‘Tis the Season!
Wishing All a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
With all that life throws at us throughout the year, it’s important to take a step back, relax, regroup and enjoy the little things in life especially during the holiday season.
It’s so important to take time off from the hectic part of your life, if only for a little while. Turn off the TV, the news, the cell phones, get away from the constant assault of social media, listen to some music, and spend time with family, friends, loved ones, or do something that just pleases you. We are assaulted all year long with life, work, trying to find work, trying to keep up with all that we have to do to survive in this industry and its many issues, that it wears us out both mentally and physically.
From my early years of driving a school bus, the Christmas break was just that, a real chance to relax and catch up after driving every day with 79 screaming kids behind me, dealing with traffic, teachers, the administration and parents (the parents were the worst of them all to deal with!). I learned quickly that I needed that time off to reintroduce myself to me and what was really important in my life – my family, loved ones, friends.
Rain Break Good Too
We have been in a drought for a few years now and we have not had a chance to take the time off during the wet seasons as we normally looked forward to each year. Without it we were unable to really regroup and rejuvenate to attack the issues that come at us daily. So now that it is actually RAINING!! Real rain, not that light misty stuff but real downpour, earth drenching rain!! It will give us a break and hopefully California will get enough of the wet stuff this winter to fill the mountains with snow and our reservoirs with water.
It is absolutely pouring here as I write this and is doing so all over the state. We need this so much and hopefully it will continue all winter and start making a difference in the state of our state. I know there is the conundrum of rain, equals no work (unless there is too much of it of course), but if we don’t get the water it will have a distressing effect on the construction industry.
Still, I wish all a very, very happy holiday season from me and my family all of you and yours with the hopes of a very prosperous New Year ahead!!!
No Rest for the Association
While I am urging you to take a break, there will be few opportunities for our association staff to take time off. We have a full plate of issues we are working on, along with keeping an eye on what’s coming during the next session of the California legislature in Sacramento.
The list includes meetings with state agencies like the Departments of Motor Vehicles and Industrial Relations, the Highway Patrol, Caltrans and, of course, the California Air Resources Board. We are also ever more active with federal agencies like the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as well as the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition, the association is working on several internal issues including ongoing changes to the by-laws and other policies to help in support of our ever-growing membership.
Susan
