[speaker001:] Well, Patricia, I was just about to get on my tread mill, and then I remembered that I didn't make a call last night, and I thought I'd make one tonight.
[speaker002:] Well, I have an exercise bicycle in my bedroom, but it usually's holding clothes [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] That's what I did with mine,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] for a long time, put it on the handlebars so I can hang them up.
[speaker002:] Right [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] And sometimes she just flops them all over the seat.
[speaker002:] Well, that's not why I got it, right [LAUGHTER]. How do you like your tread mill?
[speaker001:] I like it.
[speaker002:] You don't get, is it less boring than the bicycle or not.
[speaker001:] No, it's just as boring.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] You watch T V or something while you do it?
[speaker001:] I read a book while I'm doing it.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] But I was doing that on the exercise bike.
[speaker002:] Well, I do that too.
[speaker001:] I feel like I'm getting a little better of a workout, and I'm losing more weight on this
[speaker002:] Really.
[speaker001:] than on the other.
[speaker002:] Are you?
[speaker001:] And my legs, you know, how, okay, I'm going to turn forty this summer, I was getting all dimpled up [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And those are going away.
[speaker002:] Really.
[speaker001:] So that's real good.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] We got it at a little bit of an incline.
[speaker002:] Are they kind of expensive.
[speaker001:] Uh, this one, yeah, this is five hundred.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I know they get cheaper.
[speaker002:] They do?
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Probably the more you pay, though, the better the machine you have.
[speaker001:] Well, I hope so.
[speaker002:] Well, you can believe that anyway, right.
[speaker001:] Yeah. I didn't buy it really. My husband bought it because we, we'd never get out and go walking or anything, and we go to the lake and we ski and swim in the summer but
[speaker002:] During the year.
[speaker001:] besides that, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Yeah, well, in bad weather, you know, well you'd have to do something inside.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Do you work at T I?
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. I think, your voice sounds familiar.
[speaker002:] Really.
[speaker001:] Where do you wo-,
[speaker002:] I live in Arlington.
[speaker001:] I wonder if we talked before.
[speaker002:] Where do you live?
[speaker001:] I'm in Garland.
[speaker002:] No, uh, well,
[speaker001:] You sound like this girl that I talked to about books, and we got into movies one night.
[speaker002:] Oh, really.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Uh, no, this is the first time I've done it. Uh, my husband was just running out the door, he's working at night tonight. So I decided to do it [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I haven't talked before. Uh, what subjects have you talked about?
[speaker001:] Let's see, education.
[speaker002:] Oh [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Social changes that we've seen in the last ten, twenty, thirty years.
[speaker002:] Well, that's interesting.
[speaker001:] Yeah, that one was.
[speaker002:] It's more interesting than the treadmill and the bicycle. Right? [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] The most boring one was about what meal would you cook for a sit down dinner.
[speaker002:] Oh, my goodness [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] The other woman didn't cook too much either. Right.
[speaker002:] really have a lot of variety.
[speaker001:] Yeah, they do. I talked to this old woman that was a retired administrator in Ohio one night about education.
[speaker002:] Oh,
[speaker001:] And she was,
[speaker002:] A school administrator.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh,
[speaker002:] Well that could,
[speaker001:] Retired, but.
[speaker002:] That would have been interesting.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and then one night I talked to these two guys, no, one night I talked to one guy and then a couple of weeks later I talked to the guy's roommate, in Virginia, about different things.
[speaker002:] Really, well that's neat.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. One was about painting. When was the last time you painted something? Did you feel like you did a good job? Did you feel, uh, rewarded while you were doing it.
[speaker002:] Hm.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] How long is this going to go on, do you know?
[speaker001:] I don't know.
[speaker002:] I don't either [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] It's interesting, though. I never heard of such a project before.
[speaker001:] Huh-uh. Well, how'd you find out about it?
[speaker002:] Pardon me?
[speaker001:] How did you find out about it?
[speaker002:] Oh, I don't know. I guess my husband got a letter at the office, I, I presume, and they must have been asking. Does your husband work with T I.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Oh really.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. I have a friend that had a roommate
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] that worked at T I and she saw it on the computer screen
[speaker002:] .
[speaker001:] and they made copies of it.
[speaker002:] Oh, so they wanted any, anybody, don't have to work at T I.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Well, that's interesting.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] I had no idea that was just for the employees, and I couldn't understand, I kept getting these calls, I thought it was an advertisement and they just were also called T I, you know, there is Texas Industries and different things.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] I kept hanging up on them for days, until my husband told me what it was [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Oh [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I didn't know.
[speaker001:] Well, if you work for T I you're supposed to get a prize, is what I heard, and if you don't work for them you're supposed to get cash.
[speaker002:] Ooh.
[speaker001:] But then on the letter it says cash or prize.
[speaker002:] Oh. Well the prizes are pretty nice. He brought a booklet home and depending on how many calls, I think three was the minimum. But it went up to, I don't know, nine or ten. How many calls have you ma-, had?
[speaker001:] I don't know, gobs.
[speaker002:] Well, it sounds like a lot.
[speaker001:] This is going on my fourth week to do it.
[speaker002:] Oh, my. And some of the prizes are pretty nice.
[speaker001:] Well, like what, tell me.
[speaker002:] Oh, I wish I had that booklet here. Oh, I think I do, it's right here. I'll look at the end because those would be the best ones, okay?
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Um, well, they have some watches that look really nice. There's one that's got some diamonds on it.
[speaker001:] For how many calls?
[speaker002:] .
[speaker001:] Does it say?
[speaker002:] I haven't quite figured that out. I thought it was eight or nine, but seems like too nice a prize for nine, just nine calls, isn't it?
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Says when we have enough calls from you,
[speaker001:] [Talking] [in background saying Stephen did you start the grill?]
[speaker002:] you will receive in the mail a numbered certificate for your calls and and explanation how to redeem,
[speaker001:] [Talking] [voice in background: pour some charcoal in there].
[speaker002:] for gifts. Are you listening to him?
[speaker001:] No, I'm trying not to. He's telling me to start the grill.
[speaker002:] Oh [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] It says three for a B gift, five for a C gift, et cetera. And this only goes up to F. So I thought that was somewhere around nine. But anyway, it's got these beautiful watches on it. Let me see what else it has a, uh, clock radio that also plays c-, uh, you know, tapes. Then it's got, oh some binoculars, and some pretty brass lamps. Got some, oh, a food processor.
[speaker001:] So it's not all stuff that T I makes.
[speaker002:] Oh no, I don't, I haven't seen anything in here that T I makes. The Mister Coffee, the double Mister Coffee, you know, the two. Oh, and there's a phone in here that's hilarious. It has a button you can push, if you get a call you don't like then it makes machine gun noise [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And then there's an attache case, and cordless telephone, and then there's a card table, doesn't have any chairs, just a card table. Oh, some more jewelry, suitcases, and have you seen those univ-, anniversary lamps where the little balls go around.
[speaker001:] You mean the clocks.
[speaker002:] Yeah, clocks.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I can, I'm going crazy, my daughter's playing the piano and I can't think.
[speaker001:] Oh, god.
[speaker002:] It's got one of those, and um, well, it's got a lot, I mean, pages and pages. It's got wheelbarrows. [LAUGHTER] A lot of kitchen stuff, of the mixer, the toaster, a waffle maker, popcorn popper, all kinds of stuff like that. Here's where, here's a calculator but it's not even made by T I, isn't that funny.
[speaker001:] Did they mail that to you, or he brought it to you?
[speaker002:] He brought it home.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] I believe it came in his, uh, his mail. Here's a camera and a dustbuster and some tools, someone, a lot of tools, a man might like you know.
[speaker001:] Yeah, so you're bound to find something you want.
[speaker002:] Oh yeah, you're bound to. All kinds of phones and clocks and, uh, here's more jewelry and oh, there's even pictures and little porcelain things to put on a coffee table. Oh, here's some brass animals, brass candlesticks, they're pretty. So I'm sure you'd find something.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And, uh.
[speaker001:] Well, you know,
[speaker002:] Silver plated bowls and stuff. There's a lot of stuff, it's a big booklet.
[speaker001:] Well, do you know you have a ten limit, a ten minute time limit.
[speaker002:] Oh, no.
[speaker001:] Well that's okay, and then they come on and tell you, and they tell you got five seconds to say good-bye.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Oh, well, it's been fun, this is my first time to do it.
[speaker001:] We'll keep talking if we want to come up with something else.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Let's see, oh, I tried exercise classes, and I never would go. We fin, we joined, ex.
[speaker002:] I went to Metropolitan a couple of years ago, so I sit and study, I sit in class, and I have really ballooned up since then, and, so, he's says I ought to join one of those that makes you go, but,
[speaker001:] They don't either,
[speaker002:] .
[speaker001:] Well the first one I joined, they went out of business and they transferred it to another one that was really far away.
[speaker002:] That's a very common experience.
[speaker001:] And we were going to do it, there was four of us together.
[speaker002:] .
[speaker001:] Well, then forget that, it wasn't near me.
[speaker002:] No.
[speaker001:] And then the second time I was going to do it at Richland College, and we, I just get with another friend, and we'd end up just smoking cigarettes and riding around like we couldn't find the place [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] That's funny [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] So my husband's just discouraged me on those things.
[speaker002:] Right, well, if you, if you can make yourself do the tread mill, I mean, gosh, that's a good workout.
[speaker001:] Oh yeah, my husband said he's never joined a course, right. And I got one of those Jane Fonda workout tapes that I dubbed from a friend.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] That didn't last long I had a baby, I think [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Yeah, right, each one of those puts on a few pounds, doesn't it.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] How many children do you have?
[speaker001:] Two.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I do, too. Two, a girl, one's in college, so I don't have a, have a baby anymore [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Oh, Lord, you're lucky. Well, I've got a step-daughter, she's in college.
[speaker002:] Oh, well.
[speaker001:] So there's where the money goes.
[speaker002:] tell me about it, tell me, [LAUGHTER],
[speaker001:] Where's you ki-,
[speaker002:] putting two of us through, isn't he lucky.
[speaker001:] Two.
[speaker002:] Well, me, I'm going, and my daughter Janet in Austin.
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] Yeah, right. So, I'll probably have to sell the prize I get [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Where you going to school?
[speaker002:] U T A right here.
[speaker001:] And what are you doing?
[speaker002:] Well, I'm, um, going to be certified as an English teacher teach English as a second language.
[speaker001:] Yes, I do. I just got my certification.
[speaker002:] You're kidding.
[speaker001:] Huh-uh.
[speaker002:] Oh, that's,
[speaker001:] The test is a booger.
[speaker002:] .
[speaker001:] The test, the exit test.
[speaker002:] Hard.
[speaker001:] It's hard.
[speaker002:] Oh, no.
[speaker001:] It is so hard.
[speaker002:] Really.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Really, how are the other ones. I haven't taken any of the exit tests.
[speaker001:] See I didn't have to take any other exit test because I've been teaching for quite a while.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah, before they started,
[speaker001:] But I've heard they're terrible.
[speaker002:] Really.
[speaker001:] Bilingual is just horrendous. I've had friends fail that twice.
[speaker002:] Really. I didn't know any of this. None of my friends have failed the English or the education ones [child].
[speaker001:] Good.
[speaker002:] I really ought to take those quickly while I still remember some.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. Yeah, right after you get out.
[speaker002:] I know. [child yelling].
[speaker001:] Boring and they really don't help you a whole lot. Now see, I went to E T and I took one course through T W U [yelling] [man and boy yelling in background] most of the training I've got has been through Dallas just teaching E S L.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] From Chapter One Tea...