PriorBlog

This morning after locking my bike I began heading to my secret entrance at work when I was accosted by a security guy who told me that “they” would “get mad” if I continued using that entrance.  So I walked in the entrance that all of the people who shower and dress before leaving for work go through, somewhat embarrassed, but figuring the security guy wouldn’t be there tomorrow and I could then renew my nefarious entry habits.

Later in the day, I noticed this security guy again inside.  Must have just got hired I thought.  He really seems on the ball.  I worried that this might be a new threat I would have to deal with.

At the end of the day, after changing back into my grubby cycling home clothes in my private wash room (that I think I described earlier), I headed to the elevator I use to get back down to the parking lot.  Again, the aim is to be as low profile as possible when walking around that place in shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt.  The only problem was a phalanx of guys in expensive suits in front of the elevator.  I decided to avoid them by descending a flight of stairs and catch the elevator below, but when I got there another security guy was protecting the elevator.

So I descended another few flights of stairs and headed towards my bike.  On the way I noticed that all of the doors were propped open.  Once I got into the garage I saw a line of black SUV’s parked behind a state police car.

Now I was curious, because in the past important people have stopped by my workplace, and so I knew somebody good was in there.  I just had to find out who.

I have only dealt with the secret service once before when Jeff Timberlake and I ventured off to go to his brother’s coffee shop in Harvard Square and on the way Tipper Gore’s motorcade cut us off at a corner.  It all happened so quickly that Tipper and one of her daughters popped into a furniture store before we could figure out who they were.  But figure we did, eventually asking one of the secret service guys who they were.

A very phlegmatic “Gore,” was his response, which thrilled me, because that was my guess.  We continued to wait and were eventually joined by a woman who told us that the Native American seer Sitting Bull had recently prophesized that the world was going to end in the next five to ten years.  I don’t know if the Secret Service guy heard this or not, but within seconds the motorcade took off.  Without “Gore(s)” I should add.
A few years later I unknowingly had a conversation with one of the Gore kids at a bar.  The place was probably crawling with SS, but what did I know.  Had I known who she was I could have told her about Sitting Bull, or at least asked if the vice president had been tipped off by the secret service and taken Sitting Bull and his prophecy down.  Probably saved the world, but not something that could get out to the public.  Makes the fall of Communism seem like small potatoes, doesn’t it?  As it was I talked to her about the teevee show Land of the Lost.
I had reservations about asking one of the suits in front of the SUVs who they were waiting on.  I mean, I guess in a lot of ways I resemble an assassin.  Desheveled irritated/irritating white male with glasses and a Messiah complex wielding a weapon, in this case a Kryptolock, but curiosity got the best of me and so I approached the two guys in suits.  Neither one, I would guess, was carrying.  They seemed to not be secret service guys but some type of well polished lackeys.

I could tell they weren’t thrilled that I had come up to them, and I knew this so I told them not to worry that I wasn’t planning on sticking around, I was just curious as to who they were waiting for.  They sort of stared at me apprehensively and then the shorter of the two, after a few seconds pause, said “Senator Clinton.”

Then the other guy cued that music from that scene in Raiders of Lost when the Ark of the Covenant is first shown.  Or at least that’s kind of the way the words “Senator Clinton” were presented to me.  Prissy and icy, like she was a holy relic I had no business being around.

I will admit to being flabbergasted.  And as soon as he said it I started trying to think of strategies for sticking around and seeing her.   I fiddled with my bike lock for a while, and then checked to see if my tires had enough air.

What a schmoe I am.

Then I headed home.

On the way I noticed that there were some cops at the scene of the Alan Peguero murder.  One was in the store and another was out front on the corner.  After observing so much security, it was strange to pass by a scene in which a month ago there was absolute vulnerability.  I wondered what business the cops could possibly have in there, but I wouldn’t dare ask.  Just pedaled on by.

I lobbied hard for getting cable teevee when the Phillies got into the playoffs, and we ended up getting a nine month “deal.”  I know most of you have cable and are probably so used to paying for it that it doesn’t seem like a big expense any more, but to me the extra thirty or forty bucks a month seems like a lot because we’ve gone so long without it.

So, we get cable, and it comes a day late so I missed game one.  Then they installed it the day of game two, but when I got home there was a bunch of stuff I had to do right away, so I missed the last couple at bats.  Both games starting at 3pm didn’t help matters much either.  I was all set to watch game three, but by now less excited because the Phils were down 2-0 in the series.  Only problem was I was completely exhausted because I was at game two of the ALDS the previous night, which lasted until just before one am.  Then I came home and the new baby that my wife had was making all sorts of noises all night and I couldn’t get any sleep.  Don’t know if I mentioned the baby before, but he’s here now, so back to baseball.

I lasted until the fourth or fifth inning before falling asleep.  I woke up to some sit-com on TBS.  The season was over I found out via a blurb on mlb.com.

At least I got cable.

A few notes then on all of the non-Phillies baseball I have been watching.

Chip Carey.  When my family got cable back when I was a kid, one of the benefits was that I went from just being able to watch the Phillies to being able to watch the Phillies, Yankees, Mets, and Braves.  Chip’s father Skip was a Braves announcer, and I have never been able to get over how boring those old TBS broadcasts were.  Chip was just abysmal during the Yankees series.  He would get all pumped up over Yankee singles and so forth.  At one point, the Yankees were trying to get a rally going and the crowd was really into it, and Chip goes, “This crowd is up for grabs!”

This crowd is up for grabs.

As if it wasn’t enough that the Yankees already have a soap opera based on them, all of the baseball coverage revolves around what is going to happen to Torre, Posada, et al after the season.  Then again, it is hard to get into the playoffs when the Dbacks are playing the Rockies, Troy Tulowitzki or no Troy Tulowitzki.  Maybe I’ll just watch when Tulowitzki comes to bat.  Actually, Branden Webb is as good a pitcher as anybody, but that’s not as important as ARod’s feelings.