by mizwrite on September 2, 2010
My oldest son combs back his hair and adjusts the collar on his new McDonald’s uniform. It’s his third day of work. His first job. He’s 17.
I’m really proud of him for going out and finding this job. We gave him my old car this year and agreed to pay for his insurance (which doubled ours, incidentally – ayee!). But we didn’t agree to pay for gas. Or much gas, anyway – we give him about one full tank per month to get to and from school, but beyond that, he’s on his own.
And he’s got a girlfriend.
(Girlfriends can be expensive.)
And he’s got a big group of friends who like to go out and do stuff.
So off to find a job he went. …
Of course, watching him look for a job made us all talk about “first jobs” around the dinner table a lot in recent weeks.
My first job was in a sandwich shop when I was 16. [click to continue…]
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by mizwrite on August 31, 2010
by mizwrite on August 30, 2010
Yay to “Mad Men” for winning another Emmy! I really look forward to Sunday nights. No, I’m not in love with Don Draper, but I’m really in love with his story, and the story as a whole that Matthew Weiner is telling.
Let me count the ways:
- This presentation of the 1950s and 1960s seems real to me. We’ve long had romanticized versions of the 1950s. Many of us have parents or relatives who tell stories about the “good ol’ days,” or we’ve all at least read some e-mail quoting George Carlyle about how stand-up all the kids were from back then. We’ve seen “I Love Lucy,” or maybe “Leave it To Beaver” or “My Three Sons.” That era has been romanticized forever because of its postwar country-wide deep sigh of relief. (And, granted, the boom in stylized architecture/ clothing/ appliances/ etc. was truly spectacular.) But here’s the thing: The era was great if you were a white, middle-class man. If you fell into any other category (black, Jewish, poor, homosexual, woman, child, etc.), you were kind of screwed. I think Mad Men is the first time I’ve ever seen that fact portrayed on the screen. And the show takes a person from every “other” category and throws them into the world so we can see how they had to sink or swim. [click to continue…]
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by mizwrite on August 27, 2010
My friend (and fellow word-nerd) Marla just sent me a link to this Cake Wrecks post called “Perfectly Punctual” and said it made her think of me. …
I try not to overanalyze why a post about bad punctuation on cakes made her think immediately of me, but … well … I guess I know. …
I love punctuation.
And I love cake.
And I love jokes.
(What’s confusing about all that?)
Have a peek if you love punctuation jokes as much as I do:
Perfectly Punctual – Cake Wrecks blog
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by mizwrite on August 25, 2010
