Assorted Ramblings On A Saturday Night

Lots going on these days and hence...the Wayward Home gets neglected again. Where do I start? Let's go with Friday -
I got home Thursday night around seven and was back up again at 4 AM to drive 160 miles to do an Operation Lifesaver presentation. In case you haven't heard, that's one of my sidelines. Operation Lifesaver is a grade crossing safety and railroad awareness program that I've been certified in since 2001. I travel around doing these presentations for anyone who'll listen to try to keep people out of harm's way on and around the railroad. Having been involved in a few collisions and a whole bunch of close calls, it seems like a worthwhile endeavor to me and the carrier will even pay me to do it if I happen to miss my regular trip. Anyway...I went and did a couple of gigs for about 40 school bus drivers and hopefully lined up some more for later dates by networking a little with other people who happened to be in the room. I've done almost 150 of these things over the years and I hope I might be doing some good. If it keeps one person from getting hit by a train, it'll be worth all of it.

Spent the day today doing oddball stuff. The boys and I made a trip to our favorite diner for breakfast after a jaunt to the transfer station, all the vehicles got a vacuuming and after I got some laundry done, the Trek mountain bike came out for about 25 miles of freezing cold woods and back roads riding. I needed a ride to burn off all the extra calories from this week and besides, a few hill climbs is good for the soul. I wish I could ride more but there's that working for a living thing that intrudes on my lesiure time and the weather doesn't co-operate much just yet. I did actually hear the peepers in the marshes as I was out there today and that's a sure sign of spring so maybe I'll get some more pedal-time in soon.

The other thing that's been holding my attention is the incredible nonsense over the passage of the new health-care bill. As I've mentioned before on the Wayward Home...health care is kind of a touchy subject with me. Having been on the receiving end of a fair amount of medical care myself and with various and sundry health issues and injuries in the household, I'm very interested in how this was going to shake out. Just to let everyone know: I for one am wholly in favor of the new bill so sending me a mess of warnings and anti-Obama propaganda is probably a waste of my inbox space and your time. I've had some long, tense discussions with people about it and the end result is always the same...I don't really see the downside of the new law compared to the way things are now unless cutting down on the obscene profits of the insurance companies can be seen as a downside. The main argument that we'll be supporting 'illegals', 'undesirables', drug addicts, etc., etc., ad nauseum is bunk because we're already supporting everybody and there's no stopping it. Every emergency room in the country cares for anyone who rolls in the door whether they have any money or insurance or not and that's where most uninsured folks end up. Those of us who have insurance pay for it in higher costs passed on by the hospitals anyway so what's the difference? Yep, it'll be expensive but so was Social Security and nobody wants to get rid of that, even though it was predicted to be the end of the republic when it was introduced. The catastrophe failed to materialize then and I suspect it will do the same this time. At least the for-profit insurance companies, drug companies, hospitals and everyone else with their fingers in the pie didn't write it for a change. Too bad the Republicans couldn't find it in their agenda to at least not actively oppose everything about it but that's the way of the world these days and the politics of getting re-elected and back in a position of power outweighs all else. But that's for another day's post...

For now, I'm just going to settle in and enjoy a night without the cell phone and count days until my week of vacation starts. This kid needs that week pretty bad. It's been a long haul since last July and a few days out of the loop is looking really good.