentions that exact song! I couldn't believe it. Because of this kismet, I'm naming Christina, my Person of the Week! Bob's Person of the Week Congratulations! If you've ever read my Stuff section you know that I collect rap dolls. Back in January I heard that there was going to be a Snoop Dogg doll. Excited and maybe a little confused, I immediately did a search on the internet that resulted in nothing. My boss, Justin, heard about my search and knew the perfect company for me to contact. Sure enough, he was right on the money! I placed my order but it turns out that it was a pre-order. February, March, April and so on. Finally on Friday, I received shipping notification! Snoop Dogg is on the way! Time for a new feature to BobBorden.com, I call it; Bob Tracks His Snoop Dogg Doll as it Travels Across America. Here we go, as of today my package shipped on July 25, 2003 at 4:01 A.M. - from CA, US - And the status is In Transit and on time. And that was, Bob Tracks His Snoop Dogg Doll as it Travels Across America - tell your friends. Hmmmm, that wasn't as exciting as I thought. What do I care; I'm not getting paid to write this crap. Wow, I never thought of that before. What am I doing? Oh what the heck, it keeps me off the streets. OK, that's all she wrote! Stay gold, Bob 7-28-03 It's too hot to sleep. I never turned my air conditioner off this weekend. Bobby's got to be cool! My weekend started off on Friday night. I watched the great film The Falcon and the Snowman. Then the next day I learned that the director of that film, John Schlesinger, passed away. Saturday I woke up around 12. I really got up at 8:30 but then I went back to bed and listened to music. The big plan for me was laundry. I wanted to get back in the habit of doing it myself, it's too easy to just drop it off, plus they put fabric softener on everything and that got on my nerves last week. After I put something on I said to myself, OK, enough with the fabric softener! But back to my weekend, I started up my computer to check my e-mail and then I noticed I had a phone message. Walter called me up and wanted me to drive "Sally" and him to go look at a used car. Always one for an adventure, I said sure. I took my laundry to my car because I was going to do it later, then I drove to the PATH station to meet up with Walter and "Sally". Before I knew it, we were on our way to God Only Knows, that's somewhere in New Jersey. We looked at the car but it wasn't a perfect match. Next stop, Houlihan's for lunch! Walter had the French Dip, "Sally" had the Caesar salad with chicken and I enjoyed a Hamburger. We had a delightful lunch and even had a celebrity sighting. It seems that dining right behind us was New York Giants Tight End, Howard Cross. Celebrity sighting OK, I admit it, I don't really know who Howard Cross is but our waiter was very happy that he got Howard's autograph. After a lovely dining experience I drove Walter and "Sally" back to the PATH train. Then, I got my laundry bag out of the car and walked to the laundry mat. I pushed on the door but it wouldn't open. Then I looked at their business hours, they close at 5pm on Saturdays, hmmmmm, that seems odd, then I looked at my watch, it was exactly 5pm. At that point, I dropped my laundry bag, looked up at the heavens and yelled, WALTER AND "SALLY"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That last sentence was an embellishment. But I was crestfallen: Crestfallen; Adjective: Dispirited and depressed; dejected. I was so full from my lunch that I just had a bowl of soup for dinner. I started to watch Lawrence of Arabia but ended up watching Magnolia on cable instead. I also watched Queen in concert, which is always amazing to watch. Freddie Mercury was pretty great. Sunday, I woke up around 10 and watched the morning political shows. But with a full bag of laundry to wash, this was not time to relax. I got in the car and drove to Nutley. I haven't been there in a while. It was exactly the way I remembered it, ha ha. I'm talking like I haven't been there in years when I was probably there a month ago. They did open a new Famous Footwear store. They were giving 10% off because it was their Grand Opening. That's a sweet deal. While I was doing my laundry, I went into that store three times looking for the perfect pair of shoes. I probably tried on 8 or 9 pairs before I found the perfect ones. Bob's new kicks I like those but what about the price you ask? How's $34 grab you?! That wasn't a misprint: $34. I also stopped in Kohl's to purchase a new doormat. But their selection was not good. One mat had three people on it and it read: Party People. What the hell does that mean? "Welcome" was nowhere to be found. And the other mat was a stupid lighthouse, that mat didn't read welcome either! If you can't get a decent WELCOME mat in Kohl's, where can you get one? I dropped my laundry and shoes at the apartment and headed over to the A&P next. I decided on the spur of the moment to make myself a pizza. It ended up tasting not so great but what the hell. It was too humid to even consider going anywhere else after that. I stayed in Sunday night and relaxed. And that was my weekend. How was your weekend? Let me know on my message board. Have a great day! Always, Bob 7-25-03 I remember a time when bobborden.com meant something. People would crowd around their water coolers and discuss the events of the day as they pertained to me. Now I walk down the halls and people barley remember my name. Case in point: In yesterday's diary, I held out an olive branch of friendship to Pam. I made her the very first member of the D ZONE. Her response was: _________. Nothing! She never thanked me for such an honor. Finally, I had to write to her - can you believe it?! I would now like to officially revoke her membership. And because this put such a bad taste in my mouth, the D ZONE club is no more. I don't know, maybe the times are changing and maybe I'm supposed to change with them. Bull hockey! You know what; I'm going to go a step further: Pam is officially banned from my site. That's called tough love. It hurts me more than it hurts her but an example must be made. In other news, I think we're finally getting a break from this rain, just in time for the weekend. Now, if the humidity goes away, I may leave my apartment, ha ha. Sweet air conditioner, howst I love thow. Time to salute my air conditioner, the unsung hero of the summer! Thanks for keeping me cool baby! I'm looking forward to a low-key weekend. Maybe I'll go for a walk or maybe I'll fall in love or maybe I'll stay indoors and play video games. Maybe all of the above, you just don't know with me. Am I right? I haven't been carrying my camera around this week due to the rain. Let's face it; everybody hates having a wet camera. That was almost a joke. Anyway, here's why you should ALWAYS carry a camera. Reason #1: There was someone on my bus last right that bore a striking resemblance to "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair I'll never get that moment back. Reason #2: I was walking into a store and on the sidewalk there was an abandoned, giant stuffed lion. It looked so cool and the photo would have been fantastic! And reason #3: I was walking by the park and there was a cool cat sitting in a window. The silhouette would have been lovely. Damn, damn and damn! Lessons learned. You know, maybe I got off to a bad start with today's diary. I'm not a monster. Pam, if you'll come back, I'd like to welcome you back to bobborden.com. What do you say? (I just instant messaged that to Pam.) Her response? - "No bad blood here, besides, wild horses couldn't drag me away -- I love Bob and I love BobBorden.com!" Thanks PAM! Welcome back. One more note before I call it a diary: I'd like to give an award to Memphis Mike (Link on my link page) for being the Worst E-mailer of the Week. Mike wins hands down for sending me the same email four times in one night! Each time, his enclosed image never reached me. It's like he's sending me stuff from an Atari 2600! God bless ya Mike! That's it! Have a great weekend! Sweet dreams, Bob 7-24-03 I saw a report on CNN yesterday about how bad ice cream is for you. Well, by the time I got home, I wanted some ice cream so bad; it wasn't even funny. Thanks a lot CNN! I bought some Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia. Don't get me wrong, it's great but would it kill 'em to just put out some plain strawberry ice cream? Sometimes I like my ice cream without all the crap! I sense a letter writing campaign in my future. OK, time to get into the D ZONE! First order of business today is to give a shoutout to my friend Pam from Queens. Pam writes: Dear Bob, I love bobborden.com and really love the new energy brought on by the all-new D ZONE! Will you offer memberships in the near future? My hot girlfriends and I really want D ZONE fever to catch on. Thanks Bob. Pam Pam asked for it and she got it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first member of the D ZONE: D ZONE member #00001 Congratulations Pam! In other news, there were two flies in my apartment last night. I think they sought refuge in my screen and pushed their way in. I killed one but the other one remained at large for quite some time. The point of this story is that my cats dropped the ball. Flies shouldn't be anywhere near my apartment with them around. I walked in and they just calmly walked to the front door to greet me, they were oblivious to the situation at hand! I guess I can see their side of things; they did just wake up after a day-long nap. I wish I could spend all day sleeping and licking myself. Hmmmmm, that didn't sound right. I have to toughen these cats up, there's no free ride in the Borden household. I may look into kitty boot camp if things don't improve. I really like all the TV shows where "celebrities" make cute comments about decades or other stars. What garbage! VH1 is particularly guilty of this. If you're a celebrity and you find yourself on a TV show talking about other celebrities, you should give your agent a call. The E! Network has started airing these shows about celebrity photographers. Don't they worry that they're biting the hand that feeds them? As a student of television, I'm just thinking out loud. I bought a Creedence Clearwater Revival CD this past weekend -- it's darn good! It's called Cosmo's Factory. I've only owned their greatest hits collections up to this point. It's interesting hearing the non-greatest hits. I may buy all their other stuff too. They put out five records in two years! By today's standards, that's insane. I'm guessing that their hectic workload was only part of the story of how they brokeup, again, only guessing. I don't know a lot about them. I think John Fogerty's brother sued John because he sounded too much like himself. Crazy. OK, that's it for Thursday! Stay gold, Bob 7-23-03 I'd like to start off the diary with an apology. To the people sitting behind me on the bus last night, please excuse me; neck sweat is very hard to control. OK, time to get into the D ZONE! 'D ZONE' is how the kids refer to my diary on the streets, well, I should say that's how the cool kids refer to my diary. YES, take that NERDS! I love that our troops nailed Uday and Qusay Hussein yesterday. Maybe the Iraqis can change their country around with this uplifting news. I will say that it's sad that it had to come to this. I guess I'm just remembering the good old days. Uday, Bob and Qusay during better times Oh well, see you in hell ya crazy bastards! And Jessica Lynch returned home yesterday. She downplayed all the attention very well. I would describe her as classy; she's very, very lucky. OK and that was Bob's Newsbeat for July 23, 2003. Next up, the weather, ha ha. Maybe I should talk about the weather? 100% humidity is no way to go through the summer. Humidity just does me in, it's awful! Comma Use (Consider revising) - Thanks Microsoft Word! I got home last night, turned on the tube and there was a show on rebuilding a riding lawnmower engine. There truly is a show for everything now. Sadly, I watched every minute of it. I think that's all I have for today. Let me check my list: Neck sweat Uday A hero's welcome Bad weather Riding mower That was kind of cool except NUABR doesn't spell anything. Wait, it does spell URBAN but that doesn't fit into anything. Darn. OK, that's it! All my best, Bob 7-22-03 Another blank page looking me in the eye -- intimidating, yet very sexy. I'd like to submit that opening for the worst opening line of the year. Sweet Lord it's HUMID! I'm sitting here stewing in my own juices. I don't mix well with heat. I don't know if this is a good time to mention this but I'm still single. Ladies? Hello. Hello? HELLO!!!!!!!!!! I played the lotto last night. The older I get the more I seem to rely on the lottery for my retirement plans. Oh, don't kid yourself, it's a gamble but I figure somebody has to win it. Actually, I haven't figured it all out yet. I'd just like to get some extra scratch in my account. I go to the same lottery place every week. Tonight he asked me if I was ready for a new life, "You ready for a new life buddy?" ha ha ha. "Hell yes!" was my answer. Then we said 'God bless you' to each other. When I got home, I turned on the tube. Total Recall was on the dial. It just came on; it was kismet. But after T3 on Sunday and re-watching Terminator twice in the last two weeks, I'm on Arnold overload. So I kicked it over to Discovery. Trivia question for no prize: What Arnold Schwarzenegger film stars Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa? Answer in tomorrow's diary. That's actually pretty easy. And no cheating! Damn Internet. And now for a new segment to bobborden.com, I call it: Without Telling my Boss, Justin, I'm Going to Instant Message Him and See What Response I Get. Here we go: Bob: Hey, what's up! Justin: Ten minutes past and he didn't write back. Damn! Well, I'm not sure what to do now? OK, that was Without Telling my Boss, Justin; I'm Going to Instant Message Him and See What Response I Get - Tell your friends. That's the diary for Tuesday. Always, Bob 7-21-03 My weekend started off on Friday night. Walter and I were going to go shopping at the Home Depot around 12am, they're open 24 hours. Around 9:30, it started to rain. Then around 10:30 we touched base and decided that there was really no point. I hate it when a plan doesn't come together but just this once, it felt like a smart move to forget about late night shopping for hardware. Saturday I woke up around 9:00, the damn sun was shining into my eyeball like a Megatop Phoenix* (*Big Audio Dynamite album title, I don't know why I used that, it just sounds cool). I probably could have slept until 11. I'll never know. My breakfast was a 99-cent bottle of milk and some brownies. No matter how you look at it, that's sweet living. I finished re-watching Buffalo '66 and couldn't help to notice that the end scene was similar to a scene in Boogie Nights. Both scenes take place in bakery/coffee shops and have similar dialogue. I looked online but I couldn't find anything that connected those scenes. It was probably just a coincidence. That was my super-nerd moment of the day. Around 12, I decided to go to the Home Depot. I enjoyed looking around. I was walking down the toilet aisle and walked past people I thought I recognized. I made eye contact with the girl but I got the all too familiar vibe of 'why's this big jerk looking at me' and I quickly turned away. I walked down the aisle a little more and it was really bugging me, I think I know these people. I turned around and said, "Excuse me, are you guys from Hoboken?" Then everything fell into place. It was Steve and Lis - I bought their car a few years back, the same car that was destroyed on Late Show a couple of months ago. Crazy! I haven't seen them since we made the car transaction. I said it before and I'll say it again, they're good people. And I don't want to jinx anything but I think they'll be expanding their family soon. Good for them. After the Home Depot, I drove into the city to drop something off at work. The traffic was crazy. But my Jeep navigated the urban jungle quite well. Those damn taxis were trying to get the best of her but she was having none of that. I really think a new muffler is in my future. I don't think she's getting rid of the exhaust gases properly. I drove down to Walter's place because he's hasn't seen my new ride yet. I was going to give him a ride but I was really low on gas. Do they have gas stations in Manhattan? Yes but I really wanted to get back to NJ before the traffic got all crazy. I ended up in traffic for about an hour. An hour to drive 6 to 7 miles, excuse me for a second, AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I HATE THE URBAN JUNGLE!!!! OK, I'm back. Thanks. Oooooo, you know what I forgot to mention? I was going to put my laundry in my car and do it later in the day but as I was walking by the laundry mat something just came over me. I said screw it; you're not doing your laundry this weekend. So I just dropped it off. It was such a freeing experience. It's the first time in eight years I haven't done my own laundry. I'm glad I gave myself a break but next time, if there is a next time, I won't drop off all of my sheets/bedding - lesson learned. Later that night -- I picked up some Chinese food for dinner and watched Punch-Drunk Love. The Chinese food was good but the movie wasn't so hot. It held my interest but in the end it just all seemed unnecessary. Boogie Nights is Paul Thomas Anderson's best film. However, I did like Adam Sandler's performance. For the movie watching experience I picked up a bag of Chex Mix. The bag read Peanut Lovers'. I said to myself, hell, I'm a peanut lover, what could be better than a bag of Chex Mix loaded with peanuts? I open the bag and a foul smell immediately catches my attention. Everything in the bag is peanut flavored, with a list of ingredients a mile long. What the F@#k?! Horrible, horrible, horrible. As I mentioned before, all my bedding was at the laundry so Saturday night, I slept on my comforter, in my front room. It wasn't that bad and the sun insured that I wouldn't sleep my day away. I woke up, watched the Sunday morning political shows and ate some Frosted Flakes. Then I started cleaning things. That went on for about 2 hours and then I had to get a shower. The plan was to go to the theatre to see T3: The Rise of the Machines. Before I left my apartment, I turned around and said to my cats, "I'll be back." Ha ha ha ha ha - get it? -- "I'll be back", the tag line from the Terminator movies? Come on, give it up, that was funny! Oh well, they didn't get it either. I thought it was a decent summer movie but it didn't really do anything to help the Terminator franchise. For originality's sake, the first Terminator was brilliant. And T2 was almost as good. They didn't need to make another one. Damn Hollywood greed! I didn't take any photos this weekend, so here's a photo of T3. Rise of the Sequel I had some Mexican food after T3. Then I picked up my clothes and ironed them. And then I cleaned my bathroom. That was about it. So that was my weekend. Have a great day. Stay gold, Bob 7-18-03 You know what I did last night for the first time in about a year? I ironed my clothes. My clothes got crazy wrinkled from my Ohio to NJ trip and I HAD to put some steam to fabric. I have a system where I fold my clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer and that has been very successful for me. Excuse me for a second, YAWN! -- OK, I'm back. I bought a Wheel of Fortune scratch-off ticket last night. I mention this because for about two solid minutes, I thought I won $20,000! Turns out, I didn't scratch off the area that needed to be scratched off. But I did win $3 so it wasn't total loss. I had a pretty good laugh over that one. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! -- The scream of $20,000 that I'll never see, thank you, thank you very much. Look, it's today's diary This week really flew by, didn't it? I wonder what I'm going to do this weekend. I was toying with the idea of gambling in Atlantic City but I think I should just stay around Hoboken and take in the sights. Maybe I'll go for a walk. I got my Sears card in the mail today! I've had credit cards for years but something about the Sears card seems so grown up. I like Sears. Wow, in today's diary: Bob reveals all! Ha ha. Sometimes I feel like I'm the most boring person in the world. But then I think that can't be possible because you're reading it. HA HA! Maybe I'll go to Sears this weekend. I don't need anything, I'll just walk around, satisfied with the knowledge that if I did need something, I'd be able to purchase it with my new card. There must be an unwritten rule of cable television that when Every Which Way But Loose is on, it must be watched, somehow I always end up watching that thing. The film has everything: Clint, an orangutan, a feisty Mother, motorcycle gangs, fighting and Sondra Locke singing. Just kidding about that last item, ha ha -- Every Which Way But Loose humor. Now it's time for a new feature to bobborden.com, I call it Bob's Laziest/Proudest Moment of the Week, here we go: On Monday night, I was too tired to iron a shirt, so, I pulled out my steam humidifier, filled it up and put it under the wrinkled shirt. By morning the shirt was presentable. That was Bob's Laziest/Proudest Moment of the Week - Tell your friends. I'd like to end today's diary by congratulating all who work for the Late Show, we were nominated for four Emmy awards yesterday! I think that's pretty cool. I don't make the most money in the world but I do work for the best show in the world. I'm pretty lucky in that respect. That's it! Have a great weekend. All my best, Bob 7-17-03 How about that diary from yesterday? El stink-o! I couldn't think of anything to write and as my precious evening hours quickly faded away, I threw in the towel. Am I proud? No. I did however think that the use of "blah, blah, blah" was quite artistic on my part. But others did not. I got negative feedback from Walter, Pam and the lovely people on my message board. And then at the end of my day, I got a call from my friend Chris. Chris was none to happy about it either. The funny thing is, I haven't talked to Chris in about a month! I'd just like to state for the record that they can't all be winners. My mammoth diary from Monday didn't get as much attention as the 'blah' diary did. Is that justice?! I received something cool in the mail yesterday. Karoline, AKA ladyliberty, from my message board, sent me a welcome back book of homemade poetry and clippings. It was cool for two reasons: 1. It was very thoughtful and 2: It involved a lot of people from my message board. Special thanks to ladyliberty. Very nice - I'm just hoping ladyliberty and Karoline are one in the same; I'm not 100% sure. And now it's time for a new feature to bobborden.com. I call it: Bob Borden of bobborden.com tells you the Rainfall Amount in Central Park From Tuesday. The rainfall amount from Tuesday was 0.00 inches. And that was Bob Borden of bobborden.com tells you the Rainfall Amount in Central Park From Tuesday. Hmmmmm -- I kind of like that new feature. I think I may have a crush on Queen Noor, damn; she's a handsome woman. While I'm on the subject, I also think that Beyonce Knowles is easy on the eyes and she can sing! I saw her on a morning show last week. I like that song she has out with the horn arrangement. I may get that CD but I'm still on the fence. How about this humidity? Yuk! Bobby needs to be cool! That's all I have on that topic. See how hard I'm trying I'm trying to make up for yesterday? Here's another new feature to bobborden.com. I call it: Bob Borden of bobborden.com Shares a Photo from Walter and "Sally's" Cross-country Vacation. 4th of July at Mount Rushmore That may be the best photo I've seen all year, I love it! I hope it's not too dark for you to make out the Presidents at the bottom, very cool. What the heck, I'm even going to make it my POD today. OK, that was Bob Borden of bobborden.com Shares a Photo from Walter and "Sally's" Cross-country Vacation. While we're on the topic of vacation photos, here's a photo from my vacation: Bob's 4th of July Wow, that doesn't seem so great now. That's it! Have a great day. Hugs, Bob 7-16-03 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Blah Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, Blah 7-15-03 Yesterday was my first day back after a two-week vacation (If you haven't read yesterday's diary yet, please check it out in my diary archives.). I have to say, it was a pretty smooth day. Wow, the beginning of this diary really stinks! Two sentences in and I haven't said anything! OK, let's start over again -- It's hard to get back into the swing of things after such a long break. Sometimes when a funny idea hits me for the diary I like to write it down on a piece of paper. The ideas usually consist of my thoughts and actual events. Well, on Sunday night I wrote something down. The note simply reads: 11:12pm, cat fell off TV. Ha ha. Unfortunately for my cat, that was an actual event. I laughed at first and then I felt really bad for her. I'm happy to report that she's OK. When my friends Walter and "Sally" visited me in Ohio, I totally forgot to take photos of their visit. That would have been solid gold diary material. That point really hit home when Walter sent a photo that he took of me on the mean streets of Steubenville. Bob in Steubenville Now no one can say that I'm not from the streets, I have proof now. Look at me; I'm like a wild cat ready to strike. We would have stayed downtown longer but I was in fear for my life, ha ha. Yesterday during my lunch break I found myself checking out the old classified ads. I saw an ad for a bike rack that really caught my eye. It's a bike rack for the apartment; it just leans against the wall. I've been looking for one of these things for a while now. I've researched them and they're just pricey enough for me to say that I don't really, really need one. However, the price was right in the ad. I emailed and made arrangements to look at it last night. I arrived on time; Monica opened up the door and she showed me the bike rack. Damn, it wasn't what I thought it was. In my excitement, I forgot to get details on the rack. It was a little bigger than I thought and being that I was on the other side of town, I really couldn't see myself lugging it home. Needless to say, I felt like a boob. I apologized and then I remembered that she was also selling an air-corn popper for a pretty decent price. That was still available so I bought it. Because I screwed up, wasted her time and because she was so cool about it - I'm naming Monica: Bob's Person of the Week! Monica is Bob's Person of the Week Congratulations Monica! I can't wait to pop some corn. That's it for today. Always, Bob 7-14-03 I'm back; we're back. I don't know why I haven't mentioned anything about my "new" car before now? I think it was just laziness, I haven't been in the mood to change anything around on bobborden.com for a while. But I can't talk about my vacation with out mentioning the car. First, it's actually a truck. A 1982 Jeep Wagoneer, yep, 1982. It belonged to my Dad (God bless him) and it always had a special meaning for me. Bob's new ride Growing up I remember what a thrill it was for me when he let me drive it around the block. It was just rotting away when my last car bit the dust and we just decided that it'd be better to drive it than to see it just sit there. So with that little bit of trivia in mind, I bring you, my vacation: What can I say, I drove to Steubenville. I was about 15 minutes out of Hoboken when my rear headliner fabric fell down and blocked my rear window. Little foam pieces were flying around, getting in my eyes and making a mess out of everything. It was crazy and very, very unsafe. I pulled over, took the headliner down, dusted off and got back on the road. The last hour of the trip I noticed that my temperature gauge was going into the red. I know that's not good but I was unfamiliar with the gauge, I thought that it had to be all the way in the red or a light or a buzzer would go off and warn me that things weren't right. No buzzer and no light - I kept driving. I turned on my heater to get some of the heat out of the engine; I drove a little slower - that kept the gauge on the borderline. I finally pulled over at a state rest stop (Just rest rooms and vending machines), turned the engine off and the coolant started to bubble over. I should say it was boiling over. It was nuts. I did everything I knew how to do; I put up the hood, sat on a bench and called my Mom. I called her and bitched her out because she sold me a lemon! I'm just kidding. I also called up my brother George. He had a Pep Boys lined up for me that was close by but as I was hanging up with him, this guy pulled up. He looked around my engine like he knew what he was doing. The fan worked, it still had most of the coolant, it was sitting for about 30 minutes and he told me to turn it over. I started it up and he told me to come look at the engine. The top radiator hose was as flat as a pancake! He went to his truck to get something but he was routing around like he couldn't find what he was looking for. Then it hit me; I know what he's looking for. I got in my emergency car bag and gave the guy my Duct tape. He taped the hose and I was on my way. The car hasn't run that cool in years! The guy was so nice too, I offered him some money but he refused. I just shook his hand and we were on our way. I say 'we' because he followed behind for 5 miles to make sure I was OK. How cool is that?! My faith in humanity was instantly restored. The next day I took my car to the garage, got a new starter, brake pads, radiator hoses, air conditioner charged and I was good to go - all at a very reasonable price too. On my way to pick up the car from the garage I ran into a guy. He asked me for directions to the mall. He was going to walk, it's 3 to 5 miles away and there are some crazy hills to contend with. Remembering my guardian angel from yesterday, I told him I was picking up my car and I'll swing by to take him out the mall. I got the car, picked him up and we were on our way. I said to him when he got in the car, "Just don't kill me, that's all I ask." He laughed, thank goodness. Turns out he's a bus driver from Virginia. He drove a bunch of kids up here for a conference and was killing three days in a hotel. He needed to buy a cell phone charger because he left his at home. His name was C.R. -- He was a nice guy. We got his charger, drove back and he offered to pay me. I told him what happened to me the day before and said that wasn't necessary. I've got the story, that's all I need. On Monday, June 30, I dropped off my car to the transmission place to finally get a never-ending leak fixed. But that wasn't the most exciting thing that happened to me that day. The most exciting thing was my friends Walter and "Sally" started their cross-country driving vacation. What was their first stop? You guessed it, Steubenville, USA! I was so excited that actual friends were coming to pay homage to the magical/mystical place where I grew up. They arrived; chilled out in my Mom's crib for a few minutes and we were off to take the tour. The tour was mostly centered on yours truly. After that we stopped off to meet my Brother, Sister-in-law, nephews and niece. A quick tour/visit but we didn't have much time. I should have taken them to a local restaurant but my Mom and I thought it'd be cool to go to the local casino. You know, eat and then hit the slots. "Sally", Walter, Mom and I had a pretty good time. We lost but what can you do? Before I knew it, it was time to part ways. I really wish they could have stayed a little longer but such is life. July 1st I was sans car. I spent most of the day kicking it with my good friend Tim. He needed me to help move a few things around. July 2nd and I'm still without a car. I called to check on its progress, the man told me they put on the gasket but it still leaked - bum gasket. He said he'd do it again and see if this one works. I took my nephews for a walk and had a pretty relaxing day. But by nightfall both my Mom and I were feeling a little restless. We ended up back at the casino. I couldn't believe I was going back up there after losing on Monday. I walked out of the casino that night, $600 up. Hell yes! July 3rd. The transmission guy called me and said my car is ready - it was bone dry. I picked up the ride and paid for it in cash, thanks to the casino. I love auto repair places in Ohio compared to NJ. I just feel like I got a lot for my money. After that, I drove to an auto center to get a price for my headliner. It's not a necessity but I wanted to do it. I made an appointment to drop it off on Monday. I hung out with my friend Tim for a little while after that and then headed home. I ate dinner with my Mom, Sister-in-law, nephews and the niece. Then the nephews and I played my new game for the Gamecube, The Hulk. Man, that's a FUN game! July 4th I played on the Slip 'n Slide with my nephews. It's really humid these days; I'll do just about anything to keep cool. Later, we watched the fireworks and that was pretty much it. Lucas and Jacob enjoying the fireworks I didn't buy any fireworks this year, with little ones around; I didn't feel the need to blow a hole in the lawn with high-powered explosives. The nephews crashed at our place for a sleepover. We played more Hulk and watched a Bruce Lee movie. They wanted to watch the Disney film Gus; it's the charming story of a field-goal-kicking mule. But I sold them on Master Lee by telling them about his Fists of Fury. July 5th on the surface was an odd day. I don't know what that means. OK, I didn't do anything. July 6th, what can I say? I was on the old Slip 'n Slide again. My ribs hurt from the last time I got on that damn thing, I didn't learn my lesson - it is fun. The quote of the day belonged to me when I "yelled" to my Mom, "Who cut the f@*king raisin bread all sideways, it's all f@*ked up!" We're like a modern day Norman Rockwell painting. July 7th I woke up early (8am) and drove out to drop off my car at the headliner place. Blah, Blah, Blah and then I picked it up around 5pm. Holy crap it looks so good! If you're ever in the Steubenville area and you find yourself without a headliner -- I have a place for you. I'm very happy that it's done. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get my car in the garage again because my parking brake doesn't work. And it seems to run a little rough on start up. Hopefully that will be it for the car. I love automobiles. July 8th I went down to the garage and made an appointment for Wednesday. With a free day in front of me I really wanted to do something fun. So, I got in the car and drove to Sears to buy my Mom an air filter. Yawn! But I did have one moment of excitement when on a whim; I decided to open a Sears charge. I'm planning on buying one tool a year until I have a full toolbox - you have to set goals, otherwise, what's the point? The Sears thing only killed about thirty minutes. So, I decided to take the kids to the picture show. I loaded up the nephews and drove up to Pittsburgh to see Finding Nemo. That was a mighty fine movie and I don't mind telling you that at one point I got a little choked up. Damn fish! After that we went to a Steak 'n Shake for dinner. But they didn't like the sound of this new place so we went to Pizza Hut instead. You can't go wrong with the Hut. I had the kids alone for about 4 or 5 hours, I love them but that was enough. The evening ended with a big storm and no cable. What to do, what to do? Bed. July 9th I was up early and dropped off the car at 8am. I watched Terminator last night. Darn if that film doesn't hold up -- very clever writing. Anyway, back to my day. I walked back home and played a videogame. I rented Burnout 2. It's mind numbingly fun. Ate some leftover pizza around 12 and around 1 my car was ready. Parking brake, check a hose and check a hesitation during warm up. The cost? Twenty-six bucks. Parking brake just needed an adjustment, the hose was fine and he fixed the hesitation with a small tube. If I ever leave New Jersey I'll probably move back to Ohio just to be closer to a great mechanic I can trust. I celebrated my low bill by driving out to the mall. I was about to turn in and then I realized that I don't need anything at the mall. I drove home. Around 6 I walked over and had dinner at my Bro's house. It was Mexican night - very, very good, special thanks to Liz. That was about it. I feel like my vacation is coming to an end. Tomorrow I'm going to do something fun, I think. July 10th. Before I went to bed last night I made a list of errands. That worked out pretty well. It was a blueprint for my day. I won't go as far as saying that it was 100% Fun (That's the title of a Mathew Sweet CD, how funny) but I will say that I had an enjoyable time driving around like a normal person. Back east in the concrete jungle, I only get to drive around on the weekends and even then it's not relaxing because everyone else is driving around too. Anyway, I finally got to go to Steak 'n Shake. Very good and they're open 24 hours, crazy. It reminded me of In 'n Out Burger out west. Later, I hung out with my Mom and before I knew it, my Thursday was over. One more full day in Steubenville and then I drive back to NJ on Saturday. July 11th. Woke up and hung around the house waiting for a mattress to be delivered. That was about as exciting as watching paint dry. I was in 'getting my day started' limbo. After that I drove to the auto store to buy floor mats and white lithium grease. I like saying white lithium grease; white lithium grease, white lithium grease, white lithium grease - very calming. Then I had lunch with my friend Tim. On my way back home I stopped off at the cemetery again to pay respects to my Dad. I think I said it before but I don't know what the heck to do over there. Do I pray? Talk out loud? I tried the talking out loud thing before and it just seems odd. I'm going to keep going over there but I don't know if my thought/prayers are going where they're supposed to go. I guess I need to work on my faith. Around five o'clock I went over to my Bro's for dinner. Good times. I had a really nice/relaxing/calming vacation. Driving back to NJ early tomorrow. July 12rh. I woke up early, kissed my Mom goodbye and hit the road. By the way, I'd like to say thanks to my Mom for a great visit, we had fun. Back to the road, it was a lovely day for driving. It was an uneventful drive with the exception of my tearing off a piece of hanging metal from the bottom of the car and the discovery that I'll probably need a new muffler soon. The repairs on this car better level off soon or I'm in trouble. At least they're all minor things. I got back to Hoboken around 4:30. I killed a few hours by unpacking and getting settled. Then I headed over to Tiffany's house for dinner. Tiffany invited Dave, Deirdre and myself to enjoy a feast of salmon and great conversation. Thanks Tiffany for a great dinner. And that brings us to Sunday the 13th, the last day of my vacation. I'm just going to chill today. I might go to the A & P, then again, I might not. I'm posting this on Sunday morning to free up my evening. I need a quiet night to ease back into the daily grind. So that was my vacation, I hope you enjoyed it - tell your friends. Have a great day. Always, Bob

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