Mother's Day:
Agent Wife accidentally started a Mother's Day tradition a few years ago by hosting a backyard BBQ for some single moms. Primarily Frieda Sanford from next door, her mom (now deceased), and another daughter/mom duo. And every year on Mother's Day we hear from those original participants as they call up and ask, "so...what are you doing for mother's day?"
This is probably a great idea to continue every year. But we're pathetic and forget. Plus, we had no idea how big of a deal it was for those ladies at the time. So last night we threw together a fajita feast in our backyard. The Sanford household attended.
It was laid back an fun. And we played Mexican bingo, where Manuel (Frieda's spanish-only boyfriend and the actual property owner next door) really lit up. And somehow, I was arm wrestled to pull the 10 Caliber out of the closet and perform an impromptu backyard jam to 8 people. That's something I never would have planned on doing. Fun stuff.
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The Orkin Man:
I often report on my Pruning Boy gig. That is, my part-time manual labor job with Son & Dad Tree Service, Inc.
I've been employed with them for three months now. Early on, I was mostly operating chain saws and such. It was kind of neo-romantic to talk of myself as some kind of lumberjack, which is cool. But that would be an entirely misleading description of my job.
Mostly these days I'm a lawn mowing jockey. Yup. That's me. the very first job I ever had was mowing yards in my neighborhood at 14. Ahh, we all come full circle. Guess it's not exactly something to write home to the alumni magazine about: Agent B is currently...mowing LAWNS for a living. He has a wife, two kids...and is a total bad-ass. If ACU would print the words "bad-ass", I'd totally submit that entry.
Anyway, today I wasn't a lumberjack or a lawn jockey. I was the freaking Orkin Man. I put in 11 hours spraying trees for bugs and so forth as it's the time of year to such. I kind of enjoyed going to the door in my uniform shirt and hat carrying some outrageous bill and saying, "Hi. I'm B with Son & Dad Tree Service, Inc. We're here to spray your trees."
I wasn't too excited to work with chemicals. Several times today I'd find myself getting doused with the spray thanks to wind. Hopefully I won't become impotent. Or the father of septuplets.
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Tiger Woes UPDATE:
No news I guess. But I did spend quite a bit of time with him yesterday. All I know is that his friend Paco is moving to San Antonio. And The Tiger is going back to work this week.
I decided to keep my mouth shut about the rumors on him. If the CEO opened a wide door to say something, then fine. But I'd rather The Tiger to speak up first than to be put on the spot.
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mi esposa:
Go read Agent Wife's recent post on the poverty culture and their generosity. It's right on.
6 comments:
You use the phrase "poverty culture" a lot. Do you have a definition, or should we be expected to know what you mean?
Matt -
I write that phrase assuming the readers know its definition because I've been using it since the start of these reports (Aug '05). And I defined it several times back then, but not lately.
There is no fancy definition. The poverty culture is a culture of poverty. Or, an umbrella term that covers "homeless", "working-class poor", "poor people", and etc.
Poverty is very much a foreign culture to you (I assume as programmer at a local communications co., you are middle class. And...that you read blogs).
Foreign culture...say like China is to Americans. There are hidden rules, social rules, and priorities that are far different from ours.
These rules are not wrong, they are different.
I really dig your files. Added you to my link-n-logs. Cheers.
I understand the idea that there is a shared culture among poor Americans. I have my own experiences and connections and friends in that culture, and while my experiences are different from yours, I expect they are still valid.
But I'm always on the lookout for good definitions, and so I hoped that in your own attempts to become acclimated to the poverty culture, you had developed fairly concrete ideas about what "American poverty culture" entails. If you come up with anything, please let me know.
Also, my name is Matthew, not Matt.
Matt -
As always, your intellectual innuendo and last words are welcome here. Thanks for stopping by.
I'll try to remember to call you Matthew. But this is my blog. And matthew is a long word. And I might forget.
Not sure what this being your blog has to do with my name, but okey dokey.
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