Saturday
El Milagro: Last evening Rosie the Tech called to say I can come in today at 10:30 to 11 in the morning. So, this morning I get up and mow the lawn and everyone else is out
cold even when I get done with the front at 10 or so. Johnny is here for the weekend (he comes back home to sleep) and his mom calls to roust him out and get him over there to help put a window AC in the studio. I make coffee and take it up to Liz and head out to dialysis... stopping to pick up a breakfast taco at our little neighborhood taco joint.I pull into the El Milagro parking lot about 11:10 and find out from Jason the Tech that the last guy isn't out of my chair yet: they had a machine break down and are running about 30 to 45 minutes late, so I have another 30 minutes or so. I decide to head over to the ex's to eat my breakfast taco, see the guys put in the AC, and check in with Katie, who said yesterday she needs to talk to me "about Delta Zeta".
So I munch down my chorizo & egg taco and watch the boys pull the AC out of the box and get it ready to set in the window; talk briefly to the ex, and get the lowdown from Katie on the sorority. Basically, she has signed up to live in the sorority house but can't afford it.
She would like her mom and me to pay for it... and my response is to say that I will match whatever she puts in monthly from her own money. I add that it may be time to sell her jeep, buy a bike, and work in San Marcos to pay for the whole thing. She agrees to figure out what she is going to do and let me know.
When I get back to El Milagro, they are ready for me and Jason cannulates me while Connie the Nurse does my nursing evaluation and we discuss college costs these days and how inaffordable it has become since the Texas legislature lifted the caps on costs. I mention the Texas Tomorrow Fund, ways to save money for offspring's education, and the rudiments of my family's strategies, including John's college debts and Katie's working. Connie hasn't saved much cause she thinks her 10 year old doesn't like school and therefore probably won't go to college. I tell her the story of my Dad's putting money away many years ago for all his grandchildren and my not putting money away... and the result of those choices. Amanda the Tech, who is attending ACC because she can't afford the big colleges with her Texas Tomorrow Fund monies recommends Connie do something in case her child re-decides later and Connie goes off to find out if the TTF is even still open to folks.
I settle into listening to KUT's Folkways, with Tom Pittman hosting today. Tom is playing absolutely great music today and even tho part of me wants to settle back and watch some tube, I find myself reading... actually skimming today... my Bush Book and really listening to Tom's choices.
I'm now in the chapter of the book about how big a bet it is that Bush will find a way to attack Iran before he's done in January. According to Greenwald, the Manichean-brained Neo-cons are really pressuring Bush to put his fists where his mouth is. Greenwald states, "...once a president accepts and publicly declares that Nation X is not just hostile but Evil, and once he refuses even to negotiate with that country, all of the options typically available to a country in order to coexist peacefully are eliminated. But that is precisely the barron, suffocating corner in which the president's most fervent supporters want him to be in with regard to Iran, and that is where the president has chosen to be."*
Shiver! It's scary... so, lets see what Tom P. is playing this afternoon. Did I say how nice it is to listen to Folkways for FOUR whole hours while in dialysis? Right now he is playing a series of songs related to the Carters & Cash family; June Carter's Far banks of the Jordan; Carlene Carter's Ring of Fire; and Roseanne Cash's Black Cadillac, as well as a few Johnny Cash songs. He has already played stuff from Doc Watson, Ramblin Jack Elliot, KD Laing, and quite a few bluegrass numbers. Oh, and a Tom T. Hall tune you don't hear too often. I put the Bush Book down and drift off to listener land with my earphones on, my hat pulled down, and my red Mexican blanket pulled up close.
I notice Rosie the Tech walking around when I have about 20 minutes left, with the Newsletter... which I hadn't noticed. She smilingly hands it out and explains it to some folks, once pointing over at me, "If you have complaints, he's the one to talk to..." or something. As I am getting ready to leave she remarks that they have a mandatory staff meeting tomorrow and she'll talk to Susanne about scheduling a meeting for August.
Notes: In at 75.2 and out at 74.3
* Greenwald, G. (2007) A tragic legacy: How a good v.s. evil mentality destroyed the Bush presidency. New York: Three Rivers Press, p. 178
**KUT Saturday Playlist, retreived online at http://kut.org/music/playlist
No comments:
Post a Comment