2 posts tagged “laptop”

If you have a kid in preschool or grade school, high school, scouts, sports, whatever, you probably, as we do, have to contend with a shitload of fundraising activities.  Sellathons, jogathons, walkathons, bookathons, spring carnival, cookie dough sales...(drum roll) the ubiquitous silent auction etc .  And there's no way around it, I know, you know, we all know.  So Jim and I got to talking about what hot item really might sell, create a stir, pull in some real cashola.  And we thought, well, what about a calendar, you know, "Moms of such-and-such School"?  Nothing X-rated or offensive, just, like, moms in bikinis doing...whatever.  We brought the idea to a couple working mom friends.  They laughed, then suggested a 'Dads of same-such-school' calendar.  Even better idea.  Which got us to thinking about, you know, layout...format.  January: Jet Propulsion Lab dad (our kids go to school in Pasadena) in boxers with a bunsen burner, February:  Straight-laced-suit lawyer dad in a Speedo and suspenders in a courtroom diorama, March:  Real Estate dad meeting clients at a house...waving, naked-but-tastefully-hidden-from-the-hips-down behind his Toyota Prius--and as long as we're talking tasteful--photographer dad with his Sony cam hanging at exactly groin length (and nothin' else), writer dad sitting at a desk or in a coffee shop wearing only his laptop.  Come on, go with it.  Try just planning it with a friend at your kid's school next time the annoying and mundane starts dragging you down, making you cranky.  You'll come up with images for days that will, at least, make you laugh aloud on the way to yet another fundraising extravaganza. 

Today at Busters coffee shop with my laptop I shoulda been working, but I couldn't because I had nothing to say and there were two women at the table next to me with the most extraordinary heads of hair...thick, unkempt rasta ringlets in 100 perfect gradations of blonde.  I kept wondering who I would be if I had hair like theirs.  There was also a man eating ice cream, circulating among the tables yelling, "Hello!"  then "What do you do?"  Something about his delivery and his insistence made him sound like a German tourist, yelling from a German-English book.  "Hello! What do you do?"  Everyone he asked answered him. 

     "I'm a student."

     "I make sandwiches."

     "I'm a teacher."

     To which he replied, "Where do you teach?"

     "Franklin High."

     "Is it a big school?"

     "Yes, one of the bigggest in Los Angeles."

     "How many floors?"

     "Uh, five."

     "How do you travel between floors?"

     "Stairs."

     "What about the handicapped students?"

     "Oh.  They have an elevator."

     "Is there a window in the elevator?"

     "Um, I think so."

     "Haven't you used the elevator?"

     "No.  You need a key to use it and I don't have the key."

     "Who gets keys?"

     "I guess people who need the elevator.  Um, people with bad knees, or doctors' notes or handicapped people."

     "Handicapped people have keys."

     The teacher gathered his things and headed out.  "You take care."

Tomorrow I'll try to finish my work at home.  K