Chapter 23 - Day Four and More!

Again, this is not literally day four. Just a way to try to coordinate my thoughts here on this blog. Obviously, I need an experience screenplay writer like Brian Helgeland to make this project complete AND exceptional.

I started making more and more friends the longer I was there. I became recognized as one of the best in the building, and people liked to hang with the best, for many reasons of course.

Shawn P was a very nice, dapper young man. We became friends, and I told him I was trying to acclimate to life in the big city. He reminded me of a young Robert Downey Jr., and he got that comparison a lot. One night he said he was going to take me out on the town. Scottsdale that is. We went from bar to bar, and he knew everyone. I don't think we ever paid for a drink either. We had a very good time, but I determined that I was not a Scottsdale type of guy. We did not have a second 'date'.

Another type of Scottsdale guy was Chris C. Chris and I were desk neighbors and became very good friends. Chris will also become a player in this movie project. We later in 2001 spent 911 together, drinking, watching TV, and dis-believing. We played some golf together, and became very good buds. I appreciate his friendship. He was a Scottsdale guy though, and we did not party that much together. He was a bit of a smart ass, and often said things without thinking. He may have received a black eye here and there. He also had a proclivity for Asian women. He once boasted to me of his success, but I will not mention a number here out of respect for his current spouse and daughters. He did make me laugh. I remember once when he was going through a dry spell on the sales side, he was pitching a client... and the client said he wanted to think about it. Chris almost imploded, as he heard those words again. He could not compose himself for a comeback on that one. That moment passed. Chris also got me a few other jobs after Don Lapre. The best one was PSN.net, where we sold DSL. This was the year 2000, and I made over $25,000 in August of that year. I set the record with 28 sales in one day. The previous record was like 18 deals in a WEEK. I worked 14 hours that day. The orders took awhile to put into the system, so I paid one of the guys there who was not so much into the sales effort $5 a deal to put them into the computer. I paid him $140 that day. We were both happy. In September the company went out of business due to chargebacks. The DSL was not getting installed fast enough, and the speeds were not as fast as we projected. Since we were a reseller for North Point and Covad, the LEC's would do our orders last. As the client was prepaying for an entire year, they got tired of waiting as well, and would cancel. The speeds were off as the online distances we were shown by the internet from the house to the LEC were off, and that affected the internet speeds. Also, some of the Central Offices were antiquated, and could not handle the new technology without a major overhaul of the CO. Chris' brother also worked at Don's, and his name is Jason. I once worked with another brother, and his mom worked their too briefly. A great family!

Jason M is from Louisiana. He started at Don's very young. He made some money at Don's, and invested well, and accrued a very nice portfolio. He became a good friend, and we worked together many times. On Thursdays, he would often loan me $100 to go out that night to go to Scottsdale to see Satellite play. Even though I made 2k a week, I would be broke the day before payday. I was paying $400 a week in back child support, and $250 a week for a personal trainer. Add a sports car, five nights out a week, well, you get the picture. Jason started out in Quality, and that is how he became good, by listening to all the sales tapes. Overall, I would say he was a pretty good friend, though, like any relationships, there were bumps in the road. I 'fondly' remember one night when Jason and Mark D came to my apartment after the bar, to play poker. Mark D was a complete asshole when drinking, and he accused me of cheating at cards in my own home. I opted out and let them play by themselves. Then Jason takes off and leaves me to drive Mark home at like 3 in the morning. Fun times in the big city.

Rod H was another character. He was ten years older than me. Kinda looked like Robert Duvall. Rod referred to himself as a German Jew. He was rough around the edges, and not often a happy man. His wife left him while he was almost on his death bed from cancer. He recovered, and lived awhile longer. We rented a very nice renovated house on Bishop Ave with a pool. He loved chess. He often could be an ass, but he had his good moments too. He spent all his off timed on the internet in his room. I gave him the master bedroom, as it had a private bathroom (he needed it as he lost many feet of intestines I believe it was). He got AOL free, month after month, for a few years I think. He would call up and say he was going to cancel, and they would give him a few more months of service free. You could get the free AOL trial disks everywhere in those early days. Rod was cheap. He was constantly hooking up with women, no matter how unattractive they might be. When I broke up once with a girl, he asked me if he could hit her up. I got pissed off at this and then explained to him the bro code, though I know she would never have given him the time of day. He smoked weed like mad while cerfing the net. His brother was Barry H who would run for Governor of AZ each year. They were not close. Rod had two sons whom I only met briefly. Later Rod got sick again, and died at about 56 maybe. Ironically, his ex wife, whom he hated, died unexpectedly about a week after Rod died. A funny thing I remembered about Rod was - I would always call him on the way home to see if he wanted a taco, or a burger - as I kinda felt bad bringing food home, and eating in front of him - even though he was always in his room, smoking and cerfing. I would buy like ten times in a row, then one day he would buy me something, then I would buy the next ten rounds of food, then he would buy one. I think I have often abused this way in my life. I guess I am just a sucker/nice guy. He never drank much. I did. I always had beer in the fridge. Quite often I would offer him one, just to be sociable. Sometimes he would imbibe. He never bought a six pack though. But boy, if I touched anything of his in the fridge, he would freak out. I guess the guy could not count, lol.

Introducing Dr. Dick.

Introducing Idea Man.

Introducing Mr. Domain

Introducing Dr. Tim