And When The Cloud Lifted

Here I am in Punta Cana as the Poker Director for the nicest hotel in a city filled with beautiful hotels. I went through a stage where I was working in a call center. I hated it and wanted out, but I needed the money. Actually after a while it wasn't so bad. Ex prisoners can make very pleasant work companions. I got to like quite a few of them. I just never told them my real name or where I lived (for safety sake). A friend I had once helped to get a job, Orlando Torres started working here and when the general manager told him that he was looking for someone to take over the Poker Room, Orlando told him about me. I sent a resume and literally 15 minutes later I had an interview set up, and three days later at the end of the interview I got the job.
I am here now for 6 days and I am loving it. I work for people who want to do things as quickly and as well as is possible. Instead of the Dominican/Spanish mentality of "Manana", I am now dealing with an American sensibility. What a huge difference.

And of course when things are looking good, good things happen. Take today for instance. I had to deposit money into Massiel's account. First I went to Banco Santa Cruz to change my dollars to pesos. I spoke to a customer service rep who gave me a better rate exchange than was posted. Then I found a Banco Popular nearby. It was so crowded that when I walked in I asked one of the 50 or so people on the line waiting for a teller if they were giving money away today. I couldn't see myself waiting on a line like that so I left. I asked the security guard outside if there was another branch nearby and he directed me to one that was less than 5 minutes away and absolutely deserted. I walked right up to the teller and made my deposit. I was passing by the original branch that I went to in less than 8 minutes. Then I stopped at the "biggest supermarket in town" to buy some razors. I was in there the other night and in typical Dominican fashion the cashier had no change and she beat me for a peso, and she didn't even offer me a piece of gum to make up the shortage. This time I checked the price before I bought it, just to make sure that I had the exact change. I did. When I paid her I said, " You know, last time I was here you beat me for a peso". She gave me a peso. Boy was I happy.

Little things, but sometimes, as the song says, "little things mean a lot".

It May Not Seem Like Much To You (But After A While It Just Wears You Down)

I don't sleep well at night. To make it worse, most mornings I wake up early to take Massiel to work. I don't want to, but since I have to leave before she is done with work I can no longer let her take the car and that means she would have to take a concho, and that is a seriously horrible way to start your day. It's bad enough that she has to take one home. OK. No big deal. I get up. So then, after I get home from driving her and just as I am getting ready to fall asleep she calls and asks me to take something over to her grandmother's house. Her grandmother needed something in our refrigerator in order to make lunch, and how can I say no.
There is a bakery, Lumejor, that makes the best baked goods in the city. My favorite thing that they make is Pan Pizza. It is really fabulous. The problem is that they never have it. I stopped yesterday morning on my way to the airport and they had a whole pie in the display case. Foolishly I only bought one slice. Sometimes it is very good and other times it is absolutely fabulous. This time it was so good that I was immediately sorry that I had only bought one piece. When I passed by the bakery later, about 2:30 there was nothing left. After I dropped the food off, I stopped at the bakery to buy more. Again they didn't have any. That means for probably 20 hours they didn't have a product that they ALWAYS sell out of right away. I have spoken to the owner several times and asked why if they always sell out of this immediately, why don't they make more. He told me it was a good idea. Naturally nothing was done to change the policy. I was forced to go to another nearby bakery which is no where as good as Lumejor, but they make a chicken roll that is quite good (the Lumejor chicken roll is too greasy). I was waiting in line and some guy parked his motor bike right in front of the door, blocking it, came inside and proceeded to walk in front of myself and the other people waiting patiently for their turn. This happens all the time so I gave him my usual, "What am I, invisible?" greeting. Dominicans have this thing that they do when they either don't hear clearly or don't understand what you said. They twitch and wrinkle their noses like chipmonks. This is like asking "What?" only in a primitive sort of sign language. After he did that I made it clear that I and the others were waiting there before he came in and that he should wait his turn. He went to the back of the line. You see shit like that all the time. Someone encounters a line and they think nothing of just walking to the front of it. That is why I have my "invisible" question always at the ready. When my turn came I asked for the chicken roll to go. The girl tooke the roll, put it on a plate, and handed it to me. I said, "No, to go, with plastic wrap" and she was like, "what a great idea" and then she wrapped it and I left. Then when I got home and I called Massiel to told her that I had dropped off the package at her grandmother's the girl that answered the phone told me that she was in the kitchen, could I call back. Usually if Massiel is in the kitchen I can call her and she will answer her cell phone. She didn't answer so I texted her and again she didn't answer so I called back again and the same idiot answered the phone and told me that she was in the kitchen. I asked her to connect me to the kitchen and she asked me if I wanted to leave a message. I told her that I wanted her to put me through to the kitchen, something that has been done a thousand times and this time she did. It seemed as if it was too much for her to connect me the first 3 times I asked.

Doesn't seem like much does it? It isn't, but after a while it just wears you down.

Not The Brightest Bulb

So we are trying to get Massiel her residency. We needed an address to which we could mail her green card, if and when she gets it. Since we would probably go to visit my friend Jon in Alabama as our first trip to the US we decided to mail it there. I called him today and got his address. I called Massiel to give it to her.To protect Jon's privacy I have changed the address. I said to her, "Here is Jon's address":

Dr. Jonathan Friedman, 5643 Grand Forks Avenue, Mobile, Alabama, 33454

I had her read it back to me and she repeated everything back to me perfectly.

She called me back 5 minutes later and asked, "But, what is his name?"



Now here is the best part. I showed this to Massiel and he r response was,"Oh fuck. I spelled his name wrong".

New Work Rules

When you enter the bathroom, if you must, be careful. Only pee. Don't even think about taking a dump. That is out of the question. If you must pee,only pee in a toilet that is open. Never, ever, ever open a toilet seat. Pee in your pants before you open up a toilet cover. You never want to see what's in there.

I Don't Know

I really don't.

Sports Update

Today's Standings in the Dominican Winter League


Team W-L Avg. Diff.
AZUCAREROS 14 - 10 .714 --

ESTRELLAS 14 - 10 .714 --

ESCOGIDO 14 - 8 .571 2.0

LICEY 15 - 6 .400 4.5

AGUILAS 15 - 5 .333 5.5

GIGANTES 14 - 4 .286 6.0


They can play baseball, but they sure can't do the math.

The REAL Quote Of The Trip From Jon

"I have become everything that I always said that I wanted people to shoot me if I became."