About Bravery

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For those of you that have been following this blog from the beginning, I wrote about my dog and an injury that caused him to loose an eye last summer. Even before that, he was reluctant to see the vet, but since then he has been even more apprehensive and a bit anxious about going there.

From a Boston Terrier's point of view

Today was a routine vet visit for him. I don’t know how he does it, I think he can actually read, but he knows which highway exit the vet’s office is and begins to freak out before we are off the ramp. This would not be so bad except it is easily 10 minutes of driving after the exit to get to the office. Well this time we all went to “take the dog to the doctors”. It was myself along with my wife and the girl. She, of course, is also slightly apprehensive about an experience at the doctor since her last visit. It is a combination of an age thing as well as the fact that she was actually sick while she was there so the trip was much worse than pleasant. Today, because the trip was not for her, she was told by my wife that we were there to help the dog be brave. We had to explain to her, in 2 year old logic, about being brave. How it is ok to be scared, and even cry if you have to, but that in the end, it will all be ok and it is for the good of something or someone else. That made her feel very special and important.

She got to watch while the doctor listened to his heart and look in his ears. She was especially interested in when they took blood and gave him a shot. So much so that she leaned in so close to see that I almost dropped her. Even the technician was impressed. She told us that her son would have gotten nervous for the dog and freaked out. To us it was simply a way to show he from an outside perspective that going to the doctor is not all that bad. She seemed to have a better understanding of what went on in the exam room, and hopefully we can remind her of this experience the next time she is at her doctor.

On the same topic of bravery, but to a significantly larger scope, I want to touch just a little on the events of this week. I was, like many others in America, very interested in the events that transpired in Boston. I remember hearing about the first explosion while I was at my desk and quickly flipping to Twitter and CNN to see what was going on. When I got home I turned on the TV to see what had developed, and they were replaying video of the explosion at the Marathon as it happened. What I saw next is something that is the true definition of bravery. Seconds after the explosion, a group of people went running over and almost diving into the crowd to help people. None of the people knew what was going on, or if there was another bomb waiting to go off at any moment. It seemed to be no hesitation of though; they were going to save as many people as they could, with total disregard to their own safety. That is true bravery and heroism. That makes me feel proud to be witness to something like that. In a place where the intent is to terrify people, there are true heroes that are willing to risk everything to save others. Were they scared, I would imagine so, but they had a job to do.

What is disappointing to me was my initial reaction to the explosion once I heard what had happened. A friend of mine is a marathoner and usually runs in the Boston Marathon, so I immediately called him to see if he was ok. After I found out that he skipped it this year, I though of my wife. For a long time she has had anxiety about visiting places with large crowds for fear that something bad could happen and she would not be safe. I had been trying to help her to overcome this, then something like this happened. Although we are perfectly safe and not even in the same state as the incident, it has affected my family. I am not trying to compare ourselves to the victims in any way, what happened to them was tragic and they are in my prayers, all I am saying is that the effects are not always just physical.

To wrap up, the world witnessed great acts of bravery on an international scale this week. We had our own witness to bravery though the eyes of a child helping her dog to try and overcome his fears of the vet. Sometimes the little victories are just as triumphant.

Have you experienced anything similar, and was it affective?

Thanks for reading.

The end of an Era

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I am writing this post with a bit of sadness and a lot of excitement. After over 6 years in the business, the shop and I are parting ways. The separation was mutual and a tough decision to be made, but I felt like it was time to move on. Today was my last day.

I want to begin by thanking the owner and all of my coworkers for the best job I have had so far in life. I started at the store during the semester I graduated from college. I knew just based on the unorthodox interview that I was in for something very different from what I was used to.
The owner was part of the allure of the shop. People would come in and ask for him to help them out all the time. At first I thought it was about his expertise, but I quickly realized that is was more than that. It was his personality that was attracting the loyal following. To know him is to be entertained and appreciated all at the same time. He knows what it takes to make customers feel like family, and that is what keeps them coming back. It kept me coming back.

I started out life in the cigar business as a casual customer, and eventually

One of my regular responsibilities.

One of my regular responsibilities.

turned a hobby into a full-time paying job. He took a chance on me that I appreciate more than anyone knows. I asked him if he was hiring one day because I did not have a job. He contemplated it and called me up to make me an offer. From there, it was learn as much as possible and never turn down an opportunity to acquire more skills.

I eventually wound up in the warehouse covering for someone during Christmas one year and never left. Although I enjoyed retail, the shipping end was great. I got to interact with people from all over the world and learn skills I never would have considered this business could teach me.

As the business grew, so did my role with the company. We brought on more and more people and I got to be part of it all. I got put into a new department that did not exist before and was made to be a product expert. Now having a title is one thing, but actually becoming an industry expert is another. It took effort, dedication, and lots of cigars to smoke. For a while, I could not believe that I was getting paid to do what I was doing. I had truly turned my hobby into a way to earn a living. I got to meet some of the coolest people in the industry too. (you know who you are)

Well now it’s time to move on, and I am excited. I will take all of the life skills I have learned over the past 6 years and apply them to my future success. It is not a time to be sad for me, but an opportunity to prove myself in an entirely new field. I can’t wait to see waht life has in store for me next.

Thanks for checking this out. I will keep you posted.

I know it’s stealing from myself, but this is a great story

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As I have mentioned before, I write for the blog at work as well. In fact the reason I decided to take on this personal blog was because of the fun I have while doing it for work. For years this is a story I wanted to tell my boss in the hopes that he would put it in his weekly newsletter for our in store customers, but for some reason or another I never told it to him or asked him to type it up himself for his news letter.

La Flor Dominicana Double Claro
This story did wind up being published, with me as the author, on the other blog I write for Talking Tobacco under the title “Sometimes a Cigar is more than just a Cigar”. Here it is:

A long time ago my dad told me a story that his dad told him about a friend. This guy’s name was Joe and he lived in Brooklyn not too far from my grandfather. I am a little fuzzy on exactly when this took place, but I think it was after WWII. Joe was laid off from his job and was looking for work. He knew a lot of people in the neighborhood, that’s the way it was back then in Brooklyn, everyone knew everyone else, and asked around if anyone knew anyone else that was hiring. Now my grandfather was friends with the president of NYU at the time, so he told Joe to go see him and mention that he was a friend of his.

Joe did not know what to expect when he walked into that office that day. Once the president heard that Joe was a friend of my grandfathers, he was receptive to hearing him out. “There are not many positions available at the university right now, but I can keep you in mind for something in the future” the president told him. Joe pleaded to him “I have no means to support my family” he said, “is there anything? I will do anything”.

The president thought about it and said told Joe the only thing he could offer him was a position as a janitor. In fact some people were moving around recently and he could arrange that Joe became the head janitor, which was worth a little bit more money. The president told Joe to simply fill out the paperwork and the job was his. At this point, Joe had to fess up and admit that he could not read or write.

This bothered the president. He told Joe that because this was a prestigious institute of higher learning, he could not allow a member of the staff that could not read or write. Of course Joe was deeply upset by that and began to get emotional. The president felt for him and gave him a gift. It is not much he said, but this could help you. The president handed Joe a box of Cuban cigars. He then told Joe about how this was a gift and he had an idea. He told Joe about a nice tobacco shop in Manhattan that he was a regular at. He then told him to take this there and mention his name and try to sell it to them, that way at least he would have some money to help hold him over until he was able to find another job.

Joe was always hopeful and did not let the rejection get him down. He took the box and went to the store as the president had instructed. When he got there, he met the manager and explained his situation. The manager wanted to help, but it was not possible. He told Joe that it was against his contract and other regulations to accept the box in exchange for money. Not that he did not trust Joe; it was just that the reputation of the store was on the line if the cigars were bad. He gave Joe a great piece of advice though; he told him that the box was worth $25 in the store. He then told him that if he took that box and set himself up on a street corner down in the financial district and sell them one at a time for $2 apiece. Between all of the stock brokers and lawyers down there, the manager figured Joe would do well to make some extra money.

Joe got up bright and early the next day to give it a shot. To his surprise, he sold out before lunchtime. Joe had 2 options at this point, he could take the money he made and use it to help support his family and look for a new job, or he could reinvest it into another box of cigars and see what would become. It was a nice day out, so he decided to buy another box from the shop that helped him out. It seemed to be successful, because he was able to sell that box also.

Joe was onto something and continued to do this every day no matter how bad the weather was. Each day he gave what was left to his wife and told her to buy the essentials and pay the bills; then put what is left into a bank account. This practice went on for years, growing more and more successful each day. Soon, there was a great word of mouth and people expected Joe to be on his corner selling his cigars.

Eventually Joe began to get tired of all the work each day and he and his wife had talked about moving to Long Island and buying a house, but he was concerned there would be no way he would be approved for a mortgage. At that point his wife reminded him that she had opened a bank account with the leftover money from each day. He excitedly went down to the bank to see a mortgage officer. During the discussion, Joe mentioned that he had an account there and gave the number. The officer looked up the account and to his amazement; there was over $50,000 in the account. In shock, he asked Joe how he had accumulated that much of a savings. Joe then told him the story.

The mortgage officer could do nothing but grant the loan to Joe based simply on his savings account and the story. He told Joe all you have to do is fill out this paperwork and you will be on the way. At that point Joe had to tell him that he could not read or write. The officer looked at him with even more amazement. He said, “you were able to do this without even being able to read or write!?! Can you imagine where you would be in life if you had those skills?”

Joe simply replied “yeah, I would be the head janitor at NYU.”

Although I was told that story buy my dad, it was not about a friend of my grandfather. In fact, he heard it at a seminar, but I do not recall who told it and I assume it was not true, although in NY anything is possible. If any of you know the origin, I would love to find out who started it and if it was indeed a true story. I apologize if I messed up some of the details, it was told to me a very long time ago and I am writing from memory.

Since posting this story almost a year ago, I have gotten some good feedback about it. The first time I was told it by my father, I was not even in high school yet and took it for a joke. In the many years since, I have come to another realization, no matter what adversities you face in life, you have the power to overcome them by simply trying to be the best.

Don’t get me on a rant. I am not one of the “everyone gets a trophy just for playing” advocates. I do think it is important in life to loose, that will help you become who you are and also a more well rounded individual, but hard work does pay off.
Insert cliche here if you want.

What is your take on this story?

What are some of your Christmas Traditions?

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Christmas TreeFor all of you that don’t know, I work for an online retail at a company called PipesandCigars.com, (shameless plug) and this has to be one of the busiest times of the year. Being busy can make you forget about slowing down and appreciating everything you have. I was looking through some email and came across one from my younger sister. She had mentioned that when we go to our Mom’s house this year, she wanted us all to write down some Christmas memories to share with everyone.

What are some of your traditions and memories?

One of my favorites is going to church with our Mom and then going back to the house for a traditional fish dinner. We are talking about her holiday specialty of “fish salad”. At least that’s that’s we always called it.
After dinner we would all gather into the living room to relax, watch A Christmas Story and exchange gifts. There was also in later years a bit of drinking and fooling around, but doesn’t that make everything better?
I began writing this a week or so before Christmas, and wouldn’t you know it, I got interrupted by life and an just finishing it now. Well I will say, we had a wonderful Christmas all around. The stories were the best part this year. We all had a few favorites to tell. A lot of us had different ones, and overlapping memories of the same ones from a different perspective.
One of the best ones might have been how our uncle (about a month after moving into a brand new house) was trying to skateboard in the basement (on carpet) and fell off, making a giant hole in the wall in the process. Instead of owning up to it, he moved a piece of furniture in the way and telling us “don’t tell your dad”. After a few days, the truth came out and he was caught. This part I did not know, but my brother filled us in, he felt bad and as a “repayment” he helped my dad install the mailbox into the ground as soon as the the ground thawed.
As a kid, this night was always very special to me. It seemed to change a bit as i got older and eventually got married. Now I am a parent and it means something even more. To see my little girl experience the event is even more special then I could have imagined.

Thanks for reding. I hope you can share your memories with me.

Just Fooling Around

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Image

I feel like I have partially abandoned this blog and I apologize for that. Over the last few months life has gotten in the way of more life. I will say that my boy is doing much better and has just about adapted to life with one eye. He is currently keeping me company whilst Wifey is actively participating in nap time rituals. I will make a better effort to post more often. I am glad however that the recent iPad updates have made if easier to post here in a way that is most suited to my style.

Thanks for reading.

My Dog and why I would do ANYTHING for him

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20120709-110347.jpg This is my little boy. Ignore the yogurt on his face from the less fury kid having lunch that day. He was my first dog ever and he will always be considered my first kid no matter what anyone says. I am writing this today from the campus of Tufts University just outside of Boston MA while waiting for my buddy to get out of surgery. He had a less than fortunate incident a few days ago, and long story short, he had to have his eye removed. I am waiting for him to get out of recovery so I can take him back home.
He is and will continue to be the greatest companion anyone cold ever ask for. No matter what is going on in life, my little buddy would always be there to greet me with typical Boston Terrier over enthusiasm. I guess that’s what got him into this in the first place. He has the heart and soul of a giant packed into a tough 25 pound fearless body.
He never cared what was going on in life as long as his people were there. He never knew the times when stress would consume us. He would always treat us the same and with unconditional love and affection. To him, we are his pack.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of his face and his breed, he has some of the most bulbous eyes you will find on a dog and they get in the way sometimes. as would be typical for him, he decided (and has on countless occasions) that he would defend our yard fro the evils of critters big and small. He would go chasing fiercely after them with great vengeance showing them that this was his yard and they did not know what they were messing with. To him it was simply his role as our protector. Well on a few occasions, he would come out of the bushes with a squinty eye. We immediately panicked the first time and took him to the vet. It was the right decision, because he had injured his cornea and required treatment. Once in a while he would do it again, and the same result would happen. My wife and I remarked not too long ago that we had made it almost a whole year in between eye injuries, attributing it to the boy getting older and more relaxed.
Sure enough last week, the same old thing went down. We took him in, but this time it was worse and required a little more effort on our part. Yesterday, he seemed to be in less pain although the eye looked like it was not improving all that much, then the worst thing i have ever witnessed happened. We were watching TV and he was on the couch like usual. He jumped off the couch as we were getting up to go to bed, and he let out the most horrible noise I have ever heard him make. We both looked over to see his eye bleeding. It had ruptured. It was the worst thing I ever hope to witness in my life and i wish none of you ever have to experience anything like it.
We took him to the ER where they recommended that i take him here to Tufts. It was after midnight by then and the drive took about 2 1/2 hours. When I got here, people were waiting for me and took him right in while I filled out the obligatory paperwork. Needless to say, I got about no sleep at all last night. What I did scrounge up was in my car in the parking lot.
People who don’t get it mist think my wife and I are crazy. We are. Crazy about our little buddy. I know without question, he would do this for us if he could. We are his people. We are his ambassadors to the world that cannot speak his language. People who think dogs cannot talk have clearly never met a Boston before. I have had entire conversations with him without opening my mouth. As much as he would do to protect us, it it our obligation to him to keep him well. He cannot understand apathy, and money is no use to him, so we cannot let either of those affect his quality of life. If it were up to him, he would do anything to help us. It is not just my responsibility as his caretaker, it is my responsibility as his best friend and companion to do my best and offer him the best options I can. Nothing is too much for someone that loyal and devoted. He would never turn his back on us.
I know plenty of you would agree with me. Please keep my buddy in your prayers.
I just got off the phone with his surgeon, he is out and starting to wake up already. He has informed me that the boy should make a full recovery and his quality of life should not be affected because of it. Another remarkable thing about man’s best friend is that they are resilient and will adapt.
Thanks for checking this out. I will update when I can.

On Cover Albums

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Love ‘em or hate ‘em, people are putting out cover albums all the time.  Some are just plain terrible while others are tolerable if not great. We were listening to a bunch of them the other day at work and got into an interesting debate.  I guess it was  not too much of a debate since we had similar opinions on the topic.  Let me set it up for you a little:

Stone Free - A Tribute to Jimi HendrixI typically like to listen quietly to music out of my iPad, but Josh, our graphic designer, encouraged me to turn it up. Since it was a little loud in there, he handed me a great set of speakers off his desk that he made from an old cigar box to really turn up the sound. After a few different albums we got to talking about stylistic differences and preferences.  We listened to a few different formats that morning, whole actual album by various artists (Spin’s tribute to Nevermind by Nirvana, Newermind), a best of by various artists (Stone Free a tribute to Jimi Hendrix) and a full album tribute by 1 artist (Dub Side of the Moon by the Easy Star All Stars) a Pink Floyd Dark Dark Side of the Moon tribute. Right there you can see we were all over the map with our music that morning.

On to the discussion:

What is the better format for a cover album? More importantly, do you try to imitate and duplicate, or take it and make it your own? I think the 3 formats all have their own merit.  A reggae tribute to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the MoonVarious artists doing a greatest hits type album is great because you get to hear a lot of hits and a different take on each from different people.  In this respect, you get a huge variety of what is generally considered the popular songs by an artist.  In the case of the Jimi album, I don’t think there were too many misses.  The Pink Floyd album was cool in that it is a stylistic change to a classic album by one artist’s interpretation. Let’s take a classic psychedelic rock album and make it reggae.  The Nirvana album provides a compromise between the two.  You have a whole album from start to finish with the added bonus of a new artist for each track.  This one was also the one that generated the most opinion.  With the other 2 albums, you were in or out for the most part, Jimi was a greatest hits, if you did not like the original, see if the cover did something for you.  Dub side gave you an idea of what you were getting into, you already knew the album, now imagine it with a reggae theme.

Spin magazine's tribute to Nirvana's NevermindNewermind was hard for a few in the office to handle.  Just like Dark Side, the album was tremendously popular with the audience in the room, but each song was nothing like the last.  It took you on an up and down ride of love and hate.  Some songs were such a far departure from the original that you needed a re-listen to comprehend what you just heard.  I even would not have realized what the song was had I not know it was the whole album in order.  Some attempts were simply a newer artist trying to replicate the original out of respect.  Some were more respectful than others.  After that album was finished, the topic moved to weather or not you should try to preserve the song’s integrity, or completely  make it your own.  The debate involved, “are you talented enough to replicate” vs “are you talented enough to re-create”.  There were great examples and horrible examples of each on the album.  Ultimately, most of us in the room that day were open minded enough to accept the differences overall and consider the effort worthy of a repeat performance.

What are your opinions on cover albums?

Have you listened to any of the ones mentioned above?

Make a good recommendation for one you love or hate, and why.

Thanks for checking this out.  Stop by again and tell your friends.