Monday, February 05, 2007

Cold, cold, and then colder more

I'm sure that most of you that are reading this are freezing right now. Or sitting in houses burning up as much gas and oil and electricity as you can to fend off the cold.
I know I am.
Johanna, being from El Salvador, is no big fan of chilly weather. Today she decided to go to Bergenline Avenue in Union City to a Botanica. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about a botanica is a store that sells voodoo stuff. Or Santeria. Or offerings to the saints. Or candles. Anyway, I started getting calls about how cold it was about ten seconds after she left the house. They continued through the whole two hours she was gone.
I of course was already intimately familiar with the chilly weather. First Milo and Cookie had to pee and poop at 6:15am when it was 7 degrees or -15 with the windchill. Then I had to walk from 6th ave to our offices. See any earlier post about the unnatural weather conditions created by the evil architechs who created Madison Square Garden, 1 Penn Plaza, and 33rd St. You could probably leave off 33rd street. The schmuck that designed that just knew the wind would whip in off the river like a whip but it does that everywhere till you get above Lincoln Center.
I arrived at the small but cozy offices of Acme Exterminating to find everyone wearing their jackets and gloves and hats. I wasn't entirely surprised because this is a long-standing tradition at Acme. No heat. When I first returned in 2004 on my third day the temperature dropped to like 7 and the boiler failed. We spent three days shaking in the cold. Our boss bought us the little handwarmer packs you put in your pockets and shoes. They were relatively ineffectual.
Eventually he got us electric heaters. They were sort of effectual.
So I was ready for this.
I'm not entirely certain I did any real work today. I spent most of the day huddled over my heater like some 21st century Bob Cratchit. All of us were sore at days end from hunching over.
The walk back to the PATH was okay. The wind was at my back most of the way except right by the Garden where it goes in six directions. I got home and drank some wine and ate chipotle Welsh Rarebit. I'm tired and a little inebriated.
I don't have to work tomorrow. I'm going to see my Dr to find out if I'll be around a bit longer. I'll spend most of the day in a warm car. I'm hoping to go for a run midday to keep up with my health.
They say it will be like this for three more days.
I need a job where I can travel for my health.
Four days in Aruba would be nice right about now.
I would welcome the opportunity to discuss rodent control measures over a rum punch watching the sun dip into the Caribbean. I did get to see the sun set over the Palisades as I got off the PATH.
In closing let me say you should check out Teresa Carson's great poems on the site, buy my book, and find a way to get me some slimy gig talking about poetry in a near tropical climate. Anyone who can help with this will get a bonus. This is not a joke.

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