The Benefits of My Job

My job. I like my job. I like it more now than I did last week. Of course there are parts to it that I don't like, but for the most part, I am having fun.

One thing that I will be/am working on is to get tobacco sponsorship out of events like rodeos, racing, the arts (such as the San Francisco Ballet), food banks, and other local programs. Why? Well, there are too many reasons and they are too complex for the subject of this blog. But I'll just say that sponsoring these events gives the tobacco companies access to people (they often provide free samples) and respectability.  Is that a bad thing? Tobacco is the only product when used correctly, causes diseases and death. Even alcohol can be used in moderate amounts without causing problems and may have some beneficial impacts on health.  In the show I am in, I see many a young person smoking (there are at least 5 smokers in a cast of 25). I wish they didn't it makes me sad. So I say yes, giving respectability to tobacco companies is not a good thing.

Is getting tobacco money out easy? Oh gosh no.  In these economic times, with programs being cut, this is going to be hard. Many people don't care where the money comes from, as long as it's being put to a good use. Do you help feed the hungry with tobacco money, or do you let people starve? Do you expose kids to the wonders of theater, music, and art, with money from Philip Morris, or do you not? I understand that feeling and I am not sure what I would do in such a situation. I would hope I would do the right thing, but since I've never been in a situation where I have been tested, I don't know what my response would be. My biggest thing is that people who accept this money are not free to speak out against tobacco and often have tobacco employees on their board of directors or steering committees. If they do say negative things about tobacco, the money tends to get yanked; there are examples. If accepting this money means being silent on issues, then maybe you need to re-think accepting the money.

Rodeos and racing are where a lot of smoking advertising and sampling is going on. There's the Copenhagen Bull Riding which is all about the copenhagen smokeless tobacco (which is icky. It looks like people are putting dirt in their mouth and then there is this lump in their lip and they spit all the time. Seriously, you've proven your manliness by sitting on the back of a bucking bull, there's no need to chew tobacco. Ugh).  I've been learning a lot about rodeos, bull riding, NASCAR, and NHRA so I can understand what goes on. In fact, I felt like I was learning too much. I am getting to the point where I know the leaders in the sport. Kyle Busch is a big NASCAR racer and did a rare thing of racing in all three NASCAR events in one weekend. Justin McBride is a top Bull Rider and he's out this season because of injury, which means Guilherme Marchi is probably going to win this years Bull Riding title. And Ty Murray is either dating or married to the singer Jewel. See what I mean by knowing too much? And I've been spending a lot of working time learning all of this, which I figured was not the best use of my time.

But then I was talking to my boss about some trainings we had to do and some of my new found knowledge spilled out. She looked at me and then said " I knew I put the right person in this job." She liked that I knew all this information. She said I couldn't do my job without understand what goes on at these events and it's good for me to learn all this! So I wasn't wasting precious work time while figuring out these events. Yeaa.

Now I don't want you all to worry. I am not turning redneck. The culture is fascinating and I don't mind learning it, but I am not interesting in watching cars go around circles for hours on end, nor do I care much for drag racing events. Although, if I was rich enough and didn't care about the environment, I would so buy one of those really fast, pimped out cars, like in "Fast and Furious." Okay, so I have a bit of a thrill seeker streak, sue me.  Bull riding is just plain silly. I mean come on, you sit on the back of a bull of eight seconds. I grant you it's hard, I couldn't do it, but there are so many cooler, less dangerous things one could do. Like, ride a horse.

Now rodeos do look interesting. Mind you, this is coming from someone who hasn't been to a rodeo yet, so I could change my mind. I don't think I am much of a rodeo person being a fiscally conservative, liberal, city girl, but I will admit to a fascination of sorts with a sport that deals with more with nature then made up games with sticks and balls. In fact, I think it would be interesting to go to a Dude Ranch where I can spend my days in the country surrounded by mountains and riding horses, swimming in lakes, looking at stars, being away from my phone, computer, and TV. Or maybe I would just get bored. Maybe it's worth a weeks vacation to find out. 

No matter what I decide, I get to spend work hours learning about the inner workings of all sorts of different events and figure out how to make them tobacco free. Not a bad job at all. :-)  Now, off to Ren Fair.

Use your brains people

As most of you know, I-5 is going through some major construction. So much so, that the northbound and southbound sides have been completely closed. Right now, southbound is closed. 

Personally, I think this is a great way to do this project. I-5 has had problems from the beginning. One section, called the boat section, is actually built below the level of the river which is causing major issues. I don't know why the decision was made to build it this way, or if it was the right one, but that's the way it is. For a while, I was complaining about the thought process that went into designing a freeway below water level, but was told that the alternative was to have a raised freeway, like the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco that was so hated. Luckily, nature fixed that mistake. Maybe we should be thankful we didn't do the same thing here. I don't know.

Now, the freeway needs to be fixed. The person in charge of the project suggested closing both sides of the freeway, at different times, for 12-13 days apiece. Another proposal I read said they would one closed one lane at a time, but the project would take three years. Hmm, a month and a half of torture vs three years of delays. Hard call there. Especially since the full closure costs less. My guess fewer man hours are needed when you can just take over the freeway and work instead of doing the whole slow and steady thing.

Am I affected by this change? Yes. Although I rarely drive to work, I often take the bus. But the bus route had become everyone else "alternate" route, making the bus trip a good 15-30 minutes longer than usual. So, I've been riding my bike. I was riding my bike in on a regular basis before, maybe 2-3 a weeks, now, everyday. 

Biking has been promoted as a great alternative. No traffic, good exercise - what could be better? In fact, during the construction, many of the parks are passing out "Survive I-5 Park and Ride" commuter passes for free. These passes allow people to enter any of the county's parks and park for free so they can bike, rollerblade, walk, whatever, into downtown.  What a great idea.

Why, then, why in this freaking world, would the city decided that this Thursday and Friday, the 19th and 20th, in the middle of the southbound closure, to close the main bike trail from discovery park to old Sacramento for repaving. This is the route people take from North Sacramento to get to Downtown. This is the alternate route for those people who can't drive into work. Discovery park is one of the places that has been promoted in the "Survive I-5 Park and Ride" program.  The freeway will be completely open next week!!!!!! They could put off the thing for two days and all would be well.

While double checking all my facts for this story I came across this from news 10, 

"Linda Tucker, spokeswoman for the city's Transportation Department stated that concerns raised by citizens and the news media prompted the city to reschedule the work and take down the signs."

Well, duh! It should not have been this hard for the city to figure out the problem with their timing. The plans for I-5 have been known since, oh, February.

Stupid people.