Riding the Bus

May 14, 2012 by Karen · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Daily Life 

Even with an assigned parking space for our loft, there are still times I need to take my car out to get around downtown. That means I have to look for a parking space and possibly (gasp!) parallel park.

Luckily, public transportation fixes this problem. There is a free trolley from the warehouse district out to Cleveland State that I take most often.  From out loft I walk 3 blocks to Euclid and wait outside the student union building. An E-line trolley comes every 10 minutes during the week. If is always nearly full.  Just “show a smile” and you ride free thanks to the sponsorship of downtown businesses.  I use it during really bad weather or if I am carrying a lot of stuff.

The E-Line

Also along Euclid runs the very long, caterpillar-like, Healthline bus. One of the ushers at Playhouse Square showed me how to get a fare card by pushing several buttons at the station in the middle of the street. Since I am a senior, I pay one dollar per trip or slightly more for an all day pass. For $5 you can get a Senior Pass good for five rides and it doesn’t expire until 2014.

Healthline at University Circle

Last week I took the bus from Playhouse Square out to E. 120th for a little field trip. It took about 45 minutes.  The deal with the Healthline busses is that they travel in a special bus lane with separate traffic signals. Apparently, there is a device in the bus that stops all car signals in all directions and allows the bus priority so it becomes more of an express. I didn’t find this to be true. My bus seemed to stop at lights and, of course, all the stations as long as someone signaled to be left off.  I didn’t find the bus faster, but it was a lot cheaper than paying for parking.  The next time I have an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, I’m going to take the bus.

I’m thinking about taking a field trip from Terminal Tower out to the airport and back. It starts below ground, then runs the rapid rails through Lakewood and beyond and goes underground again at the airport.  Dave has done this many times and finds the trip boring because you see the backs of buildings.  That is just what I find interesting. It’s like being in a new city.

Anyone who wants to ride the rails with me, let me know. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.

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The Blue Line

May 2, 2012 by Karen · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Observations, What We Saw 

Across pastel yardage

Runs a thin blue line.

Its edge drops off into

Mystery

From there it blends

Into murky aqua as if

It is a stirred medicine.

Bitter

Then the fabric changes

To deep, deep, almost black, blue

With dirty cotton balls above.

Foreboding

When trees bend and

Debris blows in swirls

Then it is dotted swiss

Dance

Its petticoat shows.

It flirts and beckons.

Don’t predict me.

Fatuous

Then tropical with a childish

Sailboat print on shiny chintz

Invites the viewer to play.

Summer

The season’s fashions change

But the same moody shallowness

Greets my upstairs view.

Exciting

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The Volunteering “Job”

April 22, 2012 by Karen · 2 Comments
Filed under: Daily Life, Places, Theater 

Believe it or not, volunteer time is worth $18.87 an hour in Ohio. The Independent Sector, a website that tracks these numbers, ranks Ohio with the other states in these matters.

In 2011 I volunteered 88 hours to Playhouse Square.  By that measure I “earned” $1660 just at the theater.  I also volunteered about 40 hours for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  I’m guessing that this $18+ number comes from how much these organizations would have to pay someone to do what I do for free.  I feel good that I saved the theater and the park money and I got so much pleasure in exchange.

A typical Redcoat has many IDs and pins

It’s hard to imagine myself getting paid for what I do as a volunteer. Trying to look at it objectively, I see that volunteers often get to do the fun bits.  These are the things that the employee thought they could do when they hired on to work in a park or a theater, but soon they found out that it is the tedious things they are doing instead.

In addition to fun you get gifts! Organizations try very hard to show how they appreciate their volunteers. There are picnics, free events and other tokens such as pens, cups, hats or pins. I just earned my 100-hour pin for ushering such hits as Jersey Boys, Lord of the Dance, and Cabaret.  I am also eligible for free tickets to the Indians games if I volunteer as few as four hours.

More and more, volunteers are filling in doing the really boring bits as well. They are now doing filing, bookkeeping, fund raising, and other jobs that professional people used to do. This must place an employer in a hard position. The volunteer may feel that they can opt out for a day if another opportunity comes up, but the employer is counting on them to be there to perform a really critical task.

Most importantly, volunteers get the satisfaction of helping. The volunteers I have met in both California and Ohio are really serious about their jobs and rarely “opt out.”  Sometimes they are too serious and try to “train” other volunteers.  I’m hoping this is to show how seriously they take their responsibilities. Missing their assignment for anything short of death, births, and marriages is not an option for most of the volunteers I know. Many are more dedicated to their assignment than some paid people are.

My friends have a wide variety of volunteer jobs. They are helping in the local parks, in nursing homes, and at their churches.  My Redcoat acquaintances also volunteer at the Cleveland Airport, several local hospitals, Severance Hall, and at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  My National Park volunteer acquaintances have multiple assignments within the park. This helped place Cuyahoga Valley National Park in first place for volunteer hours in the entire country.

Volunteering is one of the best parts of being retired, living in Cleveland, knowing my community, meeting new people, and giving back to others.

Getting ready to usher In The Next Room: The Vibrator Play

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