Two entries for the price of one... as usual...

PARTAY ON, DUDE!

You know you're not TOO old when people expect you to act like a teenager!

Got an e-mail today... asking if when we get RLH 3, will it be a "party bus".

Well... at 39 years old (Sue and I are the same age) and with a kid and a menagerie of pets, not likely... I do see us using it as a "clever day tripper" as in short jaunts to Niagara especially for War of 1812 reenactments... and occasional trips "out of town", but I have no plans, much to the chagrin of Sue, to put in a disco ball, light system, bar, and upholster it with faux fur.

Actually, it will not be used as a "commercial" or real passenger (save family and friends) vehicle until such time as (and we have decided this WILL be done by our own hands now,) we re-set it up as a complete museum-like restoration to it's former glory.

Hence (if you read the old posts,) why I'm so excited about the old 1930's ice box that's being "donated" by my building.

Oh yeah, guess I should mention that too...

Although I've never seen myself as a pure preservationist, I always said that I'd maintain the bus so that, in the future, someone COULD restore RLH 3 to it's former London Transport glory...

Well...

My wife thinks that when we're done using it for our purposes, we should make that our "retirement project" and restore her completely.

I think it's a fine idea and blends the best of all worlds... My plans keep her up and running for people to enjoy (both our selected passengers and those who see her trundling down the street) and then (with our love of history) we get to restore her to her total former glory...

We're looking forward to BOTH uses!

We're hoping that WHEN the day comes, a Toronto or Ontario museum might take her, restored, and operate her as she was meant to be used...

Anyway, no party bus, I'm afraid...
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Dude? Where's my stone mason?

I was listening to the radio today (640 AM Toronto) and heard an interview with designer/decorator/renovator Debbie Travis about her new show, "From The Ground Up". http://www.canada.com/globaltv/globalshows/fromthegroundup/debbie/index.html

The show was based on the lack of any young folks going into the trades... and the severe lack of qualified people for things like carpentry, landscaping, plumbing, etc.

Now, I admit... I took marketing in college... and tried to get into University for physics... and worked hard in the I.T. sector for over a dozen years... and now work for a mortgage company in the file room... but one thing I've now learned...

DESPITE feeling very "educated" and rather with-it and enjoying conversations with educators and scientists, I've learned that I *was* a snob.

Yup, thanks to parents who, every time I was fouling up at school, made it an epithet that working with one's hands and doing "manual labour" which was the poor and uneducated way of making a living, I was a HORRIBLE snob through to probably my late twenties.

I guaged my version of success based on one's office size and how many people one managed... and I was very, very wrong...

You see, my kid's birth-dad (who is a great guy whom his ex-wife, my current wife, get along with great... they make good friends/acquaintances and a lousy couple... and I genuinely like him and I do believe it goes both ways) is a counter-top installer. He makes VERY good money and is expanding his business.

I also know a brick-layer who drives a new BMW...

A drywaller who just bought (outright) a nice condo...

A house painter who owns two cottages...

A plumber who has a thirty-five foot yacht... who asked for my help hooking his PC into his enormous new flat-screen LCD television...

...and me? The one with the post secondary education in marketing and a half-education in physics? The one who's put in dozens of years in banks, tech centres, and various offices, the one who cavorts with scientists, historians, and the supposedly "well educated echelon"... what do I have?

$10 per hour as a temp slinging files.

Now, it's honest work I do... and I don't TRULY begrudge it... but I think of how I used to think, thanks to the parent's comments of, "You'll be lucky to be painting houses!", how I used to believe that working in a "trade" was a step down. After all, my dad was an insurance executive!

I was totally wrong.

I'd be PROUD to be cutting stone or putting together roofing timber. Heck, I'm sorry I fought so hard to get my "white collar" in I.T. when I honestly could have been doing more real and honest work!

...and then I read/heard about this show and how, yes, I'm not alone... MANY young people have a sense of entitlement that makes them think they MUST become a junior executive out of the gate.

Heck, even my I.T. career consisted of doing five years in computer stores and a full year as "tech support" before becoming an in-house technician.

Even then, I didn't mind lifting, placing, cabling, assembling... the real "grunt" work of I.T., but I was still okay and "white collar", right?

All I'm saying is that it's a sad day that young people (especially) who have a chance to learn and apprentice with a craftsman usually don't and instead turn to the almighty university for their degree... which in the long run might NOT be the way to fulfillment... but we are led to believe that this is.

I'm 39 now... a bit too long in the tooth to apprentice and have a wife and family and need every dollar I get, but I do begrudge that snobbishness I had and a possible path to a future I never was allowed to even contemplate. After all, it was "beneath me".

So, if anyone's reading this and is young enough to take a hint, DON'T assume the road to success is a corner office and a secretary. The TRUE road to success is fulfillment in your path, security, and confidence.

...and yes, I'd love to know the art of carpentry or stone masonry... who knows, if the lottery Gods are TRULY good to us in the future, you may yet see me carving stone! I have a feeling I'd enjoy it... and it's a lucrative existence to boot!

Oh, before I sign out on this, I'd like to quote something from the radio interview...

Apparently, one of the young folk confronted Ms. Travis and blamed her (or "our") generation for their woes... They said that from a very early age, they were told they were "special" and "chosen" and were "great". They went through school being told they were able to do ANYTHING because they were so darned significant. The entered/completed university being told the world would be their oyster... and then hit the "real world" and guess what? Yup, they were just like everybody else... no "leg up", no super-jumps into spectacular employment... they had to work hard and earn it all... The concept of "Entry Level Positions" was almost an anathema to them.

Well, guess what? We ALL must do it... I'm doing it now a SECOND time 'round... Oh yeah, I'm flinging files, but I know I have a brain and a desire... and the ONLY thing that will progress me in my career will be diligence and hard work. I will advance and succeed and be allowed to show what's in my cranium and it's capabilities.

The only trick is, balancing all that with a proper and good family life...

At some point, if you want to see utter joy, come by and watch this formerly snobbish twit who was hoping for the executive office and Armani suit elbow-deep in oil and whatever getting his bus ready... I may curse and occasionally be overwhelmed by the work, but it will be honest work... and I'll be learning... and I'll be in my own little bit of heaven.

THANK YOU Ms. Travis for a BRILLIANT show idea! I will be watching it with the utmost of smug glee when those young whipper-snappers learn that REAL work is not lowly work... but true craft and hopefully, they will learn the pride in that craft!