Working Man

Working Man                                                      3208

Monday, January 23, 2006-4:25 A.M.

The muscles in my back and legs are screaming!

Wrap-up on the weekend...got a little treat in the form of one Tom Anzalone, the worst guitar act ever, who hosted for Jim Dailakis and myself at the Syracuse location of the Lake Ontario Playhouse.  Tom is actually a great singer and guitarist, and I hadn't seen him since his last appearance at the Comix Cafe in Rochester when I was runnin' the joint.  Tom's been doing children's entertaining and was recently showcased on National Public Radio...do a Google search for "Mr. Songflower" and you can read all about him.

First show was a delight...the room was almost packed, better than Friday night, and the show went well.  Second show, there was a weird energy, capped off by the third consecutive show where nobody was sitting at the front center table.  I freaked out a little bit and started riffing wildly, leaving the stage, standing on chairs, going to the back of the room, ditching the microphone and just talking to the audience to get back into a rhythm.  Come to find out, the table was extremely wobbly, and no one wanted to sit there...it's bad enough when you have to pull the old restaurant scam of throwing a batch of napkins under one leg to get it straight, but this thing was ready for the woodpile.  A guest named Doris set me straight on what the problem was, as she was offered the table when she and her date were seated, and after seeing how bad the table was, declined.  Doris works for Hunt Real Estate, and my shameless plug goes out to her...if you have real estate needs in the Syracuse area, look her up   Her number is 315-637-5700, ext. 9329.

On the way home, I ran into Comix Cafe owner J.J. Parrone at a rest-stop on the New York State Thruway.  He was coming back from a night's recreation at the Turning Stone Casino (no word on how he did, but he was smiling and buying food....and that could very well have been the reason for the smile).  We had a nice chat, and then parted ways when he hit the road, and I stuck around to savor the flavor of $2.56 a gallon unleaded.  I guess the supplies are short again, or that impeachment talk that brought prices down a few months ago has cooled off.  All I know is that nationally, temperatures have been warm and mild, which should bring usage of heating oil down, which should send prices down as well, assuming that supply stays constant.  I guess the rules of supply and demand don't count when you're dealing with the oil business.  Go figure.

So Sunday morning, I rolled out of the rack around 11:30 after a nice 7-hour's sleep, and my wife decided that today would be a good day for me to put in the new kitchen floor.  I picked up the materials weeks ago, and was waiting for a good day to install it, and today was as good as any.  It was a nice diversion from having to see the lousy Pittsburgh Steelers and their granite-jawed asshole of a coach advance to the big game.  I watched clips of the Steeler's victory later in the day when I took a break, and my biggest thrill was watching them dump the ice bucket on Bill Cowher at the end of the game, and imagining that the thing was filled with my uirine.  You get your happiness where you can, I say.

The work of putting in a kitchen floor is basically pretty easy.  My task was a little more difficult due to the age of the house we live in and the condition of the old flooring.  I had to take up the rug in sections (yeah, we had a rug in our kitchen...not a shag or anything, although it would have hid the crumbs better), then pry up the old tile with a trowel, then sweep and clean the surface, and lay down the new tile.  I used the peel 'n' stick kind, so the going was pretty quick, and I was slowed only by having to cut around fixtures, and then realizing I needed another box of tiles around 4 hours in.  The trip back to Big Lots was a nice break, and I picked up a little Chinese food for Pam, Harmony and myself.  After a little chicken fried rice, it was back on my knees to do the final portion of the floor, the section under the refrigerator.  Well, I'm no Bob Vila, or even Norm Abrams, but by 9:30, the kitchen looked great and every muscle in my back, arms and legs was throbbing.  At 39 years of age and easily 140 pounds over my ideal weight, an undertaking of this order is just beyond my physical reach.  I slept a few hours, but woke up to take another pain pill and decided to catch up on my journal.  I plan on sleeping well tomorrow, and then getting back on the phones to start booking May, June and July (February, March and April are full). 

I hurt, but I have to admit that doing a job like that makes me feel alive.  I don't have a lot of know-how, so when I can do a project like this, I feel really accomplished.

Have a great week!

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY