25 Years, and Running...

I'm in Mammoth Lakes, nothing too unusual about that, at this time of year. However, a couple items *are* significant; one, there are precious few ski trips this year, due to the lack of snow (that'll do it every time...), and this marks my 25th year of driving Mammoth ski trips! Hard to believe, a quarter-century of running US395, braving the elements and incompetent drivers. How things have changed; many of our trips in the 1980's involved alcohol, LOTS of alcohol. Not the drivers (grin), the passengers. Often, we would arrive at midnight or later, with a bus that was absolutely trashed. Bags and bags of trash off the floor, empty beer containers everywhere, the bus smelling like a brewery, and, occasionally, the "remnants" of someone's dinner, that they had been unable to keep down, due to too much alcohol. Those were the "bad old days", IMHO. Nowadays, a rowdy crowd is an aberration, downright rare. GOOD! At last count, I'm somewhere near 250 trips total, more if you include other "snow" trips I do to other locations, like Yosemite and Bear Valley. Oh, and BTW, I got a wife out of this deal! In the winter of 1985-86, I met Jacqueline, who was a housekeeper at the Sierra Nevada Inn, in Mammoth. We were friends for a number of years, but after her husband passed away in 1993, we started dating in 1994. She moved down to San Diego later that year, and we were married in 1995. Pretty amazing how things work out.
Anyhow, I'm kickin' it here at the Shilo Hotel, utilizing their Wi-Fi, but thinking about going for a ling walk. The weather's beautiful for January, too nice, in fact. The town needs snow, badly. But, at least for me, it makes my job much easier. The group this time requires very little service, another bonus. Oh, and it's crazy back in San Diego right now, tons of work, drivers putting in long hours. This is *MUCH* better (grin).

San Diego weather

Dang, this has been one cold January! Yeah, I know, friends and relatives "back east" are saying "oh, we feel so sorry for you guys", but I'm telling you, we're on a track to having the coldest January since 1950 or 1951, I heard on the news the other day. The related item is, no precipitation. San Diego is at less than 40% of normal,and it's worse in other parts of the state. Pretty weird. I'm headed to Mammoth Lakes today, my first trip of the winter. It may be my last! The bus company has almost no bookings for Mammoth because of marginal snow cover. Of course, the price keeps going up, as well. Kind of a sad state of affairs, this trip marks the beginning of my 25th season of doing Mammoth runs. There's always hope that the snow will start coming, like 1991 with the "Miracle March". But that won't help the ski season. I guess the good news is that the weather's supposed to be nice for the trip I'm heading out on, I might actually get thru the weekend without chaining up. I'll have lots of down-time there, so I'm sure I'll be posting from up there too, maybe with a picture or two included.

Melissa

Hey, Melissa... if you're reading this: GET BACK TO WORK! *grin*

Good News

The good news here concerns Dik, Jacque's cousin in Indianapolis. His long battle with cancer is over, and Dik is gone. I'm happy his struggle is over. I was thinking the other day, obituaries often say something like "lost his long battle with cancer" or something similar. But, do you realize, you never *lose* the battle with cancer? When you die, you kill it too! Meaning, you fought it to a draw. Yeah, I know, it's just semantics, but hey, if it were me, I'd be more likely to reconcile my fate if I knew, by dying, I was also killing the bastard that was killing me! Anyhow, Godspeed, Dik, to your destiny.
The second piece of good news is that Jacque's home! I was so excited to see her at the airport. She was tired from the last 10 days, but glad to be home. Ditto! It was so pleasant just to have her around the house again. Suddenly, everything seemed a bit brighter and more colorful (see last post). We went for two walks yesterday, hand-in-hand. It's SO nice to have her home!!!

It's called "Perspective"

Hi again. This past week-plus of Jacqueline being gone is starting to gnaw at me. I admire her for what she's doing, helping her terminally-ill cousin, and completely understand the need for her presence there in Indianapolis. Nonetheless, I miss her a lot, and will be really happy when she returns to our home and our life. It's been a bit of a "reminder" to me of what life would be like without her in it, and of those 11 years of bachelorhood I had between marriages. And, just like then, I'm surprized at how "gray" it is; not that it's depressing, or bad, just "insignificant". Am I having a good time? Yeah, it's OK, nothing to stand up and cheer about. It's not like I'm wallowing around the house, anxiously counting the minutes till she comes home. Nah, I'm busy, doing stuff, staying active. It's just that the quality of the time passing is diminished by her absence. She adds color to an otherwise gray existence. It's like this: those 11 years are the most significant for being "unremarkable", yeah, I had lots of fun, and there are some memories, but not too many. It's almost like a "gap" in my life, looking back now. Ironically, even though I was single, the main memories of that time concern my daughters, and my time with them, as a single dad with visitation privileges. The memories become more focused after Melissa, then Sage moved into my house. As a single dad, with my daughters there, my life began to get some "color" again. Then, my relationship with Jacqueline started, and it was like a rebirth. My world was filled with color. Maybe it's kind of a corny analogy, but the "adds color to my life" concept is the best way for me to describe how richer my life is with my loved ones around me. I really did have a good time when I was single; I have a vague recollection (grin). Of course, those memories are in black-and-white........

Bachelor Blues

I've been home for several days now, and am getting reacquainted with what single life is like. Hard to believe this was my life for 11 years! Not that I'm sitting around, depressed, doing nothing; quite the contrary, I've been quite busy. Yesterday, I watered the plants and garden, did laundry, cleaned up the kitchen.... get the idea? Today, I did more "manly" stuff. Had a 2-hour class I had to attend for work, then hiked a mountain, then jumped on the motorcycle for a ride with my friend Don, then tore into a computer! However, I also cooked up my meals and cleaned up the kitchen, and I've made up the bed every morning. Damn, Jacque's gonna realize I actually *KNOW* how to do this stuff *grin*. In reality, I do miss her, a lot. Especially when I climb into bed, and she's not there. Oh well, 6 more days.....

Happy New Year... Kind of....

Happy 2007, I just rang in the new year (Eastern time) about 45 minutes ago. Ain't gonna make it to New Year's Pacific time, however. Gotta be up and at it early in the morning, have a very long day ahead of me. It'll be nice to return home, but it will feel cold and lonely without Jacque there to greet me (see my last post). I did get to talk to her a couple times today, she's well, and doing what she needs to do there in Indianapolis.
Hey, the Chargers finished the regular season with the best record in the NFL! Home field advantage throughout the playoffs... at least as far as they make it. Hopefully, that's all the way to Miami, site of this year's Super Bowl. Wouldn't that be grand!
I'm outa here, gotta get to bed....... Happy New Year!

Da wife is gone for a while....

Yup, that's right, Jacqueline hopped on a plane for Indianapolis this morning. Why? She flew there to help out with a cousin who's very ill. I booked the flight for her, she'll be gone 10 days. Classic Jacqueline, it's one of many reasons I love that woman. She *always* thinks of others first. Anyhow, I'll be "bacheloring" it for the time, honing my rusty cooking skills and maybe even vacuuming the house (!). It will be a bit strange to come home to an empty house, day after day. With my non-existent "schedule", I often am around the house all day while she's working, or perhaps arrive home way earlier than she does. But, she eventually comes home! This will feel a bit different, that's for sure. I'll be talking to her daily, so it's not like there won't be communication. The ill cousin is in his final days, and Jacqueline's help will be appreciated, I'm sure. She's an "old pro" at this, unfortunately. Her first husband died in 1993, after a long fight with leukemia. But, as a result, she's well-qualified to be where she is right now. My heart goes out to her, this can't be an easy task. I imagine some of our conversations are going to be pretty emotional. I was able to talk briefly to Dik, her cousin, tonight. He sounds very weak and frail. I wish him Godspeed on his journey, and as little pain as is possible........

Kickin' it in Bear Valley

Well, the drive up to Bear Valley was relatively uneventful except for some seriously strong Santa Ana winds in L.A. Otherwise, just a long day, made a bit longer by a couple women (on two different occasions) who were inconsiderate and made everyone wait for them. Oh well, goes with the job...... Anyhow, I was able to get all the way here to Bear Valley without chaining up, a real bonus. After getting the people dropped and off to their condos (a 45 minute affair), I chained up there in the lot because I needed to move the bus and the immediate area there in Bear Valley was icy. One of the chains was incredibly tangled, making my long day just a wee bit longer, while I figured it out. No service today, tomorrow I drive 25 miles down the road just to dump the chemical toilet at a mobile home park. Gotta be done! I also have some service with my people tomorrow, as well. I'll probably be able to consolidate the two.
I figured it would be Internet access the old-fashioned way here again (dialup), as it has been in years past, but lo and behold, one of the condos nearby has an unsecured wifi! Not only that, he made it *real* easy for me to determine which way to point my directional antenna; the name of his network is "Condo88"! Haha, how good is that? Sooo, I have fast Internet access, and, as a bonus, my cellphone works here too (kind of). The signal's really weak, but, with the addition of the kewl aftermarket antenna I have for it, I can call out just fine. So, life is good. The only negative at this point is a pervasive smoke smell in the condo, upstairs (my room, fortunately, is downstairs). When we got in last night, the condo was full of thick, acrid smoke. Why? Some moron had put smouldering embers into the ash bucket, where they continued to smoulder and fill the condo with smoke. Brilliant! To add to the problem, the electricity was down, as often happens here, so there was no light, no heat, etc, and we had to open all the windows to air it out. Oh well, the electricity came on a short time later, and I spend as little time as possible upstairs.
The weather is cooperating, looks like it'll be a pleasant trip. I need to consider my routing home on the 1st, however; my normal route takes me thru Pasadena, and the Rose Bowl would be letting out about the time I'd be passing thru. NOT good!

Playtime's Over

Hello again, the majority of the past 2 weeks has been filled with family events and, of course, Christmas. Oh, and of course, "molding" my new PC to my liking. Also involved was the transfer of one of my previous desktops to my daughter and son-in-law. Being the holidays, I've had LOTS of time off, but that's about to end. Tomorrow I embark upon a 5-day trip to northern California, a ski trip. A major winter storm just swept through the area (it's hitting us now), and dumped up to 3' of new snow. Good news for the skiers, not so sure for me. The good news for me is that, as of now, the forecast for the entire time we'll be there is looking pretty good. Oh sure, I'm sure there'll be chains involved (there always is...), but as long as it's not really nasty weather, I'll take it. I'll have my laptop along for the ride, last year I was able to pick up a few wi-fi signals from our cabin. Maybe I'll post once or twice while there. Anyhow, it gets me out of going to Pasadena on the 1st, woo hoo! I'll be returning on the 1st, so that'll be a mega-big payday. Good, I need that, after the holidays!

WOO-HOO

Today's the day my new computer is supposed to arrive! Obviously, I'm pretty excited about that. Unlike all computers over the past decade+, I am not building this one. After reading an excellent article in PCWorld Magazine about under-$1000 PC's, and seeing that a small company just up the road in Irvine, CA, Micro Express Inc, had *by far* the best performance rating, I contacted them and we came to terms. Of course, there was "price creep", but it was all for items I felt were well-worth the additional cost. My thinking was, with all my obsolete hardware, I was going to have to buy a LOT of new components. After adding it all up, the costs were so close, I opted to let someone else do the "dirty work" for me. I save myself the hassles and inevitable snafus, and in return I get a warranty! Two years, at that! The system ought to be a scorcher, it's an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2 GB 800 mhz memory, 512 MB ATI video card, and lots of other goodies. Oh boy, oh, boy!! Santa is coming early this year!

Vacation #2- in Bishop

Hello from Bishop, CA! The wife and I are enjoying our vacation together, the first part was to see kids and grand-kids in Farmington, NM. This second part is to see kids and grand-kids in Bishop, CA. Notice a pattern here? *GRIN* Yeah, our kids are important, ALMOST as important as the grand-kids *DOUBLE-GRIN*. My daughters are in the San Diego area, close to where we live, so we benefit from their proximity. Not so with Jacqueline's kids.... the nearest is here in Bishop, 360 miles from San Diego. The only "kid" we're gonna miss is Jacque's son Dave up in the Eureka, CA area. We return to San Diego in a few days, then it's back to work for Jacque, me a couple days later. The vacation thing really grows on a person. Hmmm, how many more years till retirement? Well, in February, I'll be 55, so I *could* retire in 7 years. Probably won't, that early, but it's possible. Anyhow, we're enjoying our time now immensely, Jacque and I blend together so well, spending all my time with her is a wonderful diversion from the usual grind of work. I know, in retirement, we'll be just fine together. Not like some couples, who drive each other crazy. But, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself.... it's still a few years off. Dang! Vacation all year long.... now there's an attractive concept!

A Day Off (sort of...)

The day's mine.... mostly. The tough part was getting up at 0345 (OUCH!) to go do a quick shuttle thing we do for the U.S. Navy. That was over pretty quick, so *NOW* the rest of the day is mine! I've already gone hiking, but am thinking about going again, because I was a bad boy and ate a bunch of chocolate at lunchtime. I'm trying really hard to avoid that, but I just *LOVE* chocolate! I guess most women understand that craving.....
I was hoping Jacqueline would get off work early today, but no joy. Oh well, enough of this, guess I'll go hiking (again).

Just like the military.........

My job is pretty unusual; there's lots of "hurry up and wait" involved. The customer just wants to know we're "there", ready and waiting. I'm doing "outbounds" today, picking up people and their luggage, and transporting them to the airport here in San Diego. For this, I will get an enhanced rate of pay and, hopefully, a grat from the customer. I've been on duty over 5 hours, have so far transported 3 people to the airport! Not that I'm complaining, mind you, too often it goes the other way, and you work like a dog. Today, I'm sitting here, posting to my blog while being paid a nice rate of pay. Hmmm, not so bad! However, the tough part was rolling out of bed at 0330. See, there's always a reason why it's called a "job".....

At least I make *someone* happy.........

In my last post, I expressed some frustration at not knowing whether or not any of my posts were ever even viewed (not that it really matters). Daughter #2 got back to me, said that yes, she reads them... when she's bored at work! I feel so much better now *grin*. Actually, I've heard from a few other people saying they've taken a peek now and then. So, the blog continues!
It's gotten to the time of year when we're really busy at work. This will continue up until right before Thanksgiving, then, if it goes like it has in past years, it'll be generally slow until the 2nd or 3rd week of January. As a result, I have put in for my 2nd half of vacation (1st half was my motorcycle trip in Montana with my brothers), and Jacqueline and I are planning a road trip to New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of East-Central California. Should be about 2500 miles, total. I was looking last night, it's only about 6 weeks till we depart. Boy, am I looking forward to that!
Got my motorcycle tire patched AGAIN, yesterday. In nearly 40 years of riding, I've had perhaps 1 or 2 flats caused by nails or screws. I've now had 2 in the last month! This is getting real old....
Know the difference between a wise man and a fool? They both make mistakes, but the wise man only does it once. Well, today, I'm the fool *grin*. I have a moustache/nose hair/eyebrow trimmer, has a guard for things like eyebrows. Occasionally, it falls off. If I don't notice it's missing, and attempt to trim my eyebrows, oh boy, I'll trim them alright.... right down to the nubs! I did so about a year ago, had to put up with some teasing. Would you believe I just did it AGAIN?! So, once again, I'm in the "fool" category. Oh well..............

You know, I really have become sloppy about posting.... really gotta try to be more consistent. Of course, I have no clue whether any of these postings gets read anyhow. I'm currently in Mission Viejo, up the road from San Diego about 60 miles or so. Have a group of cheerleaders from a local high school aboard for (obviously) a football game. Pretty cut-and-dried run, pretty easy. The only tough part was dealing with the San Diego Friday afternoon traffic, what a hassle. Anyhow, more later....

Whoa, it's been a loooooong time since I posted. Sorry about that *grin*. I caught some flak from my younger daughter about my last post (she was just kidding me), so I thought I'd better update. I'm on vacation (yaaaaaa!!!) and am about to head out on a motorcycle adventure with my brothers. Our destination this time is the state of Montana, and its miles and miles of "big sky". The motorcycle is going into the back of the pickup truck tomorrow, and, early Sunday morning, I head out. REAL early. No A/C in the truck, so getting across the desert in relative comfort means going at night. Hopefully, I'll be able to post from along the road. I'm just glad the worst of the heat wave has passed, we were baking here in CA for about 2 weeks. Over 140 people died, that's how bad it was! I seriously watched utility breakdowns and power outages happening around us with great alarm, and made sure the generator was gassed up and had the oil changed. Never needed it, this time, but how long till we do??? Anyhow, temps have returned to more seasonal normals, and there's a cool Pacific breeze blowing here at my house right now. If I could just figure out how to take that with me to Montana......

Hot day here!

Dang! It's HOT here today! We *were* going to go for a MC ride, and probably still will, but not for long. The A/C will keep running, that's for sure. Since the A/C is only in our bedroom, I guess we'll be spending lots of time in our bedroom *grin*. OK with me..................

Father's Day

Well, Father's Day has come and gone, I was blessed with visits from both of my daughters' families, and Jacque's son Dave showed up as well! He was "in the neighborhood" (as in, Southern California) for a friend's wedding, so stopped on in to visit. We had a great day, but that evening, Jacque didn't feel well, at all. After a session "praying to the porcelain god", she went to bed, I cleaned up the house, and then I went to bed. About 0100, I awoke with nausea. Oh-oh, there's been a "bug" going around at her work, and I was starting to wonder. I ignored the nausea, and went back to sleep, had a long day (including Mexico) on-the-job coming up. That happened yesterday. I thought I wasn't going to make it thru the day a few times, due to "intestinal instability". Accordingly, I asked for today off. Of course, now I feel much better! Figures.... Oh well, it was a relatively slow day at work anyhow.

SPAB Days

So, what does SPAB mean? "School Pupil Activity Bus". In California, tour buses double (as in most other states) as school activity buses... meaning, extracurricular activity buses, field trips, band trips, and, this time of year, grad night buses. There's LOTS of that right now, and, since the bus company I drive for lacks enough SPAB drivers (it requires special certification from the CHP), I do *LOTS* of SPAB runs. Not that I really mind, dealing with kids is usually pretty easy and straightforward. When I call in to see what my assignment is for the next day, I merely ask "What SPAB run am I doing tomorrow?" (grin). It all comes to a screeching halt around mid- to late June, then it's back to the more traditional "mix" of work.