A Very Different Summer

Just finished my seventh year of teaching.  For the math challenged out there, this means that I just finished my seventh free summer and this one has been so completely different that I feel it warrants a few comments as I get ready to head back to my classroom tomorrow morning.

So what does the typical summer look like for this teacher.  Well, I start the break by still getting up at 5 am since that's what my body tells me to do.  By August I've generally stretched that to 6:30 or 7:00, but no sleeping half the day away for me.  Never have, doubt I ever will. 

My mechanic business has expanded to the point that for most of the summer I can (and often do) work seven days a week.  There are a lot of people out there looking for a reliable Harley mechanic who charges less than the $80+ per hour that the dealerships are charging.  I have tried to take the weekends off, but this year, with nothing much going on in my life, found myself working through.

There is always a vacation, often with friends and always on the motorcycle.  California this year, solo to Albuquerque last year, Niagara Falls a few years ago.  Anywhere from a week to three depending on who is with me and where I feel like going.

So what was different about this year?  Well, those of you who have been following my blog already know the answer to that question, but bear with me a little.  The difference started three weeks into the summer, right at the tail end of my vacation when I crashed my Harley into the back of a Suburban on Highway 18 down in Oregon.  You can read all about it here.

The rest of the summer was an education and an awakening.  I actually enjoyed my week in the hospital, even with what amounted to two arms, one leg, and one abdominal muscle out of commission.  I didn't have any books to read, there was little of interest on the TV (although I did get to watch the Tour de France each morning), yet I still enjoyed the down time.  After I returned home I spent a significant amount of time reading, watching TV, and browsing the internet.  It was a couple weeks before I could walk further than the bathroom.  A month into my convalescence they decided that further surgery was needed and my hands and arms were back where we had started, with very limited ability to pick anything up, open jars and Tupperware containers, or perform simple tasks like showering or getting dressed. 

Yet through it all I found that I never really got bored or frustrated. Down time has never been my strength and over the years I have had a very low boredom threshold.  If I was tired or had only a couple hours to kill, I could kick back and watch some TV or read a book, but otherwise I quickly ran out of patience and had to get going.  With my wife gone in the divorce four years ago and my roommate of the last two years moved to Alaska to finish his degree, there was less and less to keep me at home.  Over the past year and a half I became more and more of a workaholic.

I have now spent the last two months in enforced idleness and have enjoyed it.  Sometime in the next month or so I will return to a semblance of physical normalcy, but I will be making an effort to continue to relax, to unwind, and to take some time out to just enjoy life a bit more.  I like both my jobs, the teaching and the mechanic work, but they are both time spent doing things for other people.  Maybe now I can get back to some time spent doing something for no one but me.

Different but good.

Paid Product Placement

Been watching Blue Bloods, Season 2, the outstanding cop show starring Tom Selleck.  Noticed that everyone with a smartphone seems to have a Blackberry and that they mostly seem to be Tours, the one I used to have.  Since RIM has dropped in market share down to just over 11% it seemed a bit odd.  They have also recently announced that they will be focusing on corporate services since they have one of the best small business server systems which allows companies to control access to their files and servers.

Given that, it seems odd that RIM would be spending money on product placement.

Freedom Manifesto

New book from Steve Forbes.  Basic premise, the free market acts efficiently.  Do a good job, you get rewarded.  Government promotes favoritism. Invest most effectively in lobbying efforts and you get rewarded.  Not a new concept but presumably Forbes feels he either has new insights or can explain it better than past efforts.

I'm going to check it out and will report back later but if you want your own copy now you can get it from Amazon.

Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets are Moral and Government Isn't

Free is still a price

If you needed more proof that government is out of control on so many levels, this story out of Phoenix should just about do it.  A "vending permit" to hand out free bottled water with no strings attached.  Yep, that's right.  "It is hot, would you like a free bottle of water?"  is a violation of the city code.

ABC News

The Left Half

Fraud? Waste? Abuse? Or just good planning.

Browsing around (because there's not much else I can do with broken arms and hands) and stumbled across this awesome tidbit.

Detroit Water and Sewer Department employs a horseshoer.  No horses, but a horseshoer. 

Oh well.  Maybe someday they'll get horses to replace those dirty, polluting automobiles and then they'll be all set. Can you imagine it?  Detroit without automobiles?

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/17404

200 Years and Still Sailing

The U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) sailed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its victory in the War of 1812.

PS Interesting factoid: The Constitution is still a commissioned warship of the U.S. Navy.

The Counting Song

From Harv over at Bad Example.  This is awesome.  Keep watching.

Glass Houses

Come on.  Who hasn't faked their own death to get out of a relationship?

Seriously, though?  What a loser.  Whatever happened to "This isn't working out. Bye."?

Bird spotting

Very exciting.  Saw a pileated woodpecker in my apple tree.  Never seen one before so that was pretty cool.  Unfortunately it flew away before I could snap a picture.