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you can relax that way, afterwards and things. Uh-huh. Yeah. I agree Well, I guess it's getting late. Yeah. And I should take off, but, uh, I appreciate that, that helped me, helped motivate me Okay. Think someone can do it. Yeah. Maybe I should start thinking about it again. Well, try it or, or maybe just exercise at home. I bought a tape, and I'm going to try doing that. Yeah, I bought one, I went to the,
I bought the low impact first. Uh-huh. Yeah, that's me. So, but I haven't done it. Uh-huh. But I'm going to try it. Well you have a good night. Thanks a lot. We'll see you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. So, uh, what do you think about our involvement in the Middle East? Well, actually, I think it's good. I, I, I hope that we, uh, uh, get a chance to, uh, promote peace out there, uh, because I think without peace we're not going to get stable oil prices, and, and, uh, I'd, I'd really like to see stability in that area, because I'm always afraid that's where another big war is going to start. Not that Desert Storm was a small one. Yeah Well, yeah that's probably true. I, I suspect that if any world war is coming at this point in time, they're going to come from there, uh, I would think, anyway.
Just seems to be that that's the most unstable part of the world, as far as I can tell. I saw, um, just recently, where, uh, uh, the U S is supposedly going to be, uh, putting pressure on all the, you know, the Israelis, supposedly, to come to a bargaining table to, actually I heard that the Israelis were even at least mentioned about giving up some of the Golan Heights. Really. Yeah. That would be interesting because I am, actually, um, um, I'm, I'm I'm Jewish and I'm actually sort of not, not, not really a Zionist per se, you know. Okay. But I have a, um, I have a lot of friends, you know, who are sort of adamant, you know, Israel, it's his right, and do whatever they want. And I think they've been sort of hard nosed about the entire thing. And, you know, in some sense, the moderates may be right. They may, you know, may be better if they give up just a little bit to settle things down. Well, uh, I guess it's one of those things that, uh, if it's going to really promote a lasting peace, if there is not going to be a peace, Right, then, then, then, then is it worth it at all. Yeah. I mean, I could the way, I mean, the only way to think about it is Well, they won, you know,
they sort of took over the, um, they're one of the only countries in history that has been told that they have to give back what they took in a war, which they didn't start, basically, so. Oh. Yeah So, I don't, I don't know how to, I don't, I don't know what to do about it But I think that, that you know, in general the region is really in bad shape Do you think the U S is going to wind up keeping, uh, military bases over there? Um, probably, oh, isn't, isn't there a plan now to make a command center there or something? I, I haven't heard that. I watch C N N every once in a while, but, I, I haven't specifically heard anything about that. I just heard something about moving, recently, about moving, um there, there, there's some central command post in Tampa I think that they now want to move to somewhere in the Middle East. Actually, there was, um, a small country or small city, I think, or even, not actually in Saudi Arabia or anything, but a little bit off to the, um, east of it, I think. And I, they want to keep something over there, so that they don't have to, um, I guess it's, I guess it's sort of so they don't have to move troops out so quickly or something. I'm not quite sure exactly why they want to do it.
But they want to keep some sort of central command post there. What I thought was interesting is that, uh, apparently the formal cease fire has not actually been signed yet. That's true. And, uh, then I guess there's still the possibility that, uh, hostilities with, uh, U S troops could still break out. Yeah, that's, they claim that's why we're still there. I mean, you know, why only, you note it's only, only a small number of people have actually come back yet. Yeah. But I think that's actually the scariest part, because when, in the way, what, what's happening in Iraq right now, you know, in itself, it being so crazy there. I have no idea, I mean, what do you know, just to imagine that one day they're just going to turn around and someone is going to say, We don't like you, and start attacking again, and it's going to be worse. I don't know. Um. Do you have relatives over in Israel? No, I don't. I I, I, I have some friends in Israel,
and coincidently actually my wife is Syrian. Um. Oh, really. Yeah, so I am, we are sort of, we are the Middle East peace talks at home. Um. And, uh, pardon me, I'm just sort of putting away some things from dinner now in the background. Yeah. But we, um, we, she has sort of friends and family in Saudi Arabia, who are some friends in Saudi Arabia. And, um, I have some friends in Israel. And we, we talk a bit about it, but we try and keep it out of the home life. Do you, uh, does she ever want to go back to Syria? No, she was, she is actually, um, I think it's, um, for her not really relevant, because she is second generation American, actually. Oh, okay. Her parents who were born here would like to go see it, though, I think. They would like to go to Syria,
but they recognize that Syria's not the place that one wants to visit right about now. No. No You know, something about the place makes it not, not quite enjoyable. Do you ever want to go over to Israel? Yeah, I, I've actually been there. Oh, okay. I was there a couple of years ago, when it wasn't, you know, sort of dangerous to be out there, I guess. Yeah. And, I do, I do like it actually. I would never live there. I think I'm too Americanized and, um sort of have too much, you know, too much invested in sort of, the easy life. Yeah. Yeah Okay, well you know, do you have a lot of Kosher foods there at your house? Yeah, actually my house is Kosher,
but it turns out that one of the strangest things about, about Israel is that um, most folks don't realize that for all the food people think of as sort of, you know, Jewish food and so forth. Um, and, you know, um, in general it really isn't the food that is eaten in Israel. So you typically think of it, like bagels, right, you know, bagels and lox. Yeah Turns out, you don't, you don't, you don't really find bagels in Israel. What you find is sort of Middle Eastern foods. The same foods that you find in, um, Syria and Egypt and everything else. Eastern Have you ever had those? No, Kish ki's, or knishes Oh, knishes, no you don't, you don't see a lot of, that's basically Eastern European Jewish food. Oh. It's, it's very different. I was actually very amazed when I sort of figured out for myself. That everything I grew up with really wasn't Israeli. It was more Jewish, you know.
I got you. It, it, it is very strange. Still get your Passover Matzi and all that, right. That, that starts tomorrow night. That's what I'm making, that's what I'm doing now. I'm making dinner. Oh really. I dated, uh, I dated a nice Jewish girl for many years up in Chicago, and I was the only Goyim at, at all the Seder dinners and everything, and I used to have to go with rolls of, not, pocketful of change to buy all this bread the kids would see me Bought up all the bread from That's good. Well, you've, you've, you've really got a handle on this stuff I've noticed. Not, not, Not, uh, Got the vocabulary down and everything. just, just enough to get by That, that, that makes you real good. Yeah,
we, um, we actually, we have the reverse situation. Turned out that, um, um, most of my friends aren't Jewish, and, and my wife's not. Okay. But I, um, I sort of, you know, do a lot of these things, so, so that, um, Seder, our first Seder is tomorrow night. And this is a rare exception. There are going to be sixteen people at my house tomorrow night, which, and five of them will be Jewish. Oh. Two, two years ago we had a Seder, we had sixteen people each night. Sixteen is the magic number for us. Wow And I was the only Jew both nights. Oh really So, which to me is wonderful, because it means that people who never would get to see this, um, so get to see it. And my view is, Passover is, should sort of be, in, in, in, in my mind Passover is sort of a generic holiday anyway, because it, it sort of predates Christ.
Yeah. So. Well, they had the, matter of fact I just watched Charles Heston this, uh, this weekend in the TEN COMMANDMENTS. Yeah, I caught the end of that. Did you? Yeah, every year, I try and catch that. But yeah. That's what always amazes me, actually, is that, um, is that, you know, my wife and I always sort of bring this up about her being Syrian, you know, and my being Jewish, you know. We look alike, we act alike, we sound alike, well, not totally alike but you know. Um, um, it's amazing to think that people in the Middle East sort of all hate each other. Well, that's, to me it's really, um, I guess, I guess I can intellectually kind of come to grips with all of that.
But, you know, emotionally I have a real difficult time believing that, uh that, that people that believe in God and love, not war and to forgive can't get together. Right. You know, I I know that the problems are so deep. But I mean, even within the Muslim, uh, religions, different sects, they can't get together. Right. That's, that's actually the part that, that, that I find really strange. I mean, I, I, I sort of understand somewhat. I mean, I, I, knowing the history I understand that, the hatred of the Muslims for, you know, the Israelis or whatever, and I can sort of handle that and , but I sort of think about the Muslims sort of running around have jihad against themselves. Yeah. You know, I mean, and, and that seems really weird. Or, the, uh, you know, the Catholics and the Protestants up in Ireland. Right, exactly. You know, I mean, Same, same thing. Yeah.
I don't, I'll, I'll never understand it. My view is look, what did you ever do to me. Yeah, yeah. Didn't hurt me, at, at, at the moment. So, um, and, and, and I, I don't know. There's a, there's something about, there's a poem somewhere. I don't know if you've ever seen it or not, but Everything I Ever Wanted to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Yeah. In this, and it talks about how, you know, if we could just all get you know, when we were young everything was great because we all went to class together, and in the you know, we all had snack time together, and then we all took naps and we all held hands and hugged, you know, and, and, and that's what kindergarten was like,
and wouldn't it be nice if, if we could solve all our problems by just sort of getting together and everyone in the world sat down and took a nap together. Woke up and had snack time, you know, and then hugged each other as we left. It sounds like a, it sounds like a John Lennon, uh, type. Yeah I wonder if he secretly did that ... Okay . Are you a T I or, No, I'm not. Oh, really, that's great. Uh, my daughter talked to a student. Uh, in general most of them, uh, people doing this are T I but I guess customers too, huh? And, I think a great number of students who got word of it and participated in general and voiced who heard about the program. Yeah. T I got, uh, a lot of advances in it really. Uh, hopefully this will turn out to be a good program for us. We sure need, uh, the business.
Okay, Current Events. Uh, you, you've got the question you can go first there, since I called. I rely primarily on, uh, newspaper combined with television. Huh, that, you're the opposite of me. I drive an hour each way to work and so if I just use time and not say one, which quality is the best, I guess, that would be two hours roughly of talk shows and news on radio and then newspapers and T V would be tied after that because maybe I'll catch the, the evening news, like ten o'clock on T V and I, Uh. so that's a half an hour roughly the same with newspaper. Okay. I really, of course, you, you're in a different part of the country, I, I really listen to a lot of the talk shows, I don't mean the gossip ones, but there's a lot of, on the weekends when I do chores, or whatever,
I'm a radio hound I guess, I take the radio with me when I'm working on my car, the lawn or whatever, and turn on, they have everything from lawn work, lawyers, news, uh, veterinarians, all kinds of items, uh, so I'm, I'm a real radio buff, especially on the when I'm doing chores. That's rather interesting. Yeah, I find it surprising. Because a lot of times, it, here, you know, I'll talk to some people here and I'll mention someone's, some talk host and I'll expect them to have an opinion on why I don't like him and don't listen, they don't even know, you know, what the guys name is, uh. Bruce Williams who does financial work all over the United States. Most people haven't heard of Bruce Williams. You probably haven't either unless you're a radio buff. I'd, I'd have to say I haven't either. He is in New Jersey and is entrepreneur and kind of a self-made millionaire. And, he has it, I, well it's five seventy here, I'm trying to,
it's on Cliff, I don't know what the, he's on all stations. You might remember the name Bruce Williams, and he, he is again, national and talks about a lot of financial things. But, the here, I just get a kick out of, uh, well we do a lot of gardening here, so there's, we have an excellent gardener here, has three hours on Sunday and three hours on Saturday. Of course that's not exactly current events. But, I, I'm, I am kind of a radio buff. I listen to the radio, uh, probably five or six hours a week, but almost inevitably to a station that is a classical, uh, station here , for music purposes. For music? We don't use the radio as a wake up, we have our, a television connected to a, uh, uh, electronic alarm, uh, system that kicks in, Yeah. and it comes on with C N N in the morning. Oh, yeah.
That's good. Actually, That we, we wake up to television news and, uh, uh, shower and dress, and whatever to that, and then because of the fact that my wife and I ride to work together, uh, in a car, we, we chat at each other rather than, than something else. Oh, that's good. Uh, and occasionally what we'll each do depending on whoever is driving is have the newspaper sort of on our lap on the way in, in the car, so we have the advantage of being able to, uh, read and drive although there seems to be, from what I've seen on the freeway recently that a fair number of people are reading and driving My wife always wonders about that she says, look at that person he's driving and reading at the same time So, we, we rely pretty, pretty heavily, I think, on a combination of the, of the two. I also, uh, use, uh, NEWSWEEK magazine. Uh, Yeah. we tend to alternate between NEWSWEEK and TIME and whatever happens to be the, the, uh, news magazine of the year for us. Right. we get, and, uh, I read sporadically of commentary and a couple of other, you know, trade magazines, and, uh, uh, such as that, uh, where I might read the, the occasional social and even current event commentaries, and, and everything as diverse as A C M to, uh, uh, some of the, uh, some of the other tabloids I get. So, uh, I guess I use about eighty percent written, is probably my input and twenty percent, uh, television. I, I think I respect the, from a journalistic perspective current events. Go ahead ,
I've always said that it, it's really not interesting unless it's three weeks old and found its way into a news weekly headline. Good point. That's a good point. Uh, other than that it was a at best. Oh, yeah. It comes and goes. Uh, we're probably not thrilled with our only newspaper that we have in Raleigh. There, there are other, uh, uh, I'm not sure what you would call them, they the small, uh, competing independent sort of newspapers. Little small weekly things, but there's only one daily, uh, called the NEWS AND OBSERVER, fondly referred to here by some as the, uh, uh, sometimes the Noise and Observer. Yeah. Uh, it depends. It, it's, has decent national coverage, but has an extremely focused political coverage, probably steeped in, the southern history and the fact that this is a Democratic State. Local you mean? And, uh, consequently everything is filtered through that, uh, Republican Democratic sort of, glass, almost unnecessarily Yeah. so. Yeah. Don't they have city council meetings and all that.
Are you into any of that what, what's going on in the city council and the, and the school boards and all that? We have that addition to our paper. Yeah, we, we have, that is, uh, as a matter of fact they update it once a week with a special section, we, and we pay it sort of glancing nod. We, uh, have a very good friend who is, uh, tapped into the city planning structure. Uh, our developer architect friend and, Okay , you get it from people then. Right. So, I think we find out what's happening in the city, uh, on a fairly frequent basis, over a, over a gin and tonic sort of thing. Yeah. Right. Uh, and that probably gives us a better insight as to the city of Raleigh than, than the paper would have anyway. My wife and I, you know, as mentioned, the question was, uh, do you get it from people too. And, and, I can say the same thing you do that, uh, my wife is, uh, she reads the paper from front to back and so she'll tell me some stuff
and she'll always get mad and say, you didn't read the, uh, well, I always read the sports, uh, what am I thinking of, uh, the commentaries, I can't even think of what it is offhand, and she's always reading something, and she says, why haven't you read that. And, I say, I never have time to read it like you do. But, I always get a lot of my information from the, newspaper through her. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh, so, I guess we do get it from people too. Oh, you mentioned C N N, of course I mentioned radio and the C N N T V news, you know? Uh-huh. It's the same thing that's on the radio, word for word. Is that right? I'll heard there was some stuff on the, on the radio that was equivalent to C N N. Yeah Okay. and it, because, uh, we have it here at work as a matter if fact, at T I.
Okay. We have it in the break area, C N N. And, but the reason I say that is on the radio they'll say and look at this, you know. And when I first heard C N N, it only started about, uh, since the war, you know, or right before that. And, they would always say and look at this, and there would be a pause, you know, would be music and stuff and I realized that it's the exact commentary that you have on the, uh, the news. Oh, That didn't, uh, Yeah, yeah. But, it's still good. It's still, uh, uh, you know, you don't really miss anything. Uh-huh. But, I do, do enjoy since the Gulf War listening to C N N radio too, as well as watching C N N on T V here at work. I don't have C N N at home. Let me turn this radio off, I'm actually at work right now believe it or not. Uh, where was I,
I'm, go ahead, your, your turn. Uh, we probably were listening to C N N fairly heavily before the war broadcasts began. Uh, we almost live and, and breathed it for, because during the war itself to the point where we began to sort of have household pact of lets turn the war off and get something done. Yeah, I've, I've heard that, yeah. Uh, almost an addition, uh, and, and, and we could equate or relate relay well to some of the newspaper and television articles about the fact that people where having this problem in, in unhooking, uncoupling from the events, and going on with their. So, Right instead of being, watching the missiles and being glued to the tube or whatever. Uh, and because of that we began towards the middle and of the war, I guess about two and a half or three weeks in, we began to restrict our news almost deliberately where we would, uh, watch, uh, fifteen minutes before, fifteen minutes after six our time which would be national news, or our local news. We would watch C N N until six thirty, then we would watch, uh, a rotating network news of either, uh, A B C, C B S, or N B C and we, we sort of just rotated around the dial each night a different one. Right. and then we would turn the television off and we were sort of limiting or dieting ourselves on, on news that way. And, then we would do a similar thing, uh, at uh, ten forty-five because, uh, C N N would be wrapping their hourly coverage up
and then we would get the local coverage, uh, and then I think the local coverage we would tend to watch the same station that would, would have better state coverage rather than local coverage. Uh, three of the networks here, on their local news, uh, that if, if you wish to listen at eleven o'clock you can find out who raped who, murdered who, or stole what. from whom. Oh, yeah. And, that was the sort of thing that I would say is the best MUMBLEx and not news Yeah. unless there's some trend or something that says, Jesus this neighborhood has been hit forty-seven times or whatever. Uh, that's, that's sort of more of, of a pattern news. I never get home early enough for those five and six o'clock, So, tell me about your home. My home. All right, my home is about fifteen years old. All right. It's a two story house, it, it's our first home, and it looks like it's going to be the last, I think we're going to demolish it
We've got two children and it's, they have scraped the, uh, plaster off the walls, you know, with riding their little toys through it and stuff. You know, Yes. put dents in the tiles, just multitude of them, I mean even places, it's, it's past the dent stage, we're talking some of it's been peeled away, you know, I don't know what they, We talking from, from dents in the holes. Yeah, dents in the hole , right. I understand, we've got, I've got a daughter. We've got two, one of them's eleven and one of them's seven and then the carpet, you know, we need to replace the carpet.
I mean, it sounds like it's just the pits but it's not all that bad, I guess but, you know, they're just real hard on it. Kids are hard on houses. Definitely, I can see why people wait until they get like in high school or maybe junior high and then they get another one. Yeah, yeah. Uh, we live in a mobile home and that's probably not typical America but, I know there's a lot of them. it's, what we have, it's all we can afford. Yeah. And, uh, seems like we're always working on it, as I'm sure, it is with your house. Because they're always, because they're always ruining something? Yeah.
How old is your child? Ten, girl. Well, So, you know, just like yours, ours is always, you know, we're, something else goes wrong always, you know, it's, Some appliances breaking or something? No, appliances, we had a couple plumbing problems, we've, oh, who knows, you know, it's always something with homes. And you said you were in Colorado Springs? Yes. Are there a lot of trailers around there? Yeah, there are there's a big military constituency. And is that what you're in?
Oh, no, no I'm, I work for T I. Well, then that's why you're doing this then, isn't it? Oh, yes. Oh, okay, well, What division are you in? I'm not in T I. Oh. I had a friend that had a roommate that worked for T I and she saw this come up on the computer screen, and ran it off. And passed it to the people that were interested. It's not a hobby, you know, it's something to do. I get to here about Texas again a bit and get to talk to people all over the country, you know, that I've talked to someone in Maryland, I believe it was. I know, I've been talking to people in Ohio, and, uh, Virginia, and I think, California. It's interesting, isn't it? Yeah, it is.
You know, the gal I talked to in Maryland, didn't own a car, she's never traveled anywhere, she's never been anywhere, she, you know, I talked about one of the biggest problems in the United States being our roads, and she didn't understand. She doesn't drive. How does she get to work? Uh, she, uh, lives on campus, she's a college student. Buses and, and, uh, public transportation. Uh-huh. I had a Her, her parents live by the public transportation. and I wish we could down here. Well, it would be nice but I kind of like the freedom, too, don't you? Well, sometimes but I tell you I'd sure like to be able to get on a bus or something and get to work, but if I did it, it would take me an hour and fifteen minutes.
I would have to get on one and drive, or walk to a you know, there's one terminal close to us and then they'd drive me to the main terminal here, Right. then, I'd have to go to downtown Dallas and then walk over couple blocks and get on another bus to go to my school. If it's anything like, uh, So that's too much. Dallas always has been, no one wants to be at downtown Dallas much. Yeah, but there sure are a lot of people that work down there. Is the crime rate still bad? Definitely. And I went down there a couple, maybe three weeks ago for a trial, and, I mean, all these people were standing up, that was, you know, during the workday all along the streets, you know, just all around these vacant buildings, just a lot of vacant buildings, Huh. and they're just being demolished, Huh. and, and they stink Yeah.
Huh, that's terrible. Uh-huh. So, Garland, how nice is it now, it's been a while since I've been there. You know, I think it might be up to two hundred and fifty thousand. It's gotten big. Yes, it has. I think when we moved here it was like a hundred and twenty, something like that. And I didn't realize, when I moved here, that it was a separate town from Dallas Well, yeah, it is. I know, now but I didn't. Where you from? I'm from Kilgore, Texas it's in east, Kilgore, I know where Kilgore is. Oh, where you from?
I'm, I'm originally from Lubbock. Are you? Yeah. So, why did you move up to Colorado? Seemed like the thing to do at the time. Well, it's real pretty up there. I have a friend, in Denver. Oh, I love it, the mountains. I love the mountains, What do you, uh, back to the topic, What? it seems that, uh, more and more people are not owning traditional homes these days. They're not owning homes, period. Yeah, yeah, uh, everyone says, you know, when I bought this several years ago when our local economy was good everyone said, no, no, you're crazy to buy a mobile home. Uh-huh. But now it seems that, uh, with the local economy bad and T I
and strange it seems that, uh, It wasn't such a bad idea? Oh, they're doing some back pedaling. So, have you got, uh, land? No, I'm renting at the time, so. I did that one year, I lived with two other girls and we all taught. And it was a two bedroom, so, we took turns, you know, having, sharing the bedroom. Gosh. Yeah. I got to where I decided I wanted to pay more rent and get a private bedroom. And then we had two baths it was just, one, the little bathroom, were the thing that really bothered me because I felt real closed in. Well, mobile homes have changed a lot probably since you had one. That was in the seventies. Ours is wood ours is wood sided,
Uh-huh. and it has a traditional V top , roof, I'm sorry. and, uh, it's nine hundred and eighty square foot. What, two bedroom, one bath, rooms are nice sized. Uh-huh. Well, you can imagine nine hundred eighty square foot broke up into two bedrooms, one bath, So have, Have you got it under ? it's, it's comfy. Yes. Are you required to by law? We were down here. It was already setup when we bought it. Yeah, well, I bet it's not bad. Oh, yeah, it's wood sided it has sheetrock everywhere, and, uh, you know, so, it's quieter than you remember mobile homes to be. Okay, but how much is yours?
When we bought ours we were paying uh, three hundred twenty-nine dollars. Oh, our payments are like two twenty. For how many years? Fifteen. Oh, so, it was still a lot cheaper, And, uh, what? so, it was still a lot cheaper than what we gave because ours is thirty years, and we bought one of the cheapest houses, you know, a tract house. Yeah, oh, yes. A mobile home's a heck of a lot cheaper, Which probably didn't make much difference. it did. have a in it. No, no, no what I meant, not in quality, what I meant was, four years equity costs five hundred dollars. In the price.
Gee, nice, huh. That sounds good. So, you know, there's not that much time left on the loan and, So, if the economy gets better, are you going to get another one, another house? I, don't know. No? Uh, to tell you the truth right now it feels kind of comfy to have our mobile home and have it so close to paid for. You know, it's like me to pickup and move somewhere else, somewhere else is easy. But you wouldn't take that mobile home, right? Sure. You would? Sure, absolutely. It would be cheaper to move that than buy another one. Oh, absolutely. When I, you know, when you talk about the deal like I got, yeah, yeah, it would be cheaper. Uh, especially if it were a paid move or something. You know, there's some paid moves occasionally.
T I would pay to move you? I don't know but they did, when I, when I moved up here, so, they might want to move away. So, how many years you been up there? Uh, six or seven. Do you snow ski? Uh, a little bit, little bit, mostly I just love walking in the mountains, driving in the mountains. It's real pretty. I went rock climbing one time. Oh, that's exciting. my friend talked me in that I'm a real, um, scaredy when it comes to heights but once we got on top of the rocks it was quite, So, what kind of neat hobbies do you have? Well, I like gardening a lot, I like to be outside, um. I like gardening,
I wish I had a green thumb, though. I've got a brown thumb. That's what everything turns. Oh is, but, do you keep trying anyway? I keep trying, uh, you know, you just can't, can't give up on it, uh, I, uh, I bought some, uh, plants from Michigan Bulb Company they send them to you all ready alive. No, no, I've never had any luck with their's. Oh really. Right. I guess, I guess these are going to croak too. Since I've got cats, I decided to get some catnip. Oh. Lots and lots of catnip, so it's, it's still green, and it's been two days
so I'm encouraged No, I, I haven't had, had good luck with that company, uh, I think some of it depends how long things stay in the mail, probably. Yeah. But, I've had to, to get my money back from them and had better luck with, with some of the, the more expensive companies. Yeah, there's a, uh, Because they, I don't know, do you have Lowe's up there? Uh, well, Its, uh, building, uh, or building supplies place. No. Um, they, they also have a garden shop Uh-huh. Oh, that's great, Yeah.
now our local stores don't, don't offer any guarantee. Um. But some of the, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, something like that. Uh, I got a whole bunch of bulbs along with this stuff, so, I'm going to wait on those. Oh, they're bulbs for Spring or Fall? Uh, probably Spring, but, uh, I don't much care about things like that. I'll, I'll make a little sort of greenhouse, a miniature greenhouse to put all this stuff in. Something, something, to keep me occupied, you see. Uh-huh, uh-huh. I'll, uh, buy some plastic and make a little house and, Cute.
yeah, and watch the cats tear it up. Right. I don't know that, do cats bother bulbs? I think more the mice or other rodents. They, they just like to get in and dig. Oh, I see so if you have fresh dirt, they'll Oh, they love to dig. I had, I had some, uh, I don't know what kind they are, I've already forgotten, just regular old flower seeds and I planted them and I was so, I was so thrilled because they came up, I mean nice green shoots coming up all over the place. And then my cats got into it and started digging and that took care of that. Uh, gee. So, I have to hang these things high, so they can't get to them.
Especially the catnip. How many cats do you have? Three. Oh okay. Actually I just, put a, uh, little fence around my yard, uh, um, which is I suppose, technically illegal, but I had so many groundhogs last year that I think they'll let me get by with it, and it, it's got this one inch mesh and what I've noticed it's kept the cats out and I love it Um, yeah, yeah, because they, they like to get in and fertilize things too. But, uh, why would it be illegal? Well, because we have these uh, I live in a townhouse and anyway all of our areas have associations that you have to get permission. Oh, uh, yeah, right. And, you know, they want, uh, privacy fences. Well, if nobody, yeah, if nobody complains you're all right.
Right, right. Well they do walking tours too, so. Um. But at least, because I back up to, um, a hillside where the, uh, wild animals are, I think I can probably justify it. Um, yeah, an, and if somebody raises a stink about it you can always go before the association and argue your case anyway. Right, right, I You know, you don't have to put up with all these wild critters coming into your property. Right, the first year, the deer ate my garden, and I was just astounded. I'm going deer, right here in the city Yeah, right here, Bambi Exactly.
Uh, gosh. And so, Well, let's see, other than gardening which I fiddle at, I'm not very good at, what else do I, mostly just computer stuff. Oh. I just like playing with my computer and doing stuff on that. Uh, cooking, that's not really a hobby, it's a necessity. But, but I enjoy it. I like to think that I'm a very good cook. Oh, great. Um, hobbies, that's about it. I don't have much time for hobbies, uh, between being a student and trying to run a business on the side, you don't have a lot of time. Right that keeps you busy. Yeah,
and raising cats. I mean that could become a hobby. Well, it's, it started out as a hobby actually. Uh-huh. Uh, it just, it developed into sort of a business, uh, you know, we breed them and all that, but, we didn't, you know, we didn't really start it for the money, it was just, they were fun to have around and we figured if we're going to have them we might as well have some purebreds an. And now it developed in to going to cat shows and finding studs for them, and, you know, all this kind of stuff. Uh-huh. What kind of cats are they? Uh, I've got a, uh, a Bombay, a Turkish Van and a Himalayan Persian. Wow. Yeah, the Himie is probably the sweetest one. She's, she's just a little sweetheart. We, uh, the, the Bombay had a litter, uh, last October
and I just got her back from the vet this morning, getting her spayed. Only going to breed them once. Oh, okay. And, uh, she's not, she's not feeling too great today. Um, is that typical, to only breed them once? No, uh, most breeders are in it for the money, so they'll they'll breed them twice a year and I, I just think that it's kind of, I don't know, it's kind of cruel. Uh-huh, uh-huh. You know, they just, they just breed these, they breed them before they're ready, uh, and, you're never, you're never Right. and, and they, they do a lot of inbreeding too, and so you end up with, you know, kind of strange kittens. Uh-huh, uh-huh. And I just don't like that.
So will, you, uh, breed one of the litter, then next year? We're, we sold all that litter, Oh. um, we, there's not that much call to, for Bombays. Uh-huh. Um, they're, they're registered but they're not, they're not, uh, they're not show cats. Oh, I see. Uh, so all you can do is sell them as pet quality. Uh-huh. Uh, so what you've got is a registered pet. And, not too many people want Bombays. They want things like Himie Persians and Turkish Vans. Uh-huh. Turkish Vans, if you've never seen one, I mean, you wouldn't know that it was a pure bred. It's just, uh, medium size short hair cat. It's got, he's mostly white with, uh, brown and black patches. Oh.
But they have nice personalities and they're very inquisitive. Um, now the Himie, we'll probably breed her a couple of times and we'll, we'll end up keeping one out of each litter and then breeding those. Right. It's just the stud fees are so much, though. It'll cost about three hundred dollars for a stud for her. We, we want to breed her with a champion, so. Right. Now these are long haired? Yeah, the Persian is, Uh-huh, uh-huh. and the other two are short hairs. Right. Uh, that's nice. Yeah, she's, uh, she's sweet.
Going to have some nice kittens, I hope. Uh-huh She's, uh, she's, if if you know what a Himalayan is, generally they look something like, uh, well they come in a lot of different colors. People don't realize it but they're sort of like, uh, Siamese in a way. They have the, uh, they have the gloves on the paws and they're, they're usually two colored. Uh, but this one is, uh, is she's, predominantly, uh, black but she has chocolate, uh, paws, chocolate stomach and silver on her hindquarters. Gee. And yeah, she's, she's quite attractive looking. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Hope, hope the stud will find her attractive. And that she has kittens that look like her. And, and that she has a whole bunch of kittens.
But we have to be careful, uh, you know, we have to get a particular color point, uh, stud. You can't just breed them with anything. We have to get a, uh, we have to get a silver point Himie, so that the silver will be predominate in the kittens. I see. That's, it, that's the fun part, trying to figure out what you've got to breed them with, can't just go out there and say, okay, you guys breed, you know You can't just tell them that anyway, but That's right. Oh dear. Well it really sounds like, uh, uh, a business more than a hobby. Well actually, I mean, it, it is a business in a way, but it, it's a lot of fun as a hobby. Especially when you go to shows and get to see all the different cats. We're, we're about to get another breed, we're we're going to buy a Devon Rex . And I didn't, I don't like Devon Rexes at first. What is it. It's a, well actually it's a mutant.
It, it comes from England and, uh, in the county of Devon. Oh. And it's a mutant cat. And they're, they're pretty expensive, we're going to, we're going to shell out probably about a thousand bucks for one. Um, they're very thin, they're, they're, they're long and lanky and skinny. Um. And they have real short hair. It's curly, as a matter of fact. Huh, interesting. Um, yeah, it, it, it's a strange looking cat. Uh, I didn't like them at first. They've got great big ears, Well thanks for being home, uh, on the weekend, I, uh, I'm actually working at night and, uh, there very few people that are on the list for calls, uh, on the weekends nights. Uh-huh, yeah,
well sometimes I'm home and sometimes I'm not, but if I am it's always fun to talk. Are, are you part of the school system out there? I am, as a matter of fact. I'm at, uh, North Carolina State. Uh, the reason I said that because I've had about, uh, three calls and my daughter had one, too, from different students out of North Carolina. I guess they pass the names amongst your computer students, or whatever. Yeah, I think I was the one who did that actually. Oh is that great, great. Yeah, I had a, uh, I teach a course in Voice I O Systems. Oh, is that right? That's wonderful. So, I know, uh, you know, I know about this project, so I got my students to sign up
and, uh, apparently a number of them have been participating. Oh, yeah, I talked to one, we're not on the subject. Of course, I talked to one, I think he had a whole bunch of calls. He had a roommate that had calls and everything. Uh-huh. He had way more, twice as many calls as, as I've made, uh, and I, I'm, of course, we at T I just hoping it works out that the new products that they come out will, uh, sell like gang books, busters, really. Yeah. Okay, you first on the subject, what do you think, about Latin America? Uh, let's see, the subject is, Latin America. Latin America, yeah. I don't know whether I have any real profound thoughts about that,
I actually was planning a trip to Latin America and I got warned off by some people. They say Peru can't be traveled to and the crime rate in Brazil makes it not a pleasant place to go and so on and so forth. Oh, really. T I had a place, I'm not too sure, I don't think they do anymore, down, I think it was Campinas, I'm not sure and, uh, I guess we were selling parts to the automotive industry, or whatever. And they had quite a few, uh, locations, not quite a few, several, in Latin America. I think the one in New Mexico is closed and I think the one in, in Brazil is closed, but I, I don't know why that is a problem down there and I guess the crime rate is terrible up here too and, uh, an some people say go to New York,
but I don't, I don't have an answer to the crime rate. It's sad. That is a sad situation. I, I'd like to go down to Mexico, you know, and I keep hearing that, you know, the government and, and the crime rates pretty high too, that, that is sad. Uh, not that we can, uh, sell any great program we have with crime, Yeah. but, uh. I think, uh, I'm kind of like you, I don't have any strong opinions on it. I guess maybe that's our biggest problem we have with our, our neighbors down there is that we don't have any. We have more, I guess ties, we in the United States have more ties to Europe and everything and we don't really, aren't that close to everyone in South America. I don't really know why though. Yeah, I, I don't understand it either, although I, I think a lot of South Americans regard the United States as, as bullying. And, uh, that's certainly from a historical point of view, would be true. Right. I mean certainly we took far more from Mexico than Saddam Hussein ever dreamed of taking, in, in his wildest dreams from his neighbors.
Right. Yeah, I know that I saw in a book, I was reading a Spanish book, uh, not that I read Spanish, you know, I just, you know, reading some Spanish words and there was a comment in there about the Mexicans don't really want us to say, we're Americans. They would like to say that we're North Americans because they're Americans too, you know, and I guess that's true. We don't think of any one else but I guess, we're kind of, uh, the smart asses in the world, I suppose, uh, or of America anyway. We think of ourselves as the only Americans, when they're Americans, too. Yeah, well I think they're going to have, that's a tough row for them to, to hoe because I think most of the world is going to regard, uh, citizens of the United States as Americans and citizens of Mexico as Mexicans. As Mexicans, yes that, that, And they can stand on their heads if they want too, but I don't think that they're going, they're going to change that, and, and, and really, I mean North Americans I think are, when you say that even, I I mean, I tend to think of Americans and Canadians.
No, no, I know. I just don't think of Mexicans as being North Americans, although, I guess, strictly speaking they are. Yeah, no, I mean they were saying that of us, that we're the North Americans and they're Americans, they, they, we always say we're Americans, and they, they want us to say we're the North Americans. Oh, I see We're not Americans, we're North Americans and they're South Americans, yeah. I don't know. Whatever, I, I don't want to make, I read it somewhere, though it's not my point, I guess,
so Yeah, well it's, it's so interesting, I I just don't think Mexico's problems are going to be cured by semantics. No, no, they, they were lucky enough to have some oil, what, ten years ago, an, and they, they blew all that, and borrowed more money than they can pay back now and, uh, uh, so they're not exactly business men. I do think we should deal more with them. I don't, I do have a lot of sympathy in that we're here in Texas, uh, for the language, you know, is very foolish. I'm relatively familiar with Texas school system and we should teach Spanish at least in, uh, grammar school, you know four or five grades of it so that we can speak Spanish. I think that helps, when you certainly can speak their language, uh, and there are problems with, you know, the wet back problem, you know, for, everyone knows what we're talking about, say wet back problem. And then we should somehow, uh, and I think the governments are working on that, to try to have some, uh, businesses, uh, at the borders of both sides so that you can, you don't have this problem of them trying to come up here an, to, to get the jobs, you know, there, there may be some organized way to do this.
Yeah. I, I do feel for them, uh, they are very envious of us, or they wouldn't be coming up here, you know, risking a lot. Not that they're risking their lives, of course, but risking a lot, uh, getting thrown back I guess is all that, uh, happens. Yeah. You probably don't see that. Where, we see it, you know, once a month. I'm sure in San Antonio they see it more often than that. Well I grew up in Los Angeles. Okay, well you see it, saw it out there then, too. And, uh, in fact, I drove a cab when I was a graduate student so I, I knew, uh, the Hispanic part of L A pretty well. Uh-huh. And certainly, you know, knew that problem, knew, you know, knew about apartment houses that would have eight or ten or twelve people living in them, sleeping in the same bed in shifts and all that. Yeah. And, uh, it was, it was pretty wild. I think a, a common factor to a lot of problems, both, whether it be crime, if, if you want to jump on that, is mostly, uh, poverty.
Uh, and I think a lot of their problems is poverty. If we could, uh, uh, the problems we have, in this country, is, is a lot of it's poverty. Whether it's the people aren't trying hard enough to get out of poverty, I, that's another story, but, uh, uh, it is sad. There, there's so much down in all of South America, uh, so much potential, you know, we're, T I, of course is, is really pushing world markets in their products and they're, they're mostly in, in Europe now and, in, in, in the Orient, Japan and Singapore now just announced building a plant in Singapore, uh, they're in Taiwan and Japan and they're, they haven't had, what, that much luck in South America and there's got to be a lot of potential for business down there, for the products certainly that we make and everything. Yeah. And there's got to be trade. I guess that's some of the answer, I guess is business, uh. Uh, and I try to be an optimist and say, well that, that's one way is to help any problem whether it be crime, or certainly poverty obviously is to, is to get some business going between each other. And we need, we need to do more of that, uh, somehow. And encourage more business, between us. Yeah. Yeah. They've got to have a lot of resources I would think. An enormous amount of, of well potential that way.
A lot of it, of course is hot and jungle and all that, but, uh, there's got to be a lot of potential down there. Yeah, what are you taking in school, I didn't ask you that. What are you taking in school? Well I am actually, Oh, you're an instructor, Yeah. yeah, you're an instructor, yeah, you said. Yeah, I'm the, I'm the teacher, I give, as it were. That's great. Are you teaching Computer Science? you said, what were you saying you were teaching there? Yeah,
I'm in Computer Science Great, great. but of course, this project is really one to collect a data base of, of, uh, of casual speech, uh, in an attempt to get some kind of a model of what speech is like. Right. I, of course, I work at T I and I'm a little puzzled as to why when they get my voice one time, why that isn't enough. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm getting a kick out of the whole program but, uh, there's going to be I guess thousands, I don't know how many thousands, or tens of thousands of these recordings and I wonder how they're going to analyze them. Whether it would be listening to them or analyzing, I they've got to be analyzing with a, a voice recorder some how. Yeah, well they record these and then somebody transcribes them so that they, they have, uh, they have a speech signal Uh-huh. and what, and what is said. Right. And they have a, they're able to average it over a number of different occasions because peoples voices change a lot even from morning to evening
and that's, uh, a big problem in speech recognition. Oh, yes. I know they change with age, I know mine changes, uh, has changed, uh, although you, you never found, your, your voice echoes in your own head which is, makes it different than what it really sounds to other people. Yeah. Uh, I'm sure singers and professional people know that, and you always hear your own voice in recordings and say, my God, that's, that's not, obviously that's not me, you know. Yeah. But, uh, I know your voice in your own head resonates a different way. Uh, go ahead, you comment on it, yeah, I'm glad that you're in the business. That, I T I gotten with their Speak and Spell and everything, I've told my wife, that one of the reasons they're doing it is because eventually you'll be able to talk to your computer, Right.
you wouldn't have to have a keyboard, you'll be able to just give it commands and I'm sure they have some of that now, and not, not, in computers but a lot of potential, of course for handicapped people, I think you got it. Okay. Uh, my first thoughts on capital punishment I, the first thing I want to say is no. Just simply because we as human beings don't have the right to take another human being's life. Uh-huh. Uh, we are punishing someone for taking someone's life, or, in some cases, we are punishing a person for taking someone's life. And so in effect we are committing that same crime. Well, it sounds like you have really strong views on it. Uh-huh. And I can see that point, but I also have this, you know, I, I question. I guess I can look at it both ways. And just to play devil's advocate, it never seems right to me, that, uh, we take in people that are criminals and people that are, you know, low income or even middle income that are struggling to provide for their families,
Right. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. our taxes are paying to feed and shelter those people. And it just, that, that I find very difficult to swallow, sometimes. Uh-huh. One thing I don't understand is the, the whole concept of death row. Uh-huh. Okay, these people are supposedly, I guess waiting to die, right? I'm with you there. Okay. And there are thousands upon thousands of people on death row. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And I'm not saying that, oh, I guess I am kind of saying, what, what are we doing? I mean I guess that's the same thing you were saying.
What, what are we doing with these people? They're there, we should either take some kind of action, or take enough or go a different route. Right. Exactly. But they're just, And then when you think of the thousands and thousands of dollars that get burned in court costs, you know, we could be feeding poor people and helping, you know, helping the environment. Oh, exactly. Uh-huh. I mean, prison is such a waste of a human being. Uh-huh. It doesn't do anyone any good. Exactly. Yes, people need to be punished, Uh-huh. and I do agree with your statement that to take a human life is wrong. Right. Um, but, you know, But
but locking someone up and not getting, you know, any benefit from that for the person or for society to me is wrong too. Uh-huh. And I guess I see both sides, in that at the, at the same time that I'm saying that, you know, we're committing the same crime, Uh-huh. I also agree that, I mean, if there is somebody out there that's crazy and cruel enough to kill somebody or in some cases, kill several people at one time. Uh, Uh-huh. Oh, exactly there was a case in Dallas, well, I'm sure they haven't gone to court yet, but, uh, apparently two teenage boys held up a Taco Bell. They put four people in a freezer and shot them all. Now to me, that is inhumane. And for two people to be out in the world like that, I don't, I don't want them in my world. That's right. You understand what I am saying? That's right. I'm, I'm, I mean, I'm not for killing anyone, Uh-huh. but I don't want these people around, at the same time, We want a safe environment for ourselves.
And we want to remove them. Exactly. But, but I think that the whole crux of the problem is, no one has come up with a solution that is acceptable, that does, you know, basically, you know, Uh-huh. Right. I, I, think, you know, that the whole idea of, uh, the death penalty was invented for two reasons. It removes them from society, Right. and, and, you know, you want to appease the people that have suffered. Right. But it, it really doesn't take their pain away. Uh-huh. And at, and at the same time, like you said, it drains society. Uh-huh. But it's a, We, I think we should be, we, the same money that we're using to build more prisons and make more prison space and keep these people in prison, that same money or half of that money could be used towards, uh, rehabilitation programs of some sort. Something to get, to, to put these people back in society,
Right. but prepare them first. Exactly. But that, the the problem is so incredibly complex. I have a friend who works on the pardon and paroles and she interviews, inmates all the time that are coming up for parole. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And she says it is just really frightening how easy it is to, you know, have the prisons release people because they're overcrowded. Exactly. And these people have not benefited from the stay there. She says, just their emotional state and their way of thinking is so incredibly wrong Uh-huh. and there's not anything she can do to keep them in. You know, if they meet certain guidelines, you know, Uh-huh. Right. and those guidelines keep getting lessened and lessened because they have to do it to make the system work. So it's, Uh-huh.
And you want people out of prison and you want people to get jobs and, and live happy lives. Uh-huh. But they can't just walk out of prison and do that. They can't just walk out of prison and say, okay, I'm going to go a different route. That's right. That's right. There has to be some sort of buffer in there. Uh-huh. Some sort of program or, and I know this costs money, but it couldn't cost any more money than we're already spending. I know, I know. I, I would like to see the money that's been budgeted, budgeted for new prisons being put into the research of, of alternate solutions to the problem. Uh-huh. How are we going to fix that, Tanya? How are we going to make that happen? Really, how, what can we do?
What power do we have? Oh, goodness. I mean, you know, everyone's trying to make it, you know, in their own little world. Uh-huh. You know, I'm trying to make it with my job, and make, you know, myself okay and make my family okay. That's right. And it's so hard to, you know, try and be one of the movers and shakers, I guess you would call them. Really, I know, I know. Uh-huh. But it, it sounds like you are, uh, you know, interested in what's going on around you. Uh-huh. Oh, yes. And, uh, you know, when you have a, a voice, you do contribute, and I guess that's, you know, what, what we're meant to do. Right. Maybe an opportunity will come by that we will have a chance to make a real change. Uh-huh. And I, I'm a broadcast journalist,
and so I feel like one day I probably will write a book or, or something, you know, and some of these views will be able to come out. Where do you work? I work at channel six, here. I'm, I'm a news reporter. Oh, you do? That's great! And so, I, I guess, I'm, I'm pretty emotional about crime, things like that now. I've only been in it for a year, but I get to see pretty much, uh, close up, you know, a lot of things that happen that people don't see. Uh-huh. Uh, I got to get to see a lot of crimes, Exactly. and I get to see, you know, people's, uh, pain and things, and so when we talk about, Uh-huh. Most of us are so sheltered, you know. Yeah. And a few people in the news that bring it to us and make us see what's out there. Exactly.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Well, that's, you're, you're really performing a, a benefit to society in doing that. A service. Yeah. But still, you know, we can't we can't, I don't know, I, I guess I would like to probably editorialize more. We have to just report what's happening. We can't say, well, this is what I think about, you know, the situation. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Sometimes, you really want to say that, you really want to say you think, or what you think should be done, or how you think this court case should have gone, or, you know, that's a, I, I'm just, I'm just agreeing with you. When I think of it, how difficult it must be to just to just give the facts. Because usually on an issue that you really care about, uh, you want, you want to, you know, persuade people to your viewpoint. Uh-huh. And you're right, that has got to be a challenge sometimes.
Especially when you are dealing with a, a subject like, uh, capital punishment or something or abortion, or something where there's an, an no or yes side, Right. and you have your side, Uh-huh. and you have to report both sides. Right. But you really don't want to because you have your side. And you have to walk right down the middle with it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So sometimes that's hard I'm sure. Well, that's, that sounds interesting. And I'll read your book sometime. That's good. All right. Well, it was nice talking to you. I enjoyed it. Okay.
Thanks for calling. Okay. Bye, bye. Okay. Um, yeah. We're official now, yeah, Yeah, it's um, it's very hot, in fact I've been cleaning, because I live in an apartment Oh, okay, so I can't do very much gardening other than balcony gardening um, you know, Oh, yeah. I have the little flower boxes with, um, a a lot of different flowers, and I do enjoy plants, but I don't have a yard or anything that I can do gardening, really. Oh, you're, you're, you're not the so-called you need a house, I guess, to go through all of that. I have had a couple of houses, and, uh the only recommendation I would have for someone who hasn't gardened is, uh, one, get a couple of good books, of books, of course,
Uh-huh. and usually they have talk shows. Uh-huh. Here in Dallas they have two great, uh, talk shows that go through everything that will grow here, which is the opposite probably of what would grow up where you are Uh-huh. Right, right. and so. Uh in fact, you, you could easily do that now, listen to, turn on a talk show up there and see if there, there's got to be some gardening folks on the radio that says when to put your grass in, and, and what kind of grass to grow up in Virginia and everything, Yes, but, so I, uh, for someone who doesn't garden, I'd say, that, that's my biggest recommendation is to, Uh-huh, so you enjoy gardening? Oh, yeah, yeah. I like it a lot, uh uh, Uh-huh. it's a lot of work. I'm an engineer,
I'm, I'm with T I. You, are you with T I up there or, No, no, I'm with a defense contractor. Okay. Uh, where was, oh, yeah, no, I, I like it, I, uh, I always know that why I'm not a farmer when I garden though, I mean, it is dog work, and it is tough Uh-huh, uh-huh. I have a lot of trees, down here, uh, the part I don't like, I guess, would be from December through February where you have to rake leaves forever it seems like, Uh-huh.
and the wind blows all the leaves on from your neighbor after you rake yours, so other than that, you know, those three months, when it's pure dog work uh, the rest of it's very enjoyable just going through the experiences of, of putting little plants in or whatever Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I, I haven't had to plant any trees because I've got so many, but, uh uh, but I do listen to that talk show. Uh-huh. There, there is some great people from Texas A and M, I don't know, maybe you've heard of A and M down here, but there's some great, uh, folks, uh that have been well trained, and, again, uh, to, to, uh, recommend gardening for this area. Uh-huh. Um. Yeah, I'm sure it is, you know, different in the different areas. Um, I'm originally from Pennsylvania, and I do go home on weekends during the Summer and, uh, and, uh, mow my mother's grass and different things like that. Yeah, you probably have rye grass up there. We grow bermuda and Saint Augustine here.
Oh, I would have no idea Right, yeah, see, you would have to learn that, though, see No idea whatsoever. Like I said, I'm just a balcony kind of gardener with my little flowers and my flower boxes and my herbs on my window sill, Um. and, Do you have much luck in the Winter, or they're, they're freeze it, freeze out because the roots are all, in the Winter, uh, or do you have to start all over every year? Yeah, I have to start all over every year Right, yeah, well, except, I do have some, um, some day lilies that um, you know, I don't do anything with Uh-huh. and they seem to come back year after year, and I leave them on my balcony even in in the snow and the Winter, you know in the ice, everything, because here, you know, not as severe as the snow is in Pennsylvania,
In the same pot, that's amazing. Uh-huh. but here we still do get some snow and ice and things like that. Yeah, I grow a few things in pots, but we have to bring them in here in the Winter because usually, uh, if it's not below the ground so you can insulate the roots from freezing you know, the pots will, will die, Uh-huh. Uh-huh. everything in a pot will die Uh-huh. so, you can bring them, well, we do bring stuff in the garage and everything Uh-huh. but, uh, it's quite time consuming, by the way. I don't know how close you are to getting a house or anything, but it's quite, uh. But I would definitely do it, I'm all for doing everything, whether,
whatever subject you pick, do it the knowledgeable way Uh-huh. don't go out there and start digging holes, uh, Right, right, I agree with that. Get some books of whether it be Pennsylvania or Virginia as, as well as, Uh-huh. not your neighbors, of course, they usually know nothing then there's always a gardening part of the newspaper or communications, as well as, I bet there's a talk show up there right now that you, if you turn the dial around you'll, Uh-huh, yeah, Uh-huh. on Saturday, this is Saturday, that you'll find someone, probably in the morning, I don't know discussing, you know, what we do up in Virginia to get something growing Uh-huh. Yeah. you probably don't have to do much over there,
the soil's probably so good Uh-huh. our soil's not very good down here. We're Uh-huh. I guess in the ice age, it, it, it's pushed a lot of, uh, limestone and everything, to some parts of Dallas you just can dig a foot down and you hit solid limestone, you know Wow, uh-huh. so, uh, I think all the trees that are here now were planted kind of like the Johnny Appleseed type trees, where people have come from, I'm sure the Indians were here there was nothing growing in this part of Dallas, it's so scrubby uh, Uh-huh. and I think that we even got our famous hundred year old pecan trees from Alabama and all that, too Uh-huh. we, we call them native pecan trees but, they grow wild here, they're eating pecans though Pecans are probably not taken from Virginia, they're probably only in the South for pecan pie and all that, Uh-huh, right
I'm, it's what they call pecan, pecan pie up there in the East. Uh-huh. from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, I'm from New Jersey originally. Uh-huh, oh, you don't sound like it Yeah, I've worked on that with a little chewing gum, which I shouldn't do, uh, Uh-huh Go ahead, you, how many times have you called by the way, or how many times have you been called? Um, I've been called a lot, at the times, though, it's been not very appropriate, I guess, that I haven't been able to actually participate. I've participated probably in about maybe, I don't know, seven calls Uh-huh. and you know, I've called a couple of times, but most of the time I notice that, um, you know, it takes forever to get a call through.
Oh, yeah, today, that's what I'm saying, today, I was, I got to laugh, because I tried it this morning, and I thought everybody was gardening, I thought, Well, no Yeah. no. This is a great subject because they're out there gardening, you know, Uh-huh, uh-huh. I didn't tell you what our weather is like. It is beautiful here today, Uh-huh. Yeah, it's like eighty-five degrees here, It's not quite that hot. Yeah, we've had a real nice mild Spring.
You might have seen, if you've seen the news today about all the tornados here that were north of us. No, I haven't Uh, I don't know if you get C N N. I don't get C N N but it's here at work Uh-huh. in fact, I'm at work today, believe it or not. Oh, uh-huh. But, uh, they have T V in the break areas Uh-huh. and there was some heavy tornados, uh, I guess in Kansas, quite a few people were killed. You'll see that on the evening news. Oh, my, uh-huh. Uh, I'll have to make sure I catch that. Tornados, uh, which is not the right subject, but, uh, they blow through here all in the Spring. I guess it's related somewhat to the weather, you know and, and the plants and all that, that, uh
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. sometimes they do essentially nothing, and the weather men yesterday were all alert, say, hey, there's something really terrible going to happen, and they, they sure were right, but it wasn't in Texas, it was north of us. Uh-huh. Yeah, look at the news tonight, they'll, they'll they claim thirty odd people were killed up in Kansas City, Kansas, I'll have to make sure I catch that, Uh, Uh-huh. Anyway, back on planting. Uh, . It is very interesting, uh, subject, uh, when you, when did you get a house, uh, your, your trees grow up so well up there, but I'm sure you have plenty of trees. Uh-huh.
That, that is a key thing for shade and keeping your bills down, uh, Uh-huh. I guess you have mostly pine trees, but where in Virginia are you all? Um, right now, the District, Washington Uh-huh. um, in Fairfax, Virginia. It's fifteen miles west of Washington, D C. Oh, do you have the cherry blossoms there, in there or not? Yeah, there's, there's a few, not, you know, nearly as many as what's actually in the District. But, um, they're definitely enjoyable. Yeah. Right now I know the azaleas and everything are out are beautiful. Oh, yeah. Yeah, azaleas grow all over, we grow those here, too,
although again, we have to prepare the soil. Uh-huh. You probably have nice big pine, you probably have all kinds of trees, the oaks and everything, that's one thing I noticed there. Yeah, there, there, there is a vast variety here of, you know, trees, like, if I look out my window right now, I can see, you know, couple of pine trees, some oak trees Uh-huh. yeah. Have you ever been down here? Um, no, actually I haven't. Okay, it's interesting country. It is wide open, uh, and flat Uh-huh. uh, and again as I said, I think the, when the Indians were here there, there weren't any trees, but the, the civilization has brought all kinds of experiments with all kinds of trees, and a lot of them have done well
Uh-huh. uh, they do have some pine forest areas in in in east Texas where you have native pine trees, Uh-huh. but here in Dallas it's, I think they all were planted by the classical Johnny Appleseed, and Johnny Pecanseed, whatever you would call it, you know, there's a tremendous amount of pecan trees that we use for, you know, uh, for eating Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I think they thought that was going to be a great boom crop, uh, hundred and fifty years ago, because they are all over the place in the South. Uh-huh. What else? Um, well, I guess that I really don't know that much. I don't have any say. I, I, the subjects are usually pretty interesting. I, I'm, I'm, of course, I'm a T I so I'm hoping this works. T I is very good, uh, has done a lot of experiments in the speech, uh speech, uh, synthesis, synthesis, Uh-huh. can't say it. Uh-huh.
And they've come out with some new products, in fact this week, they came out with some new math, uh, you might see them in your advertisements, uh, new math, uh, Speak and Math, uh, devices. They, they have had Speak and Spell and all that for years Right. but they've come out with some different ones this past week, Uh-huh. and, uh, my wife and everyone, what, what are they going to accomplish out of all this, and I said, Well, you're not going to have to type on the computer one day, you're just going to have to talk to it you know, Right, uh-huh. so, you, you, it's going to be much faster, of course, you know, the classical thing for the handicapped, too, person who can't type very fast or Uh-huh.
like I can of course Uh-huh. not that I can type very fast either but, uh, Uh-huh, but then what about people that, um, I, I, I personally work with someone that, that is deaf, and cannot speak. She can speak, but she can't speak very clearly Yeah. and she in fact is a data entry person, I mean she types away all day, Well, I'll tell you why I feel so, I feel strongly about this topic. I don't know a whole lot about the immigration laws. But I do know that in the, where I live and I teach school, there are so many Orientals that have come here and there's a lot of Mexican people too. Which is not, neither here nor there, but the fact is that all the Orientals that are here are very affluent, uh, very wise in money matters and have have taken over a lot of businesses, and have, Really,
it's kind of scary because they're so bright. They're, all the kids that I have that are Oriental are really far above the American kids. And they, and the, the parents are unbelievable because they are just on the way up. And money is their main goal. And it's it really is kind of scary because there's, there's just oodles of them. And you can not believe the businesses and corporations that have been taken over by Orientals. And it's it's kind of scares me, not that I don't want them here and not that I don't appreciate the fact that, you know, that they have rights too. But on the other hand, you feel like almost they're, they're invading us to the point where they're going to take over Right. Actually my son once said that, that, perhaps, uh, what we should do is, is buy a little square of land some place in the Midwest. And, and that might be the solution I think probably that's, Uh-huh. And I was born in Ohio, Uh-huh. so it, it really and there is, there are a lot of Mexican people here because we're so close to the border. Uh-huh. And, and they are wonderful people
and, and I'm not, you know, I don't want to deny them their rights. Just that you, you feel like when you were born and raised here and you worked very hard to make this country what it is, uh, it scares you when you feel like somebody's taking over. And a lot of these people plan one day to go back, you know, to, to Vietnam or to, you know, Taiwan or wherever they're from. And take with them a lot of American dollars plus a lot of power in American companies. And it's kind of scary Uh-huh, uh-huh. And, you know, I don't know, I don't know the immigration laws that, uh, that well and I do not, and in fact I don't know them at all. I don't know how many people they allow in the United States per year or if there's even a, I don't even know if there is a number that they allow in anymore. Do you know anything about that? No, I don't, I don't know. I lived in the Middle East for sometime and I, I do believe there must have been some sort of quota system because, uh, I know a lot of people that were, in a sense, not, qualified is the wrong word, but certainly were deserving to come. Oh. Uh-huh.
And it seemed to take them a long time or, or there was a lot of uncertainty as to whether they would be able to come Yeah. And so I would guess that, you know, there are quotas for different places. I would think so too. It, You know, I, I, I think there's something about being able to, to claim, um, imminent danger or, I'm not sure what the terminology is. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Maybe political Asylum, of some sort. Yeah. There, there you go. You got the term. Uh-huh. And maybe that's a, an issue with a, a lot of people. I don't know. I, I guess I haven't been in a situation where it's, it's been threatening to, to me. Uh, and, and, uh, my kids go to school in another suburb of Dallas. And, with very, very good school systems.
And they're considered, you know one of the top three in the state. Both of them, you know. Uh-huh. And it seems like a lot of the Orientals make sure that their kids go to these schools. Uh-huh. And they're head and shoulders above a lot of the kids here. And the kids in this area are very bright. And come from, you know, parents that are professionals or semiprofessionals and, and, uh, very interested in their education. But, uh, I think in the, last year, I'm not, if I'm not mistaken, in four of the six high schools, the graduating class valedictorian and salutatorian were, uh, half or more Oriental. Uh-huh, uh-huh. And, you know, they're just extremely bright kids. And also they value learning. I was going to say, I'm not I, I would guess that it's not that they are any brighter, but they just maybe work harder or, Well, I, I think things come easy for them too. But I do think that they have that work ethic that we somehow have missed the boat in with a lot of kids in the United States. I don't, they, uh, don't want to work for anything. They want it to come to them but and be there but they don't want to work hard. And these kids work really hard.
Right, right. And, and they have, but maybe part of that's the problem that here we've, we've let this value slip. Yeah. I know, I agree with that. And they need to have some competition. But what I see is the competition is there, but instead of meeting the challenge, they're starting to resent them. Uh-huh. And it's causing, you know, I think some, some problems. Well, that's too bad. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And it's mainly Black and, and, and Hispanic. Uh-huh, uh-huh. But, uh, there is some, there has been some resentment with Orientals in the Black community because they've started businesses there,
and the Blacks resent them coming in and taking their money, and there's been some violence because of it. Oh, that's really sad. It is. It's, it is very sad. Uh-huh. So, you know, I really, I, I've, I've always prided myself on not being prejudiced and being, you know, uh, welcome, welcoming everyone that wants to come here. Uh-huh. And even when I was younger when I was in college, I was a member of the N A A C P because I lived up north, and I was very into that, the human rights part of everything. Uh-huh. But I, I've, I've become very cynical in the last three, four years living in Texas. Uh-huh. Well, and it sounds like you feel that there is need for change. Maybe the, uh, you know, the there is too big of a concentration coming all at once to, to allow for adequate melting into the society. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Well, and exactly,
that's exactly true. Plus the fact that these people do come for a short period of time. Two, two, three, four maybe five years and then go back. And pick our brains, which is wonderful, and take all that back with them. And, and, uh, plus a lot of American dollars. But in, in the long run maybe that's going to make a better world too. Right. You know, you just don't know. Exactly. and yet, you know, with, uh, with, uh, there's somebody on my other line but I'm going to ignore that. Oh. Uh, anyway I just, you, you kind of, you you really don't know what to do. And, and I don't, I want my kids to have values where they're accepting and so forth. Uh-huh. And both of my children are really more tolerant of Blacks and Hispanics than they are of the Orientals, for some reason. Um. They feel, you know, like they've taken over. They feel like, uh, you know, they're taking some of the, the rewards that they should have.
Right. And I really don't want that to happen. Right, But, but it's happening. right. Right. And I think a lot of their friends feel the same way too. Uh-huh, uh-huh. So, and I really do wish I knew about quotas and really wish I Right. I would, I would suspect that they have. Well, I guess, um, I don't have much, much more to contribute to the topic. Yeah. I don't really either. I wish I knew more. Yeah. Probably if I did, I might be a little bit more, uh, tolerant, perhaps. Uh-huh. And I,
and even if I, I really wish I knew the situations they were going back to or coming from. Uh-huh. You don't know any of that and you feel, you know, you can't put yourself in their shoes or really understand them. Right. Unless, and for some reason Orientals are very, uh, my good friend calls them pushy, but I call them very, that they know what they want and they go get it. Uh-huh. And in stores and so and so forth it's, Goal directed. pardon me? Goal directed. Yeah. But in stores and things, sometimes they can be very impolite because they can, they get in front of you or they, uh, they take something that you had in mind to get before you did. Oh. I see.

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