Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

One of the things I enjoy about my annual storm chasing trips is experiencing other areas of the country, solo, without a safety net. I try really hard not to play it safe; one of my fondest memories from my trips is sitting with a bunch of strangers at a bar, eating supper and having a beer or two, in Liberal, Kansas. I chatted with the bartender, a couple of guys next to me struck up a conversation, and while they clearly thought about the country from a different point of view than the way I see the world, it was still a good conversation. They were cordial. They quickly figured out I was from out of town and when I told them I was from the Lake Ontario Snow Belt they were curious about that part of New York State. I was curious about their corner of Kansas.

It’s good to get outside our bubbles. It’s good to hear the viewpoints of others. It’s OK to have conversation.

I have no idea how the Tucson Unified School District works. I know that even though we live in the city limits (our properly line is against the city line) we do not live in TUSD, but rather we live in the Tanque Verde Unified School District. It seems there’s a high school every three blocks in Tucson, mainly because there’s charter schools and magnet schools and public schools and private schools. Students appear to start school at the end of July in these parts, but only if you go to certain school districts. When I look at nationwide ratings, Arizona isn’t high on the list.

Thank god we don’t have kids.

I try to strike up a conversation with my husband about the education system here in Tucson and how I compare what I see here to what I experienced growing up in a small town in Upstate New York. There was one school district in our town of 3000 or so people. If you wanted to go to Catholic school or something, you still went to public school but every Monday afternoon you walked over to a different building to go to “Religious Ed”. I don’t know what happened there but I like to think there were nuns beating on students with rulers for writing with their left hand or something. If you went to private school, and opted out of our public school system, you were shipped away to a far away land to join the military or be rich. Toward my senior year there was rumors of home schooling and some religiously oriented students moved from a neighboring district to our school system, but otherwise it was PACS all the way.

My eccentricities and incredibly accurate, while highly selective, memories of my school years put a smile on my face and give me points of conversation. After 27 years of discussing these things with my husband I’m surprised he can’t tell me what room I was in for grade one. (It was Room 104 with Miss Kania).

When we were recently at the movies, a local elementary school was advertising on the big screen to entice elementary students away from the public school system and into their “traditional school”. I don’t really know what that means but I assume there’s highly curated curriculums, uniforms, and God.

I wouldn’t trade my public school education for the world.

When it was time for college I wanted to go to a private college for my music education degree. I didn’t really want a music education degree but I had been convinced that was all I could do so I went along with it. My parents couldn’t afford the private college so I applied at two state schools, auditioned at one twice, and got in on the second try. I didn’t even try that much at the SAT but I pretty much aced my ACT and that got me in. Also, the fact that I played tuba and no one else did made it easy for me to get into music school. I flunked out in express fashion by the end of my freshman year. I don’t blame my public school education for this. I don’t blame anyone for this, outside of my lack of interest.

I can think of a dozen or so classmates that started kindergarten and walked down the auditorium aisle for graduation, the likes of us attending all 13 years of public school together.

Many are friends on Facebook. I really don’t know why but we are.

And even after typing this blog entry I still can’t figure out how Tucson Unified School District works.

Amen.

Our friend Diggs was in town for a couple of days. We had a nice dinner out.

The Lathem Time Company is best known for their time clocks. They have also made synchronized clock systems for many years. At the end of the 2000s they introduced their AirTime system, a wireless synchronized system that allows customers to install a clock anywhere they want without having to deal with traditional wiring. The system is controlled by a small master clock, which gets the current time from the NIST Atomic Clock and transmits to any compatible clock within a 500 foot radius. Other master clocks can pick up these signals and transmit them as well, expanding coverage. The entire system is battery powered, and Lathem had a solar charged version of wall clock as well.

Other companies do something similar, Primex and Sapling coming to mind. However, Lathem, being an “older school” clock company, built their Airtime clocks to the same standards of the clocks they’ve offered for decades, with offerings of a metal case, large numbers, etc. Unfortunately, Lathem discontinued the line a few years ago. I don’t like the plastic clocks available from other companies. It’s a shame Lathem stopped their Airtime line.

Now, one can buy clocks in both digital and analog flavors that synchronize directly with the NIST Atomic Clock, but the AM band used to transmit this information often fails to get to clocks on the interior walls of large buildings. Hence Lathem’s system where the master clock can be placed in an ideal location and then transmit the data to clocks anywhere in a facility.

The clocks rarely come up on eBay, as the system was never very popular, but this clock from a school in South Dakota makes a good addition to my man cave.

I’ve posted this video before. My soul needed to hear “Running Up That Hill” this morning, and I really enjoy this cover by Australian based “SingItLive”.

Ajo.

We decided to go for a ride yesterday. The news was making such waves about Hurricane Hilary that I decided it’d be fun to drive westward to see what all the hype was about.

We ran into a little rain, but we were also 24 hours ahead of schedule.

The drive from Tucson to Ajo via the appropriately named Tucson-Ajo highway, (State Route 86) is enjoyable, if desolate. The vast majority of the route crosses through the Tohono O’odham Nation. We took a slight detour to drive through the business district of Sells, where we saw a few wild horses and roaming cattle in the streets. We also passed by Kitt Peak National Observatory, but many signs let us know the road up there was closed so we didn’t get to see what that was all about. Instead I snapped a photo from the main road.

We had lunch in Ajo at the Agave Cafe, where there were two other customers and friendly folks working behind the counter. It was an enjoyable experience and it was nice to strike up some conversation with the other folks. One woman was visiting from Ticonderoga, New York. When she found out we had lived in the Mohawk Valley she asked if we missed it and we said, “not really”, the weather in Tucson is much more enjoyable.

We made our way up to Gila Bend and then to Maricopa before jumping on Interstate 10 to make our way home. Overall is was a very pleasant day.