Saturday, April 4, 2009

Saturday at the Hut - 4/4/09

It was good to be back at The Tobacco Hut today. Paula and I went to Venice last weekend, so I missed out on the weekly bull session. And it had been awhile since I smoked some Tinder Box Reserve 1928, so that was a nice "welcome home" treat.

And speaking of welcoming home, Joe K reported that in further conversations with his son James, who's coming into town the weekend of May 16-17, that the prodigal son is really pushing for some big bash to be held in his honor.

In addition to the Hawaiian Tropic Girls he wants (see the post from a couple weeks ago), now he wants Lou to promote this party heavily with flyers and ads. Sheesh - not sure how much attention this kid warrants, but we talked a little about putting a flyer together and posting it around town. Oh, and James said something about the flyer featuring Lou in a Speedo. Okay...

After we got that nasty vision out of our heads, we talked a bit about computers (of course), and how Joe K slipped up and missed a day's broadcast of NPR, at which point Lou about dropped his cigar in laughter. I think one of these days, I'll make a donation to NPR in Joe's name...

Barry C arrived after a hard day's work (really, he had dirt on his pants to prove it!), and he and I talked briefly about our memories of upstate New York as kids. Joe and I talked about Pandora, an internet music service that allows you to build custom streaming radio stations. It's been around awhile, but I just discovered it and highly recommend it.

Peter arrived and we all talked a little about the speculation behind the hotels being built on U.S. 19 in Port Richey. Apparently the buzz is that an amusement park of some sort is being planned for the Hudson area, but nothing official has been announced. Such rumors have been around for years, but with hotels being built, there might be some truth to them.

Steve B arrived and talk turned briefly to the state of the economy. Being a small business owner, we often look to Steve as a kind of gauge as to how businesses are doing, since his work puts him in contact with many different kinds of companies, and he has actual paid employees - unlike Lou who hires and fires Joe, Peter, and myself at will.

Naturally, some of the talk turned to how the new Federal tobacco taxes are affecting Lou's business. None of his customers are happy with it of course, and many are just now finding out about it. What is unknown is what will happen at the state level as Tallahassee now considers how much tax to add to tobacco products.

I had to leave a little early today so I could crank out that flyer for James' big party. It's kind of basic, and not the usual work I do for Seneca Creative Solutions clients, but I only had to get it put together quickly. And yes, the above link is a shameless plug for my new side gig!

Anyway, the flyer appears below, and - as you can see - I managed to find a picture on the internet of Lou in his Speedo, just for James. Click on the image for the full size view - if you dare! Not sure what the big bling is around Lou's neck...you'll have to ask him the next time you see him.

Cheers!
- Bob


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