Family Billiards: The Hustle's In The Genes

The day after Thanksgiving, some of the Fam went to play pool together at Don Q's. Salene sent me some great pics of the happenings. Here's what Salene has to say:


My mom has been wanting to shoot pool for a long time now. I promised I would take her the next time I came to S.B., so here we are at Don Q's on Chapala. It was a good time :)

My mom hasn't played in decades and I play weekly. I have competed in tournaments all over the Bay Area and in Las Vegas. First game against my mom, just like she said she would, she whooped my butt. I liked it :) Actually I think it is in the blood, because all the cousins were shooting really well... even lil Megan who has never shot before!


So who showed up? Auntie Rosie, Megan, Salene, Candy, Bosco, Ronny, Wolf, and one of the guys' friends.

After that, I think I'ma take my nina Rosie to some out-of-town pool halls and hustle some cash ;)

Thanks Salene for the pics!

Here's the album.

Who Wants To Work

I’ll be the first to admit that moving fitness equipment—the weight machines, racks, benches and cardio machines y’all like to work out on—isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Last week, when Body Tech (of Esparza Sr.) needed help, I called to ask who in the family could aid on an installation in Bakersfield.

The first thing I thought that made me laugh was that the list of available family members was short. Turns out we’ve all got jobs these days. Who’da thought?!

But still, Bosco came to the rescue.

We left Santa Barbara at 6am on Thursday.

There were 31 pieces of equipment that came on a semi trailer. Some we had to dismantle into smaller sections that could be carried and fit through doorways and passageways. We tried to keep it to 200 pounds per piece, but there were some things that we couldn’t manage to take apart. That meant some things weighing 400 pounds.

Of course, its not like we could just put things on a dolly and roll them through the door. That would be easy. No, we had to take them up a flight of stairs with a 180-degree turn at the landing. We had help from others of course. But when it takes 4 guys to carry an item up the stairs, and each guy ends up sweating and breathing hard after one piece, you know it’s got to be heavy.

We left the site at 2:30am Friday morning and rolled into Santa Barbara at 6am—exactly 24 hours after we’d left, with 13 hours of backbreaking work, 6 hours of driving, 5 hours of waiting, and no sleep.

Bosco was getting paid for the job, cash no less, and he told me on the way home, “Hey, you know, if your dad ever has any other jobs and if he needs help again: tell him not to call me!”

Ah, that was good times.

The Day After

Though the moments with our Family are always memorable.....*cough*...... here are some of the good times I remember from the Friday of Thanksgiving Weekend 2007:

• -Natalie’s boyfriend, Jason, was asked about someone playfully hitting him. All he heard was “…she was about to hit you…” to which Jason replied, “Who? Peggy?” I guess he has a warm relationship with his future mother-in-law. But he laughed too, so it must be all good.

• -We were kicking back on Monica’s patio, and there was a few seconds of silence. Bosco turned to Louie and asked, out of nowhere, “Have you ever been stabbed?” Not “How is your job?” or “What’s the last movie you saw?” I guess we all have our own version of ‘small talk’.

• -When Uncle Vic told us he was going to play his ‘Benny and the Jets’ video (where he performs and lip-syncs the Elton John classic on the piano) at Leah’s wedding, someone asked Leah if she was going to keep the mic away from him. Leah said, “He already told me that my wedding is not about me and my fiancé David.” I wonder if, when Leah said about her wedding “Dad, you’re paying” he thought she said, “Dad, you’re playing” and Uncle Vic started working on his performance.

• -7 months after I left UPS, Gramma Connie says she barely found out this weekend. When I told her I had quit, you should have seen what happened. She pulled a comal and a rolling pin out of her purse and started looking left to right, about to throw down some matriarchal whoop-ass with a look that said, “I brought you into this world…”—and you know the rest. Not quite what happened, but that’s pretty close to it. Call her up and tell her things, y’all. She doesn’t like surprises.

Good times, indeed.

What Can Brown Do For Us?

The question asked in the poll was how many cousins have worked for UPS. Though there were only 3 votes, you can see where the thinking is. Most people can name a few, but not more than a half-dozen people. Whether the experiences are good, bad, or just a blip on the resume, UPS has employed far too many of our family members.... just kidding.

So here's how the voting came up:

2 people think that 4-6 cousins have worked for UPS

1 person thinks that 7-9 cousins have worked for UPS


And here is the list I have... 9 cousins in all:

- Renee Jaimes: Counter/Office Clerk (still with UPS)

- Lizzy Cook: Counter Clerk (separation due to injury)

- Trina Garcia: Data Clerk (still with UPS)

- Ronny Hernandez: AM Handler (voluntary separation)

- David Esparza: Supervisor (voluntary separation)

- Matt Hernandez: Data Clerk (still with UPS)

- Robert 'Bosco' Cook: PM Handler (voluntary separation)

- Ray Aspuria: Package Driver (cousins by marriage are still cousins; still with UPS)

- Chris Jaimes: Feeder Driver (cousins by marriage are still cousins; still with UPS)


So that's 9 I have. Not to mention all those other people we're related to, and those people who the family knows from way back when. And those we're connected to for weird reasons: like how Dolly dated a guy who's dad dated Gramma Connie, and both guys are related to a guy who works for UPS.

Either our family is too big, or this town is too small. Because this shows that you can't even get a job without bumping into someone you're related to.

Congrats to the person who voted in the '7-9 Cousins' option.

Business Weekly Spotlight: Robert's Plumbing

As we all know, plumbers can make good money. It's no surprise, then, that one of our family members would choose to go into that trade for a living.

Bosco, who's real name is Robert in case you forgot, has worked for a number of plumbing companies in recent years. In that time, he has acquired many skills and performed many types of jobs. Repairs and drain cleaning are no problem to Bosco.

In the last week, he has secured a contract with El Patio Gardens, a large apartment-style complex at the north end of Santa Barbara, near Bishop High School and where the old San Marcos Bowling Alley used to be. Already he has a work order for 65 replacements, just about one for every apartment in the development.

Here's to dirty work and making good money.


Robert's Plumbing
Robert Cook, Owner
805-331-5233


And no jokes about 'laying pipe', okay people?