I have spent the last two days becoming one with the porcelain after catching a rather nasty stomach flu. Originally I thought it might have been a physical reaction to Britney Spears’ performance on the MTV awards the other night but then I realized, “Hey, I didn’t even see her performance” so I ruled that out. I also thought it might be food poisoning but I had chills, shakes, and the sweats so I ruled that out too.
So today I am back on my feet feeling 70% and ready to take on the world. I am thriving on good clear liquids, dry toast, and the occasional bowl of soup. Life is good!
Now for the “boot” part. My Uncle Ray, God rest his soul, used to be the barterer’s barterer. He could make the craziest deals to the point of embarrassment if you were standing next to him while he was haggling. His favorite expression would be, “I’ll trade you even and won’t even ask for boot.” I have no idea what “boot” was but I know he meant “I won’t make you pay the difference between the worth of the items.” Not a bad thing if you item was actually worth more than their’s and it seldom was. I watched him swap a worn out drill press for a tracing head for a horizontal mill and actually got the guy to toss in a box of end mills since he wasn’t going to ask him to pay the boot. Upon leaving I asked him if the drill press could be repaired and he smiled and said if the fellow could find a bearing for it then “yes, he will have a fine drill press, but I’ve been looking for a bearing for that drill press for years and haven’t found one yet.”
Okay, I’m chasing rabbits. My father just had another company offer to buy his. I know my brothers and I are ready for him to retire and take life easy but also don’t want him to be sell cheap because he has worked a lifetime building the practice. I hope he is able to get a terrific deal and if all works well to be able to say, “I won’t even make you pay boot.”
As for Britney… hey, she has had children, addictions, and one crazy life. Why does anyone expect her to look like the person she was five years ago? Come now, give the woman a break. She is trying to do her best to destroy her career (if she still has one) and her life as best she can. I say let’s allow her to do that in peace.
