When there's no heat in the van

I'm gessing this was around 1967 or 1968.  I remember a time when my cousin Fran (Geaslen) and I were in a van.  Just a plain old cargo, something like the one pictures here, although we weren't lucky enough to have flowers painted on it, it was just plain blue.

I'm not sure where we were, I think down near Utica, NY on the New York Thruway, probably on a cookie run  but you'll have to read that story another time.  It was winter time and it was cold.

If you are not familiar with this old classic Chevy vans, the engine sort of sat between the driver and the passenger under a metal compartment that opened on the inside of the car.  There was enough room to swing your legs between the engine and your seat so you could easily get into the back.  The top of the engine enclosure was flat and gave you a table like surface to put your drinks, food and other junk on.

Well, during the trip, the heater in the van decided to stop blowing warm air and act more like an air conditioner, not what we needed.  Fran came up with a brilliant idea, note that this was his idea.  We had a small metal box in the car, I seem to remember it being cash box.  Fran decided that we could stop, find some small pieces of wood on the side of the road and build a fire in the box, on top of the engine compartment.  Brilliant!

We stopped, collected some wood, broke it up and were ready for the heat.  It took a little paper and effort, but finally the fire was going and our hands felt the warmth baby, again, this was Brilliant!  We continued on our trip, Fran driving, be adding the wood (twigs) to keep the fire going, roaring, blast out the heat equivalent of, well, a very small heater.  All was going well for the first 5 or 10 minutes into our trip with heat, until, bump in the road, a swerve, something, but the lid of the wood stove slammed shut.  Damn, not heat if the cover is closed.  Reopening the top was not such a brilliant move the best we could see... for about 10 seconds, then the van was full of smoke.  Gag me with a spoon, we couldn't see anything, nor could we breathe.

All I remember is trying to stop, jumping out and one of us flung the wood stove out in the snow.  Got our breath back, aired the van out and continued on our way, in our now ice box van.

My history, what I remember, the things I've done

This blog is mostly for my kids, my grand kids and anyone else interested in what one does or has done in their life.  I hope to start writing, although it won't be in a timely order, it will be in the order I remember, what back then...  events, times, places, people.  Some good, likely some not so good.  Some nice, maybe some gross...  we'll maybe not, someone might read this while I'm still alive!

I don't know how I'll try to figure out how to put it in chronological order...  my mind is not as good as it...  well, maybe it never was so never mind.

Here goes....
My Deputy CTO (Chief Technology Officer), my glue for our division, my detail godsend and any other good and great things I can say about her, Linda Shaffer, is about to retire in 8 days.  I can only think one thing - OH MY GOD!  She does the day to day work of the office, keeps things moving, never misses anything...  all the things I don't do well...  or do at all.  Another loss in my life is coming.

She asked me today, what was my favorite job.  Wow, I'm not sure I have had just one.  I told her I really enjoyed being in the satellite business.  Not only did I bring in a significant amount of money, but it was really nice bringing happiness into people's homes. Especially the people in the middle of nowhere, Arizona...  the people with an antenna on a mast 75 feet tall to get 1 station out of New Mexico were ecstatic.  That was cool.

I didn't like many of the people I had to hire.  Many only looked for money, had no thread of customer service in their bodies.  Some would get paid and be gone and not come back until all the beer was gone.  They were not dependable.

Then there is the distributor I contracted with, RS&I (Recreational Sports & Something based in Idaho), they still owe me 2 checks that were returned by the post office after one of the stores closed as well as a $7,500 deposit.  They've owed me that since 1998.  Sometime around 2000 I did get a letter from them acknowledging they owed me and that they were going to look into the 2 checks, I never heard from them again.  I still have my account representative's RS&I business card (Tom Alvarez).  Tom was a great guy, I really liked him.  He did his job well.  I think he liked what I was doing with the business, but eventually wasn't getting what his management wanted in our area and did some things I wasn't happy with for other dealers...  but that was business.  I never blamed him.

I remember when Bridget Jones (her name at the time, might be Olberg or Blair now) took a government vehicle for a float and sank it (I think she wanted to see what it was like on a submarine).  She was really embarrassed, was angry when anyone mentioned anything...  well, anyone but me,  I think I was able to harass her in a way that made her smile.  As Mike Schlappi meant to say, shot (shit) happens.