If you're not yet eligible for our union's healthcare coverage this is probably the most affordable alternative I've seen yet (not hospitalization).

https://health.amazon.com/prime?ref_=onem_pd_sl_srctrm_21_e_dev_c&gclid=Cj0KCQiApOyqBhDlARIsAGfnyMoIzqcSLtp9gJ9Cp4Xn5X6nMTi2egwt6Yk3_ZeccyaVgK8tFisDnQ8aAsnKEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

So although I don't yet have a Via phone bracket in my bus ... and therefore didn't have a phone ... I found out (the hard way) that I was supposed to ask for one for the spare bus I'd been using for a couple of days being it does have a bracket. (Who knew?!!)

But the phone wouldn't stay in the bracket. Reason? The rubber tips were gone. So I thought I'd go take some from the many out-of-service old buses around some of the perimiter of the yard.

Little did I expect that I would have to go to nearly a dozen old buses to find one that still had the rubber tips intact!! People have been hoarding them like crazy it seems. Rubber tips are hotter than catalytic converters at Pioneer! Are they selling them on the black market or what?!! The scoundrels!!



p.s. - If anybody needs rubber tips I'm selling them four for $10.     

From our wasted governor's website ...

"Governor Kathy Hochul today signed legislation that makes Diwali a school holiday for New York City public schools. Legislation S.7574/A.7769 requires that all public schools in New York City be closed on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Indian calendar in each year, which is known as Diwali."

That holiday falls in October or November depending on the Indian calendar.

Whose next?     

Just found out that our health benefits cover Virtual Health Care ... Televisits. Sign in to your Blue Cross Blue Shield account and choose "Virtual Care." Follow the prompts from there. You will have to pay a co-pay of $25. You'll soon be connected to a doctor.

Do it on a device that has a microphone and camera. If you use your phone, download the app ... https://livehealthonline.com/download/

Although we're seeing the freedoms you fought for being slowly eroded, your service is not diminished in the least. Thank you.

Saw this van at IS 24 today, equipped with exterior cameras to catch cars passing the flashing reds. Onboard DVR records videos but driver was unsure whether summons are issued basis the video captures. I would think so, otherwise what's the point? I think this would be a much wiser use of funds than the stupid VIA phones. All buses should have them.

I'm learning that Tommy "Gas Can" Mirabelli passed early this morning.  I'm unclear as to the cause of death but I know he was hospitalized soon  after getting the latest COVID vaccine but also had underlying health conditions. Tommy moved to Naples, Florida when he retired ... guessing it was 12 to 15 years ago. RIP Tom.

Early dismissal for junior highs Thursday, Nov. 9. Check the monitor(s) for times.

Can you believe this shit? (Pun intended)     

Thanks to one of our more diligent members I've learned that the failure to include our safety bonus in today's check was not an oversight, but purposely done. Supposedly the company says we won't get it until there's a contract.

The union says, "We'll see about that."

Stay tuned.

I noticed yesterday that an updated early dismissal sheet on the monitor did not state the date and some people were asking "When?".

Thursday, Nov. 2 is early dismissal for elementary schools. If you don't know your school's time you'll have to stand in front of the first monitor through the copious superfluous messages until you get to the one about early dismissal.

Has anybody done an actual school bus drill so far this year? State law says the first one is to be done during the first seven days of school ... which almost no school does. The second is supposed to be done between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, and the third in the spring.

Not having had one at P.S. 4 I asked one of the aides about it. She said they had a "virtual" school bus drill earlier in the year. Is this the way it's done now? (I don't think anybody would complain.) Anybody?

I usually refrain from posting peoples' full names on here but at the request of Bob Hearn I am posting this list in case somebody didn't catch it in the 15 or 20 seconds tbat it appeared on a monitor today.



If you object to your name appearing here, please direct you complaint to Bob Hearn. 
That's
(Just breaking balls. Bob is concerned people will miss the message and not show up.)

Appearing on one of the monitors today ...






And remember ...