The other day, I privately told myself that I’d tell one bar story a day.  That my job is interesting enough to write about at least one occurrence or character/customer per day.  That was Tuesday morning.  Of course, during the course of the day, I had several little funny nuggets to drop, like the story of the guy who asked if I was going to ( Read more... )

 
Today at Giusti’s we’re hosting a Celebration of Life for Rayma.  You know, for being damn near 34 years old, you’d think I’d have had more experience with the loss of a loved one than I have.  It has affected me more profoundly than I would have predicted, but what can I say?  That I loved her.  That I feel proud to have been one of the primary ( Read more... )

 
Here’s a little one for the books.  On Monday, I bought new shoes for work.  As some may be aware, most bars come equipped with rubber mats for behind the bar.  They serve a couple of purposes.  First, glasses are less likely to break when dropped.  There’s no guarantee that glass won’t shatter everywhere, but there is a chance that stemware will ( Read more... )

 
I know I tend to be a worrier.  That’s my nature.  I didn’t worry too much about the future when I was in school because I always had the immediate future of what was due in school to worry about.  Now I’m out of school.  I see energy costs rising higher and higher.  I see my income at Giusti’s going down for several reasons one of which is gas ( Read more... )

 
I’ve been so tired the last couple of days.  I can’t seem to figure out why.  I’ll eat my vitamins, drink coffee, eat healthy, sleep plenty, and not indulge in any beer or wine.  So why do I feel like I could use another 2-3 hours sleep?  I speculated that it might be from all the smoke.  I don’t know.  If I knew I thing or two about how to use ( Read more... )

 
California.  The Golden State.

I haven't ever seen anything like this.  There were over 7000 lightening strikes with no rain causing over 800 brush and forest fires.  I live in the Central Valley and the smoke is horrific.  Have you ever been sitting around the campfire and no matter where you sit the smoke just wants to blow right in your face?  ( Read more... )

 
Almost nine years ago, I became a bartender.  It was to be a temporary job.  Something I wouldn’t get to comfortable at, and could leave easily.  Now, here I am, a decade later.  Still at it.  And I have to be honest, of all the negatives that one could think of associated with tending bar, one I would have never considered, or could have dreamed ( Read more... )

This week has been a rough one.

The other day I had begun a story about my adventures in Crockett, CA at a rock show headlined by The Foxboro Hot Tubs (aka Green Day), but there has been other business to attend to.

Lesley has recently joined a van pool to get to work.  They meet at 4:00 am.  Which means the alarm goes off a 3:00 am.  Which means I' ( Read more... )

 
Fuckin’ Crockett.

So, do you like Green Day?  I love Green Day.  I’ve enjoyed just about everything I’ve heard from them.  I think Billy Joe has that uncanny ability that certain songwriters possess that everything they write may not be the best piece of music ever, but always catchy, and always pretty good.  He’s in the same league as Paul ( Read more... )

 
Well the thesis is complete.  Just like that.  You know, you have this vision of trumpets sounding, clouds parting, birds flying around wrapping a sash around you that reads, “You’re Awesome” but really, it’s kind of anti-climatic.  In fact, it’s kind of hard to believe I’m done.  I’m not certain if it hasn’t settled in yet, or if I’m kind of ( Read more... )