Sorry The Sweetest Smoke is back to your usual humble narrator after the guest blogger, my son Ryan. I know from the feedback I got at The Tobacco Hut this past Saturday that most of you would prefer to read his scribbles more than mine, but alas you're stuck with me.
This Saturday saw myself, Joe K, Peter G, and Lou enjoying our cigars and pipe. Peter arrived looking very dapper, sporting a very fashionable shirt, his fedora, and some stylish sunglasses. He was getting into character for his radio gig later in the day. That's right, if you don't know, Peter has an extensive background in radio and was using his on-air skills at a Greek radio station to promote his church's fundraising efforts. Fifty thousand watts of FM power, coast to coast! Well, maybe a thousand watts from Clearwater to Port Richey, but it's for a good cause. Hope it went well, Peter!
The highlight of the day was the intense negotiation between myself and Joe. See, about 18 months ago Joe began to see the light in the computer world and bought himself a Mac. And not just any Mac. This was a screaming 24" iMac. Frankly, it put my little Mac Mini to shame and I was more than a bit envious. Of course, envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins so I was careful to - oh, hell let's tell the truth. I was green with envy, I was dripping with envy, I wanted that machine so badly I could taste it.
Over the year and a half, Joe didn't really use it as much as he would have liked, and I - sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly - would make mention that he could always sell it to me. Well that day arrived on Saturday. We both arrived at the Hut ready to "talk turkey". Peter and Lou both got into the spirit of the negotiations as Joe and I began the "dance". In fact at one point, Lou got so into the spirit, that Joe and I both told him to shut up.
In the end, a fair price was agreed upon and I am now the proud owner of a screaming 24" iMac. Joe has taken immaculate care of this beauty and I spent the remainder of the long holiday weekend cleaning out Joe's files, erasing the hard drive, reinstalling the operating system, installing my applications, and transferring my documents. By the way, Joe, I found some, well, how do I put this, um, awkward files that I'll put on a CD for you...just kidding! Actually, being a Mac, the erasing of the hard drive and reinstallation of the operating system took about an hour tops.
Anyway, a huge thank you to Joe. Your iMac has found a good home. Below is a picture of it, all set up in our recently remodeled office.
Saturday at the Hut found me enjoying a pipeful of Lou's new English tobacco, Baker Street, which is a perfect blend of Virginia and Latakia tobaccos. I smoked it in one of the Crown Viking freehand pipes I got from Lou a couple years ago.
After Peter and Joe had left, a new customer came in around 4 o'clock. He was a kid in his mid-20s wearing a Publix shirt, talking on his cellphone non-stop, and the first thing I heard him say on the phone was that he had just been offered a $450,000/year job, but he lost the guy's contact information. He was in the walk-in humidor by the time I quit laughing. Unfortunately, Mr. Narcissist stayed 'til closing, regaling Lou and I with tales of how he's trying to get into management at Publix but they just don't see what he brings to the table. And though he's never smoked a pipe, he apparently knows a lot about them. And cigars, of course. For those that remember the Red Bull kid, this one had about the same demeanor. I was never so happy to help Lou close up shop.
We're all looking forward to New York Vic's arrival. Hopefully, he'll make his triumphant return on a Saturday so I get a chance to see him. Safe travels, Vic! Looking forward to seeing you.
That's all for this week. Cheers!
- Bob
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