Bute & his wife Trisha stopped by a little bit ago. They were planning on leaving today with him returning in a few weeks to pick up a truck he purchased. The plan hit a snag - "Honey, I can't help it if there is bad weather and the flight gets cancelled. I know you got to be at work tomorrow. Let's just head to the airport and try to fly standby." Apparently, the weather on the East coast isn't being very cooperative - "You might have to miss a day of work. I don't know what to tell you except to head out to the airport right now and see if you can fly standby." Her shift starts at noon tomorrow in Houston - "Let's go," she tells him - "I will be back soon boy. Keep an eye on things for me," he says as they hop into the rental - "I know I can get her a flight on standby."
Bute is a man of many talents - making bank in the air conditioning business is just one of them. He's a pretty astute car guy as well - "This don't look like a Mike Astle mobile. But it looks pretty clean." I was eyeballing a 2001 Mitsubishi truck he purchased in North town - "Man I like buying cars in Las Vegas because I know they are going to be clean. You never know what you are going to get in Houston because of all the flooding. I know Las Vegas doesn't have that problem." Bute bought a 2003 Tundra from my father last time he was in town - "This ain't no Mike Astle mobile," he says with a smile, "It will work for what I need nonetheless." He then points to the new tires and says - "It has new tires and runs stick. So you know I won't have to fuck with the transmission. It only cost two grand and I will get another hundred thousand out of it no problem."
Earlier in the week the two of us went for lunch in my favorite part of town - "There ain't nothing special about this place. We got a million of them in Houston." - Some of the time it is hit or miss in Chinatown. Establishments change hands frequently thus causing new owners and cooks. It's not always as authentic as a purist like Bute is craving - "Look," I tell him again, "This is just one of many that are under my thumb. That's the point of why we are here. So you can have a visual." We set down and order a couple of lunch specials. The food was disappointing and he let me know it - "This taste like the Panda Express." It was better than Panda Express, but not by much - "Do you understand what I am talking about when I tell you this is just one of many I can get online? We can go to another place if you don't like this. They're literally three hundred other places on the block if you want to try something else. The point of this whole thing, again, is to give you a visual of what I can get to given the right support." I can tell you with all certainty. My statement went in one ear and out the other. At least he got the visual.
I would like to end this post with a thought I am having...call it the village idiot thought of the day - "All and all it has been a pretty good time hanging with Bute the past week. We had a few minor issues to resolve. I think we got most of it accomplished."
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