"Prove that you love me and buy the next round....."

Tonight I went out to a bar with a few of the guys from work. They have been hounding me to go for a little while. I have been avoiding it because I am the boss. So I did the right thing went down there and bought a couple rounds, showed them what it feels like to have their sorry hillbilly asses handed to them on the pool table by a cocky New Yorker and got the hell out of there.

I noticed a large amount of people down here call me Sir (pronounced Suuur eg-"Thank ya Suuuur") The fucking southern drawl is rather annoying. I will pick it up no doubt. Kinda like after I got back to New York from Pittsburgh and was saying things like "Could you red-up the table?" and "The wash needs done." Thank god I never picked up "You want to go Dahn-tahn?" (that means "downtown" to the rest of the world) I pick up accents so easily that I will no doubt be talking this way in a short time.

I drove around in two Mercedes Benz' today. It was really cool. I have decided that I wasnt one some day. This thing had GPS, heated and cooled leather seat and was convertible. When the top went down, theres was this attachement that went up and created a wind barrier. So you could have the sun on your head and face and not mess up your hair. I am adding the Benz to my list of goals.

I went out to dinner with the owner of the company and his wife (owners of the Benz'). Carol, his wife, has decided that she is going to play matchmaker for me. It's kinda fun that "Momma G" has taken me under her wing and now wants to set me up on dates here in Raleigh. "What kind of women do you like Tom"...."Pretty, intelligent, kind ones C" She tells me that she wants to play matchmaker in her old age. She told me that she met a nice girl but that she had a kid and that wasn't good enough for me. Hahaha. It made me laugh so hard. C and I G have been very good to me. They are relocated New Yorkers that have moved to Raleigh. Carol has made it her business to see that I am okay down here. Always good to have someone watching your back.we had this long talk about life today and it felt good. Love mostly, but life in general.

I also found out that I may have the opportunity to move to other locations as a manager if I want to. Phoenix and Tuscon AZ sound pretty cool. They are in the cards, as is Chi-town and and maybe NYC again. I am working my ass off and getting things in order down here. It's paying off already. I changed the purchasing structure at the store and it is now starting to reap dividends. The staff is hating the fact that we are now starting to see two large orders a day roll in the back door, but they will get over it. Things have worked out well so far. Customers are smiling more and we are selling more. Everyone is happy. There is a long way to go but it is all really exciting. The renovations start next week! I wish, especially for Aryn's sake, I could have done this stuff at Kate's. Aryn, if you ever feel like you and Joe want to move to N.C. you have a job with me!

I'm gonna go, I am tired,

Ya'll be good


Song of the day-
"Mecedes Benz"-Janis Joplin (Suzi Smith used to sing this at the end of our gigs with Exit 57, when we were out of songs. Also, the title of this post)