Congratulations, Jon! Glad to see someone so capable and competent selected to this position. You make a difference in this world.

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Sorry to hear about this, Jon! Hope you beat this quickly, thoroughly, and with a club. And, instruct the nurses that you always sleep in the nude.

She is amazingly tough. Does she get that from you, George?

Thanks for the support, I appreciate it.
Overall, life pretty much sux at this point. I started vision therapy last week, and will begin a cardiac workout program beginning Oct. 7.
I'll just keep hang'n in there, best I can, one day at a time.

Thanks, Jolly. I'm doing somewhat OK. Last June 2nd, I had a heart attack and a stroke, all in one day. Lost too much peripheral vision, so no driving of anything, car or motorcycle. My son takes me to appointments and is doing most everything for me. My wife, after 43 years of marriage, filed for divorce and moved in with her boyfriend, blindsiding me as I thought we had a near-perfect marriage. Docs do say the heart attack and stroke were likely due to the stress I was going through. I've been lurking around here, just not much enthusiasm to participate.

As to buying used as opposed to new busses, it depends on the state. In Oregon, 70% of all transportation costs are directly paid to the district by the State. So, it makes purchase of the busses, land for parking, garage, everything, worth buying or leasing. I know it's a hassle to get rid of the used busses, but yes, some small districts end up buying them. I would guess it does save money for the smaller districts, the school board should be doing a deep dive into the numbers. Also worth considering contracting out the bus services to Laidlaw or other busing companies. But, there is a sense of pride having the district's name on the side of the busses.

@aqua-letifer said in Think of the children, won’t somebody please think of the children:

Let's talk about transportation. Very few daycares offer transportation and busing and those that do charge separately. How much do you think those school buses cost to purchase and maintain?

Smaller bus, around $90,000. Larger bus around $115,000 and up, depending on options (engine size, storage). Some busses are for transporting students, other busses are for students, equipment, and whether the bus will be driven in the hills, or maybe spend time on the freeway or long trips. Bus drivers are not paid all that much, but the health care package is great. Our local district has a fleet of 190 busses, on a ten-year replacement schedule. And yes, they require maintenance so yeah, that's a heavy cost.

@copper said in Ben Stein on Nixon:

@lufins-dad said in Ben Stein on Nixon:

Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?

A crook

A 2-bit burglary

The 5 o'clock shadow

He was probably a slave owner

You forgot "sweat a lot"

Yeah, and I wonder if they sat around and talked about stuff like, "who shot Lincoln?"

I wonder what they did to the equipment, where the taliban could not use the parts off of one machine to repair another identical machine.