Odds & Ends And All Things That Don't Fit Anything Else

[Ty]

Well good in theory, but it doesn't hold true for all areas.
When I was working, I took care of 25 offices all over WA state, and down into OR. Some were close, others were 100's of miles away, and I could get called to any of them over the week. I did streamline the care of these offices by setting all of the equipment so I could remotely access them, and I could work from home. But even then, if I had to go on location, it was a drive. How often did it happen? Sometimes 2 or 4 times a week, and I never knew where I would be called to day to day. So while I may have been an exception to the rule, there are many more that have the same situation.
So no job is typical any longer, and each situation has variances. Such as Dr. appointments, sick kid in school that you have to leave work and go pick them up, and on and on. Plus in the town of 20,000 like I live in, there is no bus service, except for 4 times a day, and it goes from here to the Vancouver Mall (20 miles away), there is no other bus service for the area, and the area is fairly large, surrounding towns have no bus service what so ever.
So situations are different depending on your location.

I was thinking along the lines of Google Calendar. Put a meeting on there and Google would make sure that if a car was required to get you there, it'd be waiting before you left. In the case of Dr. appointments or traveling jobs, as long as you got the destination (and you'd have to have that even if you were going yourself), the car could be at your house before you got your shoes on. Okay, almost that fast.

 

[Ty]

There is one more elephant in the room. It seems with great power comes great responsibility. And humanity really hasn't moved very far from our animal-istic beginnings, (or that snake and tree, one of those). Someone is going to pack a bomb or bio weapon (or just used condoms) in one, and really deliver something news worthy. Of course, it's maybe just a one in a million adventure. But with 7 Billion people in the same bath-tub, even at 1 in 10 million that's 1000 evil floaters. Controls for that will have to be figured out.
I'm sure the autonomous Air Taxi will be first to spread far and wide, and first to figure out the social impacts and related risk management.

At least there'd be a well defined trail to catch them. It wouldn't be like they'd be able to drive to a hiding spot after the fact. Once the service figured out one of their cars blew up, it would be able to tell authorities where it originated. Plus, the car wouldn't go without an occupant so there's that.

 

[Ty]

There is one more elephant in the room. It seems with great power comes great responsibility. And humanity really hasn't moved very far from our animal-istic beginnings, (or that snake and tree, one of those). Someone is going to pack a bomb or bio weapon (or just used condoms) in one, and really deliver something news worthy. Of course, it's maybe just a one in a million adventure. But with 7 Billion people in the same bath-tub, even at 1 in 10 million that's 1000 evil floaters. Controls for that will have to be figured out.
I'm sure the autonomous Air Taxi will be first to spread far and wide, and first to figure out the social impacts and related risk management.

At least there'd be a well defined trail to catch them. It wouldn't be like they'd be able to drive to a hiding spot after the fact. Once the service figured out one of their cars blew up, it would be able to tell authorities where it originated. Plus, the car wouldn't go without an occupant so there's that unless you are talking about doing return packages or some kind of delivery service. Still, there'd be a trail. Cars could easily record video of people as they approach the car and only allow the authorized renter and his passengers to use it. Come on, big brother isn't all bad.

 

[Coss]

I was thinking along the lines of Google Calendar. Put a meeting on there and Google would make sure that if a car was required to get you there, it'd be waiting before you left. In the case of Dr. appointments or traveling jobs, as long as you got the destination (and you'd have to have that even if you were going yourself), the car could be at your house before you got your shoes on. Okay, almost that fast.

I wish I could put it on a calendar, but not possible. Occasionally I had trips planned, but most of the time, I was on call.
I get the call, and only if I couldn't fix it remotely, it was saddle up and go. And those you can't plan for, wish I could, would have made life a lot easier.
And do you know what it costs to get a ride for long distance? It's expensive.
The life of a computer geek in a corporation that was cheap, made it really hard to plan in detail from one day to the next.
Yes, a cheap big company, and one computer guy to take care of 574 systems plus servers and printers. I had my hands full.
And this was not an exception to the rule, there are a lot of companies that are cheap when it comes to taking care of the equipment that their business runs on. They expect you put it in, and it works forever, with no problems. Wrong!! But this is where a lot of companies are at, they just don't get, or don't want to acknowledge that computers don't run trouble free, and computer support is a cost item, they saw it as we didn't make the company any money, we just cost, when they don't realize it's these machines are the items that they need for the company to make money.

 

[Ty]

I wish I could put it on a calendar, but not possible. Occasionally I had trips planned, but most of the time, I was on call.
I get the call, and only if I couldn't fix it remotely, it was saddle up and go. And those you can't plan for, wish I could, would have made life a lot easier.
And do you know what it costs to get a ride for long distance? It's expensive.
The life of a computer geek in a corporation that was cheap, made it really hard to plan in detail from one day to the next.
Yes, a cheap big company, and one computer guy to take care of 574 systems plus servers and printers. I had my hands full.
And this was not an exception to the rule, there are a lot of companies that are cheap when it comes to taking care of the equipment that their business runs on. They expect you put it in, and it works forever, with no problems. Wrong!! But this is where a lot of companies are at, they just don't get, or don't want to acknowledge that computers don't run trouble free, and computer support is a cost item, they saw it as we didn't make the company any money, we just cost, when they don't realize it's these machines are the items that they need for the company to make money.

I'll bet they keep you hopping.

 

[Coss]

Used to, I'm retired now, and starting to regret it.
I'm bored out of my mind ***********************************
I wish I was employable, but once they find out how old I am, they want nothing to do with me.
I guess I don't wear working 50 years too well. Sigh.
Oh how I wish I was younger, but I'm playing the hand I was dealt, and I've got to live with it.
That's what I get for being on a payroll when I was 11 (yes, you could do it back then).
I was sweeping floors and emptying garbage cans for $1.50 an hour.
I was rolling when I was really young, had all the good stuff, if I wanted to save and spend my own money.
But mom had gotten divorced, my little sister was 2 and life was tough, but we lived through it.

 

[RSchneider]

Used to, I'm retired now, and starting to regret it.
I'm bored out of my mind ***********************************
I wish I was employable, but once they find out how old I am, they want nothing to do with me.

There's a guy I see at the bar once in a while. He's 68 and originally from Scotland. The company he worked for got bought out and at 64 he took his retirement and walked away. For two years all he did was fix up the house and then when it was done, he didn't know what to do. So he built a Cobra Kit car. Then he was bored again. His wife got to the point that she told him to get a job or find something else to do. What he did was talk to the local NAPA auto parts store and since he knew the guys there, asked them if they needed any help. They sure did. He and two other retired guys drive the parts truck. This guy has a hip problem that was from an old accident and he can't get around too well but good enough (as his wife said, good enough to fix the house and build a car). He loves the job because he makes his own hours and the pay is decent. He likes it because he just listens to every shop he deals with, just complain (the general complaining any car repair shop does) and is happy he doesn't have to deal with it.

His whole experience was when he emigrated from Scotland when he was around 20 and all he did until retirement was maintenance in a chemical plant.

 

[Coss]

There's a guy I see at the bar once in a while. He's 68 and originally from Scotland. The company he worked for got bought out and at 64 he took his retirement and walked away. For two years all he did was fix up the house and then when it was done, he didn't know what to do. So he built a Cobra Kit car. Then he was bored again. His wife got to the point that she told him to get a job or find something else to do. What he did was talk to the local NAPA auto parts store and since he knew the guys there, asked them if they needed any help. They sure did. He and two other retired guys drive the parts truck. This guy has a hip problem that was from an old accident and he can't get around too well but good enough (as his wife said, good enough to fix the house and build a car). He loves the job because he makes his own hours and the pay is decent. He likes it because he just listens to every shop he deals with, just complain (the general complaining any car repair shop does) and is happy he doesn't have to deal with it.

His whole experience was when he emigrated from Scotland when he was around 20 and all he did until retirement was maintenance in a chemical plant.

That's the other side of the country, and it is different there (I know, I've lived in the Midwest, travel the entire country 3 or 4 times) but here in the Northwest it's a different mind set.
But I understand your point, and I wish it did apply to the same age group here. But alas it doesn't, especially where I am. Here it's raise a house full of kids, then send them off to school, and look forward to the visits every now and again. I wish it was more like the Midwest at times, but I'll be damned if I'm going to move back to the Midwest just because I'm bored, I moved because I did want to get stuck in the same rut all of the others that stayed there are in (yes, I do still have friends that live there, and they seem quite content with what their doing.)
So I look at it as just a faze I'm going through that I'll get over, then, who knows.

 

[AriLea]

Used to, I'm retired now, and starting to regret it.
I'm bored out of my mind ***********************************
I wish I was employable, but once they find out how old I am, they want nothing to do with me.
I guess I don't wear working 50 years too well. Sigh....sweeping floors and emptying garbage cans for $1.50 an hour.
.....

I'm still working at 65(in Dec). I found that consulting temp jobs isn't as worried about age. I'm a programmer, and that definitely is age impacted in full-time hires. But in consulting, they just want to know you have the skills they need. I'm at this temp job for 18 months now. It could go 5 years at this point.

In someways temp jobs give you a chance for interesting experiences you would never of had otherwise. The IRS will just monitor your monthly income and adjust SS accordingly. Well, that's what I've heard.... They can only restrict SS just so much as well. Right now, while I suspend my SS, it raises by 8% each year, up to when I'm 70. I've pre-warned my kids, I'm 'brick-wall' done at 70.

My first job, after paperboy, digging ditches for $1.25/hr, lol.

 

[Made in USA]

Here's an interesting article about the batteries in future EV's and how they might have a five year life expectancy. The Elio looks like a low cost solution as far as keeping it running for ten plus years.

https://www.designnews.com/material...y-have-five-year-battery-life/118340601859495