How Many Hours to Get Something?

Do you ever think about how many hours it takes to get something that you want?

When I worked at a TV station, we recorded a Sunday Mass in the studio every Wednesday to be played on the air the following Sunday morning. I often thought about how many Masses I had to work through in order to buy something that I wanted. This is not an opinion about the Catholic Mass itself, it's just that being on the production crew for this particular TV show was rather boring because there wasn't much to do while it was being recorded.  A half-hour of this show would be one-half of an hourly rate for me. In some of those days, I'd make around $25 an hour, which translates to $12.50 earned per half-hour show. So, if I wanted to purchase a $15,000 car,  I'd have to sit through 1,200 Masses!  

I think it's worth taking this kind of perspective when you try to decide whether to spend money on something.  State minimum wages are hovering in the vicinity of $13.00 per hour now, so if you're someone making minimum wage or an amount near it, you might want to think about how many hours you're spending at work to get something.  That would help you decide whether it's worth giving up that much time of your life for it.  It would take 38 1/2 hours to buy something that's $500.


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My Employer is a Top Place to Work in 2021!

Yesterday the Democrat and Chronicle announced that my employer was listed as a top place to work in 2021. 

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/money/business/2021/03/25/rochester-top-workplaces-2021-ranked-winners-list/4557762001/

This is the third year in a row that Spencerport School District made the list. Here is the yummy benefit I received for it!

I do agree that it is a great place to work. I started out as a bus driver in the fall of 2014. Several years later, I quit to work another job, but being away from the Spencerport School District made me realize how much I missed it, so I went back.

I've always been treated well by management. It's no secret that there is a shortage of bus drivers across the country. Many people have told me that they admire what I do and could never do it themselves. It's really not as bad is people make it out to be. Yes, you do drive a large vehicle, and you do need to learn how to deal with dozens of children on your bus. But all of that is covered in training; the training is very thorough. They teach you procedures to follow. If you follow the procedures, you should not have any problems. For me, driving a large school bus was not that big a step up from driving my minivan. It has automatic transmission. Once you get used to the size of the vehicle and learning to watch the space around you, it becomes second nature after a while. The other thing you need to get used to is how to operate the air brakes. Depressing the brake pedal on a vehicle with air brakes is no different did any other vehicle, but you do need to know how the air pressure system works prior to operating your vehicle. 

We have a road test every year to keep us on our toes, safety seminars, and other routine training. The support system is great when it comes to dealing with children, and some of our safety seminars cover topics that we need to know for children of all types and needs. 

If you're looking for something different that has perks of a lot of time off, consider learning to drive a school bus. Every school district needs drivers. If there was one drawback, I think bus drivers should be paid more. Maybe that will come in time. If you want to come and drive a school bus for Spencerport School District, you will have the benefit of being at a top place to work, and the best benefit is that you get to work with me!

Aging and Weather

It seems that as we age, we become less tolerant of weather extremes and look forward to moderation. That certainly seems to be the case for me, anyways.

I remember hearing my grandmother complain about the snow when I was about eight years old. She said, "I don't like snow." I couldn't believe the concept of not liking snow! You remember how it is when you're that young; you look out the window in amazement at the first snowfall of the season. Even though it's usually only a dusting, you still hope that enough snow accumulates so you can make a snowman or go sledding.

As a child, I loved playing in the snow. I frequently went sledding on the hill in our backyard and I cut snow caves into the snow drifts that lined our sidewalk or driveway. After I married and we became homeowners, shoveling the driveway was never a favorite chore but when I obtained a snowblower, I felt a sense of raw power whenever I used it! I looked forward to blasting snow out of the driveway. I became proud of being a northern U.S. driver who could handle heavier snowfalls, especially in one of the prime lake effect snow areas of the country? Six to 12 inches of snow? Piece of cake! We loved to laugh at the southern cities that pretty much shut down if there was an inch of snow.

My tolerance for snow and cold weather began wearing thin by my mid-40's. Perhaps a large part of the reason was because I replaced my mini-van in 2007 with a Dodge Caliber. Kind of a cool car, but it doesn't handle the snow as well as mini-vans do. So I became impatient with the poorer snowplowing results in the City of Rochester, where I work. Kudos to my hometown of Greece, NY, where snowplowing efforts are usually stellar! But I still had to drive on city streets to get to work.

As a teenager, I remember loving hot humid weather in the summer. One particular trip to New York City as an 18-year old stands out to me because there was no air conditioning and I remember laying in bed feeling sticky. I loved it! I can't imagine anything more sweltering than New York City in the hot summer.

Many family vacations were in Florida. We often spoke of the "blast of heat" we'd feel as we stepped from the plane to the jetway upon our arrival at Orlando airport. Most people we know didn't like the summer Florida heat, but we embraced it. We looked forward to the almost-daily afternoon thunderstorms that are prominent in central Florida.

I visited Las Vegas on two occasions during the summer months. I saw temperatures as high as 110; it's true that a "dry heat" seems more tolerable than a humid heat. One of my favorite memories of Vegas is standing at the top of the Stratosphere Hotel in the evening and feeling the hot breeze come through.

When my daughter spent some time living in Florida, I humorously feigned jealousy that she got to spend so much time in warm weather while us northerners had to freeze. It appears that recent years have taken a turn, however. We began tolerating the hot weather less than in the past. With some unusually hot weather here in Rochester this year, the novelty may be wearing off. Whereas I used to embrace a 90-degree forecast, as the summer wore on I began looking forward to 80-degree days. 80 seemed to be just about perfect.

I used to feel depressed when summer ended.  Not anymore.  I feel like I'm enjoying the Fall season in more ways than I can remember. I pay more attention to the colors and I've enjoyed some new Fall clothes that I had purchased. I've also decided I need to change my attitude about the Winter. It's been said that you can't always control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. I'm getting older and this is where I live, so I need to be more accepting of the climate and my aging body. Even on cold Fall days, I heard people complain. For once, I'm not complaining anymore. Instead of thinking about the cold, I just think about the nice warm clothes I have. Attitude!

Now that Winter has passed, I am fully enjoying the mid 60's Spring days we've been having!


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If Everyone Drove the way School Bus Drivers are Trained

When I first started learning to drive a school bus over six years ago, I discovered that I needed to unlearn some bad habits. It made me aware of how badly most of us drive, yours truly included. Of course there are some bad apples among school bus drivers as well, but if we were all to drive our vehicles, both personal and work, the way school bus drivers are trained, accidents would be very rare. The key is to make sure your vehicle is working properly and that you are driving defensively. Most people learn to pass the road test as teenagers, and then develop the bad habits they see everyone else doing.

If you drove as a bus driver is trained, as you first approach your car, you would walk around it, check the tires, all the lights, and underneath to see if anything is hanging loose. You would check all the switches inside your car.

Once on the road, you would use your turn signal well in advance of a turn and cautiously look both ways at least twice before turning. You would slow down as you approach an intersection with a traffic light, being ready to stop if the light turns yellow. You would never speed up to "beat" the light. If a car in front of you was waiting to turn left, you would never go around it on the right side if it's a single lane. Did you know it's illegal in N.Y.S. to drive on a road shoulder? Many people also use the road shoulder as a turning lane, which is also illegal.

You would come to a full stop at a stop sign. While driving, you would keep a safe distance from the car in front of you and never tailgate. You would be watching your mirrors constantly, including the rearview mirror and the two side door mirrors. You would keep both hands on the wheel at all times. And certainly, you would not be using your cell phone for anything.

These are just some of the procedures that school bus drivers are trained in. Imagine how many accidents would be prevented if people drove defensively like this.

My New Band

I've often said that finding the right people to form a band is like finding someone to have a relationship with.  There are so many similar traits you have to consider; how well do you get along, do you have the same goals, can you play well together, and can you make this a lasting relationship?  In either type of relationship, you want to make beautiful music together, so to speak.  I've had wonderful working relationships with my mates in previous bands.  For the past few years, I had hoped to get together with some of them again.  But as time has marched on, none of them were available.

In January of 2020, it looked like Scott, an old bandmate from my Intrigued days, would finally be available.  We started the process of forming a new band and things were progressing.  Then Covid hit.  We stopped for awhile to see how things were going to shake down.  After awhile, Scott decided he was going to focus on making his own recordings in his basement.

I started looking for other people to form a band with.  It turned out my friend Maria wanted to sing for a band.  We decided we would be a package deal; a singer and a drummer either forming a band together or joining a band together.  Ultimately, after some comings and goings, we found Frank, a guitar player who came up with the idea that the three of us should be a trio.  After much discussion, we came up with the name Northern Drive.

So, that's where we are today.  We have a lead singer, a guitar player and a drummer working up a repertoire of (un)Plugged(in) acoustic and electric songs, mostly rock and some country rock.  As we progress, we hope to be ready by sometime over the summer.

We have a website started up to introduce our trio, which will be updated as we have more information to disclose.   www.northerndriveband.com 

Going Forward...

After the Capitol Hill Riots of January 6th, I was so fed up with the state of politics in this country that I decided I needed to take some drastic actions to my Facebook account so that I could reduce the amount of stress it was causing me. Now that it's two and a half months later, I found my actions have worked. I am a lot more relaxed in general. 

I have decided to further reduce my Facebook presence and put more emphasis on my blog. My blog has been around in one form or another for at least 10 years. My topics have generally been about some things going on in my life, travel, occasional blogs about current issues, music, and even a version of my autobiography. In 2016, I had an unexpected change in my life when my first marriage ended. A nephew suggested that I write my autobiography as a form of therapy. It worked pretty well. You can find it in a series of posts by searching this blog.

Since I just turned 60 a few months ago, I've had a lot of thoughts about how time has evolved since I was born, and even published a book of poems that I had written over the past 50 years. 

I have a lot on my mind and I enjoy writing. I plan to continue this blog as a regular feature. I bill it as the random musings of a geezer in the making. That's a pretty accurate description of what you can expect. If it's something you're interested in making sure you don't miss any, you can sign up for an email subscription. It doesn't cost anything.

Tomorrow I plan to write about my new band. Enjoy the Spring weather!

Melissa's Car Fire

 Warning, there are some rough pictures in this post.  These are being posted after a family discussion.  On January 27, Melissa and a friend of hers came to our house for pizza with Stacey and me.  As they were about to leave, she lit a cigarette and flames burst in the car.  They were trapped briefly as they struggled to get out, and came running into the house screaming, "Help, my face is on fire!" Both their faces were bright red and I could smell burning flesh right away. Melissa crouched on the kitchen floor, screaming in pain. As I was talking to 911, I glanced out the window and saw flames inside the car.  I told 911 the car is on fire and that we need fire trucks and an ambulance for my daughter.  I vainly tried to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher, but the whole car was engulfed quickly. I backed away as various things popped and exploded in the car. The fire chief later described what I was hearing.  The loudest explosion was the air compressor blowing the air bag out into the street. The car alarm blasted away.  The first fire fighters arrived within minutes and took over.  I showed them where Melissa was in the kitchen.  Once I knew she was in good hands, I paused to take this photo and the brief video.

Melissa in the ambulance.  I had been on the phone with Mary, her mom, who wanted to know how badly she was burned.  I figured the easiest way would be to show her.

These pictures were taken after the fire was put out.  The cause is under investigation and we are not publicly speculating. We appreciate your patience in this investigation...

Melissa took these selfies over the course of a few days in the hospital.  With second degree burns, her face swelled up as expected.  The swelling has gone down considerably.  She is expected to return to normal with a few scars, but she has a long road ahead of her.

She lost her purse, all of its contents, her glasses, and $700 cash rent money in the fire.  Her friends were nice enough to set up a GoFund me account.  We very much appreciate that.

Finally, just a few more photos of debris from the car, which is completely replaceable.

Rear view mirror

Something plastic that melted

She threw her coat on the ground while escaping the burning car.  This is all that remains.