TWO weeks! Boy time can fly!
Well first off there was some significance to Stacy's start date of January 4th that I had forgotten to mention in the last update. She was very happy in the pure coincidence of her new start work date of Jan. 4th, 2008. That is because she'd started for animal control on Jan. 4th, 1988. Stacy was very happy over all the coincidences and the expectations of how that job had turned out for her and us, and how she's expecting this job to be.
So now that she's been at it for two weeks today, she loves it! She has been putting in a lot of overtime to get her office all current and organized. We got her first middle of the night call last early Saturday when three of her 'kids' were where they weren't supposed to be, drinking, and got pulled over (you can hum "Bad Boys, Bad Boys, what ya gonna do" now). We'd figured she'd get those kind of night calls in the spring/summer, didn't expect one in the 'dead o' winter'. It's all new to her but she handled all the paperwork and reports involved with the juvenile offenders and put them all under house arrest. On Monday her supervisor told her she'd done great. Today its court all afternoon for her. Stacy really likes the challenge of applying the law, like she did before, and also working with the kids and families.
This past week it has been steadily in the 20's in the daytime and not much new snow. And for the most part, in the 20's at night also! That is one thing that fascinates me about the weather here. There are times, like now, where there is only a few degrees of difference between day and night temps. Back in Phelan even in it's coldest winters, there were still fifteen to twenty degrees day and night temps difference. It is supposed to get nippy the next five days though. Snow tomorrow, arctic cold right after making it at or below zero on Sunday night and only about ten or so in the daytime for a few days. That seems to be the only real weather pattern here though. A week or two in the winter of really cold and the same week or two in the summer of really hot.
For me those bus wheels keepa turnin'. The driver I'd been replacing came back to work so its been back to different routes, different days, different hours. Biggest problem I have is the fact that there are three bus routes that criss cross each other, even on the same streets with all three, so I have trouble remembering who goes where! Do I stop there for that kid? I know I pick up there! Are they just a little late or do I get them on another route altogether!
Its a little stressful for me at times. Generally they are standing out there shivering in the dark so I haven't missed but a couple because they were late to the stop and in the dark I didn't see them. Other kids on the bus did though so the two didn't have to far to get to the bus. The afternoon stops are the most difficult, especially those highway stops. There are no street addresses and quite a few don't even have mailboxes. Just a driveway that goes off to nowhere, can't see a lot of the houses from the road, and so I'm going along looking for a reflector or two in a berm of muddy white snow/ice. The kids are always told to keep an eye for their stop, some don't though. Two have had to ride with me when I make the second trip out with the other elementary age to high school aged kids from town. The outlying schools, two of them, start and end an hour before the 'in town' schools do so those kids and some of the others can be picked up and dropped off before the second wave. One first grader wound up being the last one off the bus because she wasn't watching and got home at 5:30 that night. A long day for her.
I was kind of dreading winter driving with the buses because they don't have all wheel drive. That so far, hasn't been to much of a problem. So far. Actually, even with all the plowing and sanding of the county roads and off highway roads, the only thing I've noticed is with all the packing they have become some really rough roads and except for the roads being a different color, they are just like the dirt roads I used to drive back in the desert for animal control.
Sandy had a problem with her new Dell Desktop computer she'd gotten for Christmas. Seems the sound/video card wasn't the right one. Bad thing was all the paperwork showed all was correct. She sent screen prints showing it had the wrong card installed, made calls and e-mails. And only yesterday, about a month later, with no contact back from Dell, a new sound/video card appeared in her mail.
Laura is on her second day of her new job. She finally got a job with benefits! She was hired as an Animal Control Officer in Davenport. She's happy because she's gotten a job she has experience in!
Sean is doing well. He just is really looking at getting out of San Diego as soon as he can. He's tired of the traffic and the costs of living in California.
Brother Mike is having some heart irregular beating problems that we hope can be controlled by medication and not a surgery. He's got to be okay for August! Maybe with the cold outside and looking at the trip photos from previous motorcycle 'adventures', I'm really kinda looking forward to the adventure he's been planning. He really likes his new S.U.V. and he was even talking about getting another satellite radio for Brenda that could be used at home too!!!
If you like it, you can't go wrong with either brand of satellite radio. While I've been writing this "note" I've been listening to some of the best of Thomas Newman movie soundtracks on XM 27 Cinemagic. Road to Perdition, Meet Joe Black, The Shawshank Redemption and others. All really good movies with great sound track music.
As for the XM and Sirius merger, I've read on-line that even if it happens, you'd never now it as far as your current subscription goes. There had been talk about tiered plans like DirecTv, Dish Network and cable systems have, but to get programming from both XM and Sirius, one would need to buy new equipment. So no changes for us. We're happy with XM the way it is.
I'd hoped Stacy would be adding to this at least as much as I do but she's been coming home late, going in early and they don't have DSL at her office, only dial up! This time we have have a faster connection at home than our job does!
More later, Tad
Well first off there was some significance to Stacy's start date of January 4th that I had forgotten to mention in the last update. She was very happy in the pure coincidence of her new start work date of Jan. 4th, 2008. That is because she'd started for animal control on Jan. 4th, 1988. Stacy was very happy over all the coincidences and the expectations of how that job had turned out for her and us, and how she's expecting this job to be.
So now that she's been at it for two weeks today, she loves it! She has been putting in a lot of overtime to get her office all current and organized. We got her first middle of the night call last early Saturday when three of her 'kids' were where they weren't supposed to be, drinking, and got pulled over (you can hum "Bad Boys, Bad Boys, what ya gonna do" now). We'd figured she'd get those kind of night calls in the spring/summer, didn't expect one in the 'dead o' winter'. It's all new to her but she handled all the paperwork and reports involved with the juvenile offenders and put them all under house arrest. On Monday her supervisor told her she'd done great. Today its court all afternoon for her. Stacy really likes the challenge of applying the law, like she did before, and also working with the kids and families.
This past week it has been steadily in the 20's in the daytime and not much new snow. And for the most part, in the 20's at night also! That is one thing that fascinates me about the weather here. There are times, like now, where there is only a few degrees of difference between day and night temps. Back in Phelan even in it's coldest winters, there were still fifteen to twenty degrees day and night temps difference. It is supposed to get nippy the next five days though. Snow tomorrow, arctic cold right after making it at or below zero on Sunday night and only about ten or so in the daytime for a few days. That seems to be the only real weather pattern here though. A week or two in the winter of really cold and the same week or two in the summer of really hot.
For me those bus wheels keepa turnin'. The driver I'd been replacing came back to work so its been back to different routes, different days, different hours. Biggest problem I have is the fact that there are three bus routes that criss cross each other, even on the same streets with all three, so I have trouble remembering who goes where! Do I stop there for that kid? I know I pick up there! Are they just a little late or do I get them on another route altogether!
Its a little stressful for me at times. Generally they are standing out there shivering in the dark so I haven't missed but a couple because they were late to the stop and in the dark I didn't see them. Other kids on the bus did though so the two didn't have to far to get to the bus. The afternoon stops are the most difficult, especially those highway stops. There are no street addresses and quite a few don't even have mailboxes. Just a driveway that goes off to nowhere, can't see a lot of the houses from the road, and so I'm going along looking for a reflector or two in a berm of muddy white snow/ice. The kids are always told to keep an eye for their stop, some don't though. Two have had to ride with me when I make the second trip out with the other elementary age to high school aged kids from town. The outlying schools, two of them, start and end an hour before the 'in town' schools do so those kids and some of the others can be picked up and dropped off before the second wave. One first grader wound up being the last one off the bus because she wasn't watching and got home at 5:30 that night. A long day for her.
I was kind of dreading winter driving with the buses because they don't have all wheel drive. That so far, hasn't been to much of a problem. So far. Actually, even with all the plowing and sanding of the county roads and off highway roads, the only thing I've noticed is with all the packing they have become some really rough roads and except for the roads being a different color, they are just like the dirt roads I used to drive back in the desert for animal control.
Sandy had a problem with her new Dell Desktop computer she'd gotten for Christmas. Seems the sound/video card wasn't the right one. Bad thing was all the paperwork showed all was correct. She sent screen prints showing it had the wrong card installed, made calls and e-mails. And only yesterday, about a month later, with no contact back from Dell, a new sound/video card appeared in her mail.
Laura is on her second day of her new job. She finally got a job with benefits! She was hired as an Animal Control Officer in Davenport. She's happy because she's gotten a job she has experience in!
Sean is doing well. He just is really looking at getting out of San Diego as soon as he can. He's tired of the traffic and the costs of living in California.
Brother Mike is having some heart irregular beating problems that we hope can be controlled by medication and not a surgery. He's got to be okay for August! Maybe with the cold outside and looking at the trip photos from previous motorcycle 'adventures', I'm really kinda looking forward to the adventure he's been planning. He really likes his new S.U.V. and he was even talking about getting another satellite radio for Brenda that could be used at home too!!!
If you like it, you can't go wrong with either brand of satellite radio. While I've been writing this "note" I've been listening to some of the best of Thomas Newman movie soundtracks on XM 27 Cinemagic. Road to Perdition, Meet Joe Black, The Shawshank Redemption and others. All really good movies with great sound track music.
As for the XM and Sirius merger, I've read on-line that even if it happens, you'd never now it as far as your current subscription goes. There had been talk about tiered plans like DirecTv, Dish Network and cable systems have, but to get programming from both XM and Sirius, one would need to buy new equipment. So no changes for us. We're happy with XM the way it is.
I'd hoped Stacy would be adding to this at least as much as I do but she's been coming home late, going in early and they don't have DSL at her office, only dial up! This time we have have a faster connection at home than our job does!
More later, Tad
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