The mother of all restaurant jobs

So I had my first shift at Lorena's last night. It's a nice restaurant in town where I've gotten a job as a food runner. The pay should be good, and it keeps me busy on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. I'm still sort-of in training, so they won't let me handle any actual food yet, just water and bread, plus I clean off the tables and re-set them. Basically i'm a busboy (busperson?). It's a really small restaurant, so I'm trying to learn quickly and otherwise stay out of the way. This is a really nice restaurant, and Lorena (the hostess and a co-owner, her husband is the chef) is big on service, so everything has to be just right. Some things (like polishing, checking and repolishing water spots from all of the silver and glasses, or like lining the silverware up perfectly parallel on the table) are simply shows of high standards, if a bit obsessive. Some, however, seem to me to be a bit patronizing, so I'm having a bit of trouble training myself (things like walking people to the bathroom rather than pointing to it, or folding people's napkins for them when they get up from the table.)

Another side effect of this job is that I've had to learn how to tie a tie. I wear black shoes, socks and pants and a white dress shirt (there was a whole other saga trying to find a women's white dress shirt that buttoned to the collar and had long sleeves), and a tie and apron that I borrow from the restaurant. It was pretty humiliating when I had to get one of the other waiters to tie my tie for me. I made my dad show me a couple of times last week, and nailed it on my first try last night! Hurray for the small victories.

My internship is going well, but I haven't been able to start on the main part of the GIS project, since they only just published this dataset I need, and we haven't gotten it yet. In the meantime I'm working on various GIS projects and doing data collection on a city block in the East Village, which means trips to the Municipal Archives to xerox building permits. It's an interesting job, but I'm a bit irritated that it takes a lot of time, and I'd rather hand it off to someone else to finish. I've befriended one of the girls who works there, but I think she thinks I'm a jumpy headcase, because she always manages to startle me, and I end up blinking dumbly at her for a while before realizing what the hell she's talking about. In general I've been bringing my lunch, but today I went with her to an Asian convenience store on the corner for a cheap bowl of udon.

Haven't done the abs of being kind in a while, in fact I've pretty much fallen off the excercise wagon.

Anyway, disc one of The Wire just came from Netflix, so I'm going to go watch it. Love to hear what you're all up to, even if I have talked to you on the phone.

Happy B-day America, You Old Fart!

Ti amo fo' shizzle Palmer.

That's right, I am in the motherland (Palmer) and wishing I was in the grandfatherland (Italia). We are having a small part-ay for the fourth. My mom is pissed because I keep calling it "my party" because we planned it because I was home.

I went to the bar in Palmer on Thursday. It was like a high school reunion...unintentionally. Young folk from Palmer just hang out here. 10 girls from my soccer team. The captain of the football team was there and we took shots. He was SO hot and he is still cute, but I totally "win" because I am worldly and cool now.

I am taking advantage of our fast wireless at home and illegally downloading shit like crazy. The best of Foreigner. The entire discography of Blue Oyster Cult. Lady Gaga. Etc. Everything from guitar hero. I am super into Boston right (both the band and the city).

Anyway, I forgot this blog existed, but I will fo realzzz remember to update now that I am super bored at work.

N