I May Become a Techie Yet! - DJD

I'm not what anyone would call a techie person, but I have seen the value of the CPSListserv, and it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine this type of thing working well for folks involved with pupil transportation. I figured a listserv would be a great resource to set up simultaneously with the release of our new publication, The School Bus Safety Handbook.

So, with some helpful tips from Merritt N., our moderator for the CPS version, I put my technophobia aside and dove in to set up the new CPS for School Buses listserv. This being me, of course there were a few technical hurdles, but I would say that it went pretty smoothly compared to other computer challenges I've faced. I wrote the first post, and sat back and waited for subscribers.

The next morning, I was delighted to see my computer churning away as it worked to fill over 70 e-mails into my inbox. AHA -- surely these were 70 members applying to the group, I figured. So I was pretty crestfallen when I found that, rather than new member notifications, every one of the mails was an out-of-office reply! A friend (I won't name names, but hers rhymes with "Fancy Showfont") had tried to set up auto-reply while on vacation, and somehow the system responded retroactively to every mail I had sent to her over the past several months -- totaling more than 70.

Needless to say, this was even more of a disappointment for poor Fancy than it was for me. Shortly afterward, the applications for membership to our new group did indeed start to roll in. We didn't get 70 members on day one, but only 5 days later we do now have over 70 on our list, and its growing steadily! If you are interested in school bus CPS issues, please join us!

Sign up at: CPSforSchoolBuses-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Hear the rumble of a truck?-NB

Well we are all a twitter this AM, and I'm not talking rock star phone tweets (pleeeeeeze).

Our printer is delivering the first shipment of the new bus Handbooks today. We can start filling the back orders. A huge thanks to all of you who have been so patient about waiting. Your handbook(s) should go out in the mail this week.

Karen in NE placed the first order, which called for something special. I'd send chocolate, but she would probably only get part of the box. So I'm sending a $10 coffee card instead.

So blow the horns (school bus type), ring the bells and pop the corks. Probably over doing it to smash a bottle of Champagne over the the pallet.

KIM conference was good-DDS

Hi there,
My head is still spinning from a fascinating Kidz in Motion conference in Fort Worth. I heard that the preemie pre-conference was excellent. I couldn't get there because I was finishing the School Bus Safety Handbook, but I know the speakers were top-notch and the information was balanced right on the cutting edge.

Sessions on recycling CRs to keep them out of landfills, how to set up a "fee-for-service" CR education service for parents who are willing to pay for one-on-one attention, and news of several revolutionary products were a few of the highlights.

The next issue of Safe Ride News will include details on the preemie session and a number of other workshops, as well as the latest product updates from the ABC juvenile products show coming up in Las Vegas next week.

Fort Worth was lots of fun, the food was good, and the hotel was very comfortable. The conference will be there again next summer -- maybe I'll see you there.

Now I'm headed to Colorado for a vacation—something really different from hours at the keyboard, helping to harvest my brother's crop of organic peaches.

New Handbook is almost here-NB

Whew, picking a color for the Handbook cover was as hard as trying to decide which shoes to wear to the Prince's Ball or which dwarf to dance with first. Just call me Snow-derella.

And the final proof is done. So The School Bus Safety Handbook is on it's way to being done. We are all excited with this new, much needed publication. Although Molly (dear office cat) doesn't seem very excited. Not that we could tell.

The table of contents is up on the SRN web site (www.saferidenews.com). The whole job of putting this together only took 3 grown trees, a zillon hours and several gallons of coffee. But who needs to sleep? Can't anyway because the cover is so bright it keeps us awake.